Two professors who serve on Harvard's standing committee on admissions and financial aid have recently said that there is a possibility that Harvard might begin to accept students during regular decision admissions who have been accepted at other colleges during the early decision round.
Karl Furstenberg, Dartmouth's Dean of Admissions, while concerned about the ethical implications of such a proposed change, did not think that such an alteration of admissions policy would affect Dartmouth significantly.
"For most of the students who apply to Dartmouth Early Decision, Dartmouth is clearly their real first choice. They've thought it through, and they're not playing games," he said.
He noted that Dartmouth's admissions office has always expected that students will honor their commitments to enroll; for example, while many schools require students to pay a deposit upon agreeing to come in May, Dartmouth never has.
He also said that, since Dartmouth takes a smaller percentage of its class early than many of its fellow Ivy League schools, it would thus be less affected by Harvard's proposed revision of admissions policy.
Furstenberg was, however, concerned about the ethical implications of a policy which seemingly encourages students to break binding agreements they have made with other institutions. Although he was acquainted with criticisms of early action/early decision programs, he did not think that Harvard's agreeing to take students accepted under early decision elsewhere is the best way to fix the system.
He said that he worried that what has been missing from the news coverage is "anything about the importance of people keeping their word."
Similarly, when asked about whether Dartmouth would consider following Harvard if it does make such a change, Furstenberg replied that Dartmouth "would certainly not do anything to encourage students from going back on commitments they've made to other schools."
Furstenberg also said that such a move by Harvard might set students thinking about how they could use the policy to their advantage to gain admission to both Harvard through regular admissions and other prestigious schools during the Early round, rather than focusing their efforts on selecting a first-choice school where they would be most content.
"The business of applying early decision to one school and then applying to Harvard regular goes counter to the real purpose of early decision programs," he said. "Early Decision is supposed to make things easier for students and institutions, not to promote game-playing."
"Admissions has become fraught with pressures, strategizing and anxiety," he said. "I worry that such a move by Harvard would encourage game-playing and anxiety, not lessen it."
Harvard University's Admissions Office declined to comment for this article.
