ED: Enticing Delusion

Karen Shen '16, Opinions Editor

Welcome back to school to the most stressful time of the year [for seniors]! College application season has swooped in, preying on the wistful creatures yearning for the summer that passed too quickly.

Despite the occasional symptoms of senioritis lurking about, seniors are hard at work, bedazzling their resumes and spitting out essays left and right in hopes of crafting a persona that their dream college will be smitten with. With the regular deadline set in early January, students are already getting a head start on their applications. It seems we have a generation of procrastinators chugging along on apps early…? And voluntarily?!

Two magical words have cast a spell, turning seniors into pre-crastinating scholars: EARLY DECISION.

Early decision (ED) differs from the classic “regular decision” in that it allows students to sign their souls to the college devils. All kidding aside, ED allows students to send in their applications earlier (usually early November) so they can receive results in mid-December instead of late March or early April. For the impatient, ED is an enticing option. Students get to know decisions months earlier, and, if they are lucky, they will not have to apply to any other colleges, appeasing their anticipation-wracked souls. Furthermore, speculation that applying early increases the chances of getting into selective schools permeates the nerve-charged air. Seems like these schools care enough about satisfying students’ cravings for knowledge of their results!

However, there is a caveat: if you apply ED, you have to commit to going to the university if you are accepted and must cancel all of your other applications.

In other words, think of matriculating to a college like shopping for a new laptop. Clearly it’s optimal to be able to buy it “on sale” or use “price-match” or other negotiation techniques to get the best deal. Who would want to pay full sticker price when they could get a discount? Of course, you may have qualms about doing so if the deal is final sale – no returns. What early decision does is eliminate the possibility of negotiation. Oftentimes, students who are accepted ED receive scant financial aid, but since they signed the contract, they must enroll. There is no choosing among schools for the best financial-aid package. You’ve walked straight into the university’s greedy arms.

“ED benefits the college more because it allows the institution to take advantage of students who are desperate to get into their college,” Keerthi Akkisetty ‘16 explains. “Many students who do ED find themselves surprised to face huge college fees after getting accepted due to their haste to get into their dream school.”

Applying ED not only presents a steep financial cost, but it also does not save as much time as students believe it would. While the deadline for early applications is set in November, regular applications follow soon after in early January. Unfortunately, many early applicants get deferred or rejected, so they need to prepare materials for the regular round. Despite the ‘earlier’ results, “it’s still slow in that the results come back in the end of December, so it’s kind of worthless,” explains Brian McCormick ‘16. The deferred and rejected face a mere two weeks to send applications to their backup schools, so in reality, most early applicants prepare the bulk of all of their applications before knowing the results, barely saving much time.

The concept of ED in theory should benefit both students and colleges with its seemingly balanced transaction. But in practice, ED only helps those who can pinpoint a dream school that they can afford to attend. Universities get the longer end of the stick since they 1) identify students who truly love their school, 2) generate higher yield rates (higher percentage of accepted enroll) and 3) get more tuition.

While seniors frantically continue to slave away at their apps, they ought to realize that applying ED is worth a heavy contemplation; it may not be as easy as it appears to commit to paying the higher price tag for that ‘dream school’. Scores of other schools may offer equally as exceptional education. Best of luck to all those working on these arduous applications!