Ambitious students have a new way of increasing their odds of getting into some top colleges: using an old feature of some "early decision" programs to vie for acceptances from two different colleges.
Early decision programs let applicants apply early, but they also must pledge to enroll if admitted. Traditionally, top universities have let students apply early only once, in the fall.
Many colleges—competitive, but a rung below the Ivies—give students two chances for early consideration. The idea was to help a variety of students for whom the fall deadline was too early; it was not meant to let students apply early to more than one institution. But with hysteria over getting into good colleges growing, it was only a matter of time before anxious applicants figured out how to use these dual deadlines to their advantage.
Good or bad idea to apply early twice? As with traditional early decision, applying twice draws critics and supporters. Many educators see the second early decision deadline as more "gaming" by students trying to work the system to get into the college of their dreams.
The deadlines for many colleges’ second round of early decision fall after students are notified if they have won admission in the first round. So most students don’t have to violate the rule against putting in more than one early application.
There is no national data on the trend, but admissions officials agree that as a result of the deadlines, more and more students are applying early to two colleges: As soon as they are not admitted in round one, they fire off a second early application.
"It’s like, ‘I love you today, but if you turn me down, I’m going to love someone else tomorrow,’" said Wylie L. Mitchell, dean of admissions at Bates College.
Bates aims its two deadlines for early decision at applicants who have carefully weighed their decisions and have arrived at "a single first choice," Mitchell said, adding that the students who rush off second early applications aren’t arriving at thoughtful decisions.
Thomas Hughart, director of guidance at Wellesley High School, says many students apply to second early decision programs after they miss out on their first choice. He thinks it’s natural.
"If the girl I ask to the prom says no, I’m not going to not go to the prom. I’ll ask someone else," Hughart said.
Second-round early decision has been around for 20 years and longer at many institutions. The programs are most popular at liberal arts colleges and many such institutions in New England have such programs (Amherst and Williams colleges have been notable exceptions). The eight Ivy League institutions, MIT, Stanford, and the University of Chicago do not offer two deadlines for early decision. But some universities—for example, Emory, Tufts, and Vanderbilt universities—do. The second deadline gives students more time to make their case.
Middlebury College and Colby College, for example, both have a first early-decision deadline of Nov. 15, and a second early deadline of Jan. 1 (the same deadline as regular applications). The theory behind the second deadline was that it would help those students who had picked a first-choice college, but couldn’t finish everything in time for the first deadline.
But the second deadline has evolved beyond a service for such applicants. Tufts had more than 400 such applicants. Bates had 181, while 223 had applied for the first early deadline.
Who gains the most by applying to the second deadline? Many applicants believe that they have a much better chance of getting in early decision (either deadline) than through the regular deadline. Admission rates appear to support this theory: Many colleges have much higher admission rates for early decision (either deadline) than for regular applicants.
High school counselors don’t dispute that, but they say that for certain students, using the second early deadline tends to give an edge. Bob Gilpin, who runs a Milton-based service that advises students on college applicants, says students who are good, but not great, benefit from this approach.
"If you have someone with a high 1,300 SAT, good B/B+ average at a good high school, the student will get lost in the general pool," Gilpin said.
Debra Shaver, director of admissions at Smith College, also says that some students are improving through their senior year. "Students change developmentally in the senior year," she said. "You aren’t the same kid in June when you graduate that you were in August."
Hilary Goldberg is typical of this kind of student. She turned things around for herself academically at Needham High School during her junior year, and with a mix of A’s and B’s, she made the honor roll. Goldberg hadn’t been motivated her freshman or sophomore years and earned plenty of C’s and worse.
With her successful junior year and an impressive 1,460 on the SATs, Goldberg decided she wanted to attend Smith. But when she met with counselors at College Coach, a service that helps students get into college, Goldberg realized she had a problem. Her overall grade-point average was mediocre. College Coach counselor, Nicole Eichin, advised Goldberg against using Smith’s first deadline. Goldberg needed to show Smith that her junior year was "an upward trend," and not a fluke.
The strategy Eichin came up with: Apply early to Smith, but use Smith’s second deadline for early decision. Using the second deadline, Goldberg was able to send grades from the fall semester of her senior year (A’s and A minuses). Smith admitted Goldberg and she will enroll in the fall.
Admissions officials said their main frustration is that so many students use the second deadline as their fallback, rather than focusing on picking a real first choice. And many don’t even hide it.
