Harvard University recently ended its Early Admissions program after repeated allegations of economic and social discrimination convinced the university that such a program is harmful to its lower-income and minority applicants.
Harvard is the first of the nation’s top-tier universities to terminate an Early Admissions program, in which participating applicants can discover months in advance whether or not the school has accepted them. The decision has convinced Princeton University to abandon its early admissions policy, and it is speculated that Yale University will soon follow suit.
When asked about the possibility of such an action at Wesleyan, admissions officials responded with a series of justifications explaining the equality inherent in the University’s system.
“About 85 percent of our admissions offers yearly are made in Regular Decision,” said Senior Dean of Admission Greg Pyke. “That means out of 2,000 offers made this year, only about 290 were made in Early Decision. And we make it a priority to admit more low-income students and students of color, as well as international students, [whether] they apply ED or RD.”
In contrast, according to its website, Harvard welcomes between 1,640 and 1,680 new students every year. The university previously accepted 1,105 of this pool through the Early Decision process, with the expectation that 90 percent of these students would attend.
According to a Sept. 12 New York Times article, Harvard’s decision focused on the need and fairness of its financial aid packages. The university claims that while Early Admissions helped those students sure that Harvard was their first choice, it discouraged students in lower-income brackets from applying, as such students would be unable to compare Harvard’s financial aid offerings with those from other colleges. In the case of Early Decision applications, university spokespeople told the Times, the binding contract would make such comparison impossible, and leave those lacking the proper support without a college to attend.
Director of Financial Aid Jennifer Lawton stated that Wesleyan is equally as supportive of its students accepted Early Decision as it is of its Regular Decision applicants.
“We’re need-blind in every step of the admission process,” Lawton said. “We look at an admitted student’s application in April and give special weight to those under binding contract. If we’ve exhausted every option and the student still can’t pay, we release them. But we haven’t had to do that in over two years.”
When asked about the options offered to impoverished students, Lawton admitted that the University tries to encourage such students to apply Regular Decision.
“We want every applicant to apply according to their interest, but if a student is positive that they will have serious difficulty paying tuition, we encourage them to keep their options open,” Lawton said.
Lawton stressed that the University’s Early Admissions program is designed to stimulate an applicant’s love of the college, not to favor a certain caliber of student over another.
“Our Early Decision applicants are students who know in their hearts that Wesleyan is where they want to be, and we will continue to encourage them,” Lawton said.
Joe Newman ’09, an Early Decision applicant who accepted the University’s admission offer under binding contract, agreed that Early Decision is an enticing option for students who are confident in their choices.
“At least in my case, I knew for a long time that I wanted to go to Wesleyan, and Early Decision seemed like the best way for me to get here,” Newman said.
While Newman was thankful that Early Decision was available to help him through the application process, he acknowledged its potential to harm students without the security of well-off backgrounds.
“I could easily see these programs screwing students who can’t get a guarantee that financial aid will pay for them,” Newman said. “Unless we can reform financial aid into a perfect system, there will always be these discrepancies. I applaud Harvard for considering those students in their decision.”
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