2008 Woodie Awards
Early Action stays despite move by Harvard
Alison Espach
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: News
Despite Harvard University's recent decision to remove their Early Action applicant program for the next academic year, Providence College will not be following suit.
Harvard eliminated Early Action based on the grounds that it puts low-income households and minority applicants at a disadvantage. It is the first prestigious college to do away with the process-one applicants use to boost their chances of admittance since most acceptance rates are considerably higher through Early Action programs.
Harvard had hoped its move would inspire other schools to give up the program as well.
"The one thing that always seemed commonly agreed was that no college could give up its early application program if the others didn't too," said Christopher Avery, a Harvard professor in a Sept. 12 New York Times article. "This seems to be a move to do just that."
Most schools have an Early Decision program, which requires the applicant to attend the university if accepted in December-as opposed to an Early Action program, which tells the student of their acceptance in December but is not a binding agreement. Harvard's Early Action program, like Providence's, allows students to make their decision in May in order to have time to compare offers and financial packages from other schools.
The New York Times also reported that Derek Bok, interim president of Harvard, said students who were more affluent and sophisticated were most apt to apply for early admission. Bok said that was a disadvantage to applicants, since more than one-third of Harvard's students were accepted through early admission.
Christopher Lydon, associate vice president for admission and enrollment planning, said, however, that Providence College will still be using Early Action for 2007 enrollment.
"At the moment we don't see our non-binding unrestricted program as being an impediment to students because we are not putting any requirements on it," said Lydon.
He noted that they would not make a policy change simply to match Harvard's.
Harvard eliminated Early Action based on the grounds that it puts low-income households and minority applicants at a disadvantage. It is the first prestigious college to do away with the process-one applicants use to boost their chances of admittance since most acceptance rates are considerably higher through Early Action programs.
Harvard had hoped its move would inspire other schools to give up the program as well.
"The one thing that always seemed commonly agreed was that no college could give up its early application program if the others didn't too," said Christopher Avery, a Harvard professor in a Sept. 12 New York Times article. "This seems to be a move to do just that."
Most schools have an Early Decision program, which requires the applicant to attend the university if accepted in December-as opposed to an Early Action program, which tells the student of their acceptance in December but is not a binding agreement. Harvard's Early Action program, like Providence's, allows students to make their decision in May in order to have time to compare offers and financial packages from other schools.
The New York Times also reported that Derek Bok, interim president of Harvard, said students who were more affluent and sophisticated were most apt to apply for early admission. Bok said that was a disadvantage to applicants, since more than one-third of Harvard's students were accepted through early admission.
Christopher Lydon, associate vice president for admission and enrollment planning, said, however, that Providence College will still be using Early Action for 2007 enrollment.
"At the moment we don't see our non-binding unrestricted program as being an impediment to students because we are not putting any requirements on it," said Lydon.
He noted that they would not make a policy change simply to match Harvard's.