News Staff Reporter
Results from round one of this year’s early applications showed that Choate seniors have held fairly strong amidst stronger competition in the college process, with both the overall and Ivy League acceptance percentages dropping only marginally from last year’s numbers.
According to statistics provided by the College Office, 65%, or 169 students out of 260, of this year’s sixth form applied round 1 early decision, early action, or rolling decision pre-December 1st. This figure marks a small increase from the 62% who applied early last year.
“Our ‘early results’ held steady -- even increasing [in total number] at the Ivies -- with results from the last two years,” wrote Interim Director of College Counseling Terri Burditt in an email to the faculty.
Forty-three percent of students who applied early were accepted, down from 45% last year. Although the percentage of Ivy League acceptances dipped a percentage point below the twenty-nine percent of last year, the actual number of acceptances at the Ivies rose.
As of January 24th, 43 out of the 72 students who have gained acceptance have committed to their respective schools. Considering an unforeseen surge in applications this year to most schools including nearly all of the Ivy League and that the acceptance rate from Choate has held steady, the Choate class of 2006 “did just fine,” said Mrs. Burditt.
For instance, nationally, early applications to Georgetown University increased 21% from last year; Johns Hopkins University, 40%; University of Vermont, 50%; Middlebury, 22%. In the Ivy League, the largest increase of 21% was at University of Pennsylvania, where, to the shock of many students, no Choate student was accepted early. Harvard, where five Choate students gained acceptance, actually saw a decrease of 5% in applications. Yale and Princeton saw increases of 3% and 9% respectively. Columbia applications increased by 5.5%, and the rest of the Ivy League saw increases in the teens. Despite this surge in early applications, most colleges still only filled one third of their slots through early apps, which resulted in a more competitive selection process.
“With this kind of tidal wave to deal with at many schools that are prevalent on the lists of Choate students, we feel our advisees faired very well in the first round of the ‘early’ process,” wrote Mrs. Burditt in the faculty email. “These increases are obviously impacting college applicants across the country.”
The Perks of Early Admission
Students may choose to apply early for a variety of reasons.
“The good reasons are they have all their ducks in a row—meaning that they don’t need their fall grades to prove their academic ability; they have all their standardized testing in place; they have literally fallen in love with a school; and they know that of all the schools in the country [their early choice] is where they want to be,” said Mrs. Burditt. “A poor reason is that they want to get it [the college process] over with.”
If a student applies just to get in, she says, he may be disappointed at the hollowness of his own decision in the spring when he sees other seniors getting to choose where to attend.
In the realm of early applications, most colleges offer one of three choices: early action, early decision round 1 and 2 (at some schools), or rolling decision. The two rounds of early action and early decision impose an application deadline and notify students of their decisions by a specific date. Early action allows accepted students to apply to other schools as well, adding the advantage of comparing financial aid packages from other schools, while the students accepted by early decision are automatically committed to attend and therefore lack this choice.
Rolling decision has no deadline and colleges notify students relatively quickly of their result after receiving the application. The rolling decision schools where Choate students have been accepted so far this year include U-Michigan, U-Conn, Penn State, Parsons, U-Wisconsin, College of Charleston, U-Colorado, and Rose-Hulman.
In nearly all cases, early applications are more competitive than regular decision rounds. For example, at Boston College, the average SAT score of students admitted early is a full one hundred points higher than those of students accepted in the regular round. In addition, many legacies (students who have family connections to a school) and recruited athletes apply during the early rounds.
“On the early action level, there is no question that it is more competitive. The colleges are looking to skim off the top of the [applicant] pool,” said Mrs. Burditt. Since colleges are under little pressure to fill up a certain number of spots early, they can carefully select the students who will form the basis of their freshman class.
“Early decision can work to your benefit as you are letting the college know that if admitted you will attend. Early action can be a counterbalance to this, so a good deal of thought and conversation needs to go into the decision to apply early,” said Mrs. Burditt.
The conclusion of round one early applications marked the finish line of the college process for a fifth of the seniors this year; but the College Office is still buzzing—continuing its work with more than four-fifth of the class of 2006 who are waiting for decisions and are still fully engaged in the process.
