Tulane recently announced their acceptance breakdowns from the different application options offered, and two-thirds of their admitted students were early decision applicants. On the other hand, only 106 regular decision students were admitted to the same class. First, let’s understand what the different application options are in today’s college admissions process. The three most popular options are regular decision, early decision, and early action. Regular Decision is your typical admissions option, where students apply to colleges by the standard deadline and hear decisions in the spring semester of their senior year in high school. Early Decision is an option where students will apply to a school early, generally before November 1 of the application season, and effectively pre-commit themselves to the school of choice if they are offered admission. The only thing that can prevent this is if there is a financial aid/cost inhibitor for the student. This option is much more appealing to schools because they are offering a much safer acceptance for their enrollment numbers. Lastly, Early Action is when a student applies to a school in a similar time frame to early decision, but is not bound to the school upon acceptance. This admission option expresses a higher interest in the school, and generally gives the student a better chance of receiving a wider range of institutional aid as well. When looking at the admissions options above, it makes sense that the majority of acceptances would come from early decision. It’s the safest option for schools, and they know they’re getting a student who is committed to the university. There are noticeable criticisms of this process, though, as the pressure then falls on the family to prepare a college affordability plan for a school before knowing what the financial package is going to look like. “Being able to afford a college” includes all offered loan options, so you may be bound to a college that is legally affordable but not reasonably so. Families from higher socioeconomic backgrounds tend to use this application option far more often than other families in different financial situations, which feeds the loop of exclusion in higher education. Student-athletes rarely use the early decision option because the signing period falls after most early decision application deadlines. This can impair acceptance chances if they’re not flagged by the coach in the admissions process. Because of this, we encourage our students to apply early action to the schools that are recruiting them, and also apply to 1-2 schools they’d love to attend with or without sports. This gives them the best possible option to pivot in whatever direction their recruiting journey takes them, and keeps them eligible for the largest amount of institutional aid at any of the colleges they’re pursuing. It may be a bit more work on the front end, because most student-athletes only apply 'regular decision' to the school they commit to, but it sets our community up for the greatest success possible at the next level.
Early Applicants Gain Advantage in Recent Years
07.18.22 05:00 PM
