In its Jan. 6 Verbum Ultimum, The Dartmouth urged that the College consider abandoning its binding early decision admissions program in favor of a nonbinding early action program. At Dartmouth we have studied our early decision program from several perspectives and concluded that, on balance, the current program serves the best interests of both students and the College.
Contrary to the report in The Dartmouth, Dartmouth and five of its Ivy League peer institutions offer a binding early decision program; only Harvard and Yale offer early action plans. Beyond the Ivy League, the overwhelming majority of private, selective colleges and universities offer early decision programs. Dartmouth has offered early decision since the late 1950s. The vigorous national debate over early admission programs, which began in 2002, caused us to take a critical look at our policies to ensure consistency with the values and mission of the College. Much of the debate centers on the unfair advantage that early programs might provide to applicants who have the resources and sophistication to prepare themselves earlier in the process. Some of our peer institutions, including both early action and early decision schools, admit upwards of 50 percent of their incoming classes through early programs, belying their contention that applying early does not represent an admission advantage.
In the last five years, approximately 35 percent of entering Dartmouth classes have been admitted through early decision. This proportion seems appropriate given the relative size of the early and regular decision pools. At Dartmouth, we have a very large regular decision pool that also represents great academic strength and diversity of backgrounds. Preserving the majority of spaces in our class for regular decision ensures enrolling the most interesting class possible. Our approach in early decision has been to apply the same selection criteria as in regular decision, and not to attach any particular advantage to early applicants. We do not admit applicants in early decision that would not be admitted in regular decision. Dartmouth follows a "holistic evaluation" process for each student, considering all factors that influence academic and extracurricular accomplishments. This approach guards against an unfair advantage for students from "privileged" backgrounds, as The Dartmouth editorial contends. Further, we do not actively promote our early decision program, leaving it to students to decide on their own that Dartmouth is their first choice. This limits pressure on students to commit prematurely.
The College believes that it is reasonable to offer an early, first choice option for those students who are ready to make a commitment. Dartmouth is, after all, a clear first-choice school for many talented students. Resolving the candidacies of students who have a clear first choice actually simplifies the process for all concerned because it helps to reduce the submission of multiple applications in regular decision.
Early action programs, however, allow admitted students to submit additional regular decision applications to see where else they may be admitted, unnecessarily inflating applicant pools and increasing the competitiveness of the process for other candidates. We believe there is value in a process that asks students to make a carefully considered commitment and then honor that commitment.
Finally, Dartmouth offers a very generous and comprehensive need-blind financial aid program. The financial aid program, which is continually enhanced, provides more than $44 million in scholarship aid to students. Recent adjustments to the aid program have reduced loan and work expectations for many students, adding to the amount of their scholarship assistance. There is no evidence to suggest that students of modest means are disadvantaged at Dartmouth by applying early, as the critics of early decision claim. Students admitted through early decision are free to appeal their financial aid awards and we do make adjustments that improve their packages, consistent with our need-based financial aid policies. The proportion of early decision students appealing their financial aid awards is similar to the proportion of regular decision students requesting an appeal. The supposition in The Dartmouth editorial that financial aid students would have less bargaining power in early decision is simply false. In recent years, the students admitted through early decision are an increasingly diverse group in many dimensions including socio-economic background. Over the last five years very few early decision students have withdrawn for financial reasons.
In the end, each college and university must decide for itself which early program works best for its applicants and enrollment priorities. At Dartmouth, early decision meets this test and, looking to the future, our plan is to continue to offer a binding early decision admissions program. On balance we believe that, if used responsibly, students who have a particular college or university as a clear first choice can simplify the admissions process and, if admitted, conclude their college search late in the fall without having submitted multiple applications. The sorting out of a portion of the applicant pool early in the year works to everyone's advantage.
