12-5-09: Higher Ed Environment: Colleges see surge in early acceptance applications

Selective colleges in the D.C. region are reporting double-digit increases in early decision applications, signaling that the schools and their prospective freshmen are eager to commit now and forgo the uncertainties of the spring admission cycle.

Early decision is a tool used by competitive colleges to fill part of their freshman class months ahead of schedule. Colleges get firm commitments. Students get peace of mind and, usually, a more favorable acceptance rate, if they are willing to drop their applications to other schools after accepting an early offer of admission. Acceptance rates are generally higher for early decision applicants because they are more appealing to colleges, among other factors, officials said.

Schools that offer early decision have seen applications rise steadily for most of the decade. But at several local institutions, this year's numbers are off the charts.

American University received 591 applications by its Nov. 15 deadline for early decision, a 46 percent increase from last year.

George Washington University collected more than 1,600 early decision applications by Nov. 10, the first of two early decision deadlines, an increase of 24 percent in one year and 70 percent over two years.

Early decision applications are up 15 percent, to 1,094, at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and by 10 percent, to 1,155, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Applications for the regular admissions cycle are typically due in January.

The burgeoning interest in early decision is not limited to students. College admissions officers also are taking a greater interest, according to school officials and higher education analysts.

Some colleges are promoting early decision in recruitment literature and events. In a shaky economy, they are eager to broaden a pool of applicants devoted to the schools and certain to attend.

"You have a core of students who are very, very enthusiastic about the college, and who are more engaged in the college, for whom that institution is the first choice," said Sharon Alston, executive director for enrollment management at AU.

AU increased its regional recruitment events this year and emphasized the advantages of applying early. The school sweetened the deal by making the SAT and ACT admissions tests optional for this year's early decision applicants, an experiment designed to diversify the pool.

A large number of early decision applicants "takes some of the uncertainty off the table" for a college, said Eric J. Furda, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, another prestigious school that expects an increase in early applications. Penn officials have been "very focused on increasing that pool," he said.

Nellie Beckett, a senior in the Communication Arts Program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, decided to apply early to Smith College after a campus visit this fall. She followed a chorus of advice -- from classmates, her guidance counselors and people she met at Smith -- to apply now if she were sure she wanted to go. She'll have an answer Dec. 15.

"Every college in their brochure -- Smith included -- said that if you want to increase your chances of getting in, and you think it's the school for you, you should apply early," she said. "It's such a relief to know that in two weeks I will, I hope, be done with this entire process and can get on with my senior year."

Students who apply early lose the chance to choose among multiple financial aid offers from competing colleges, a counterintuitive move in a recession.

But admissions experts say economic instability might be motivating families to seek a little certainty. Students who get into college early avoid months of stressful waiting.

There are other intriguing theories for the rise in applications. One is the Obama factor: The schools with the largest bumps in early decision activity are near the White House. They might be seeing the beginning of a banner admissions year, the first since the new administration arrived.

"Washington, D.C., is a very popular city these days," said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, a District nonprofit group that represents college leaders.

Families also might be responding to the steady tightening in admissions rates at the nation's most selective schools, a trend that is placing schools such as William and Mary and Hopkins increasingly out of reach.

Applicants "are doing this on their own," said John Latting, dean of undergraduate admissions at Hopkins, a school that did not promote early decision this year. He said many families are doing a college search on "an accelerating timeline," which "makes them more likely to have a first choice by Nov. 1 than families used to be."

An analysis by U.S. News & World Report this fall found that the acceptance rate at GWU for early applicants is nearly double that of all applicants, 67 percent vs. 37 percent. At William and Mary, the rate is 54 percent, compared with 34 percent overall; at AU, it's 75 percent, compared with 53 percent overall.

Not long ago, early decision seemed to be in decline. Three of the nation's most selective and influential schools, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia, abolished early admission three years ago amid concern that the process unfairly narrowed applicants' options and favored the rich.

But the share of colleges offering early decision hasn't dropped significantly. A survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling found that 17 percent of schools offered early decision last year, compared with 18 percent in 2006. About 20 percent of colleges offered a variant called early action, which is not binding and leaves students free to enroll elsewhere.

Two local universities with early action plans, Georgetown and Howard, reported negligible changes in applications this year.

Anecdotal evidence suggests a strong year for early decision applications nationwide. Applicants increased by 33 percent at Duke University, according to the Chronicle student newspaper, and by 3 percent at Dartmouth College, according to a college release. The online publication InsideHigherEd reports that early decision is up at Grinnell College, Stanford University, New York University, Pomona College and Smith and that a comparative few expect modest declines.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/04/AR2009120401781.html