As concerns about minority enrollment at elite universities like Harvard and MIT grow following the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions, applying early decision to college can be a vehicle to sustain or potentially even increase minority enrollment.
When used effectively, applying early decision can be an equalizer, ensuring that students from low-income communities get a seat at the table and that college campuses are socio-economically diverse.
Students who decide to apply early decision know that colleges have limited seats and financial aid dollars, and the early bird gets the worm. For example, for the 2022-2023 admission cycle, Northwestern University had a 22% acceptance rate for early decision compared to a 7% acceptance rate for regular decision. And just this year, close to 60% of Boston University class of 2028 applicants were admitted via early decision.
Cost of conflict: Schools now spend billions dealing with division
Students don’t need to fear that applying for early decision may mean a lower financial aid package; many schools that offer an early decision also meet the full need. In addition, students can appeal their financial aid offer if they are concerned about it, and ultimately, colleges will allow students to withdraw their commitment if the two parties cannot find a middle ground. Families can determine which schools meet the percentage of need on CollegeBoard’s BigFuture. Schools that meet more than 90% of the need will generally offer students a competitive financial aid offer.
That’s why I believe early decision offers students a competitive advantage in an admissions process that is far from being equitable.
While some pundits advocate for removing early decision, I think that would do more harm than good. Sure, by removing it, there is one less mechanism for the wealthy to game the system since more affluent students take advantage of the process because they don’t have to worry about financial aid packages. But eliminating early decision would also diminish further the voices of students from historically marginalized backgrounds who live in our nation’s most under-resourced communities.
Early decision opens doors
At Uncommon Schools, I make sure our students have the information and guidance they need to leverage early decisions. I also help facilitate the personal connections between our students and admissions reps that humanize this process and make applying early decision possible.
Since 2010, 789 of our students have enrolled at a college where they applied early decision or single choice early action. These students have earned $184 million in grants and scholarships to 130 colleges and universities across the U.S. What is incredible is that one in three of these students did not borrow any loans to pay for college. That’s the goal.
Overall, I found that our graduates who enroll at colleges via early decision attend schools with higher graduation rates and receive more generous financial aid packages than those who didn’t apply early or applied early but did not get in.
Several colleges that do not have the financial resources to meet full need have done so for our students who’ve applied early decision—something that likely would not have been possible to do in regular decision.
Undoubtedly, both students and colleges stand to benefit from early decision. While many highly selective colleges use early decision to build the foundation for their incoming class, students use it to demonstrate their interest and beat the odds in an increasingly competitive college admissions landscape.
If we want to make college more accessible, one way to do so would be for colleges to increase the number and/or proportion of economically underserved students admitted to early decision and commit enough resources to meet 100% of the demonstrated need for those students. Colleges that don’t meet full need in early decision should either not offer the option or reduce the seats they fill early to enroll more students from low-income communities. There should also be a floor for the percentage of Pell-eligible students who are admitted via early decision.
For college counselors, the first step is to share with students and families which schools offer early decision and how their acceptance rates differ for early versus regular decision applicants. The second step is to cross-reference that list with the schools here that meet 90% of financial need.
The third step is to work with the student and family to determine which school might be the best financial, academic, and social fit for the student and apply early. If students need help to increase their financial aid package, there are free resources to help them write a financial aid appeal letter.
Over the last 20 years, early decision has opened doors for hundreds of our high school graduates. My colleagues and I have seen firsthand the good that early decision can do for our students—most of whom are first-generation, students of color from economically underserved communities. Rather than banning early decision, colleges should use it more strategically to promote college access.
