Volume CXXXII, Number 9 November 15, 2002 f

Early decision option stays at Bowdoin despite trends
ANN SULLIVAN
STAFF WRITER

Does the early bird really get the worm? According to Bowdoin, this isn't necessarily the case. Year after year, by mid-November the admissions office is flooded with early decision applications from hopeful students across the United States and the world; however, this option is being phased out at many colleges across the nation.

Last week Yale and Stanford announced the end of their early decision days. According to the Washington Post, "the combined effect will put pressure on other colleges to do the same or risk losing in the competition for some of the best applicants." With many schools instituting this shift, some might expect Bowdoin to follow suit, but Jim Miller, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, stated that, "for the short term I think we are happy with what [early decision] does for us."

Early decision was originally instituted solely to help students get through the hassle of the college process sooner and with better-suited results. Over the years, some schools have dropped this agreement for one reason or another.

Miller believes that early decision has "mutated nationally because some schools use it to inflate their rating in U.S. News and World Report and to control financial aid expenditure" but he reiterated that Bowdoin "[tries] hard to stick to the original idea."

Every year the number of applications for this option increases. This time last year, there were approximately 420 applicants, 175 of whom were accepted for the class of 2006, which is made of about 450 students-meaning about 38 percent were accepted early decision. This figure is significantly higher than the 23-24 percent overall admit rate.

These numbers indicate that early decision yields a benefit, and Miller did admit that "statistically there is an advantage, there is a slightly higher admit rate." Yet, he emphasized that "[admissions officers] try not to make different decisions. [They] try to make the same decision early that [they] would make regular." Miller continued, stating that they "do not want to advantage or disadvantage people" and that the higher admittance rate in early decision is skewed as a result of many things. For instance, legacy cases generally apply early and most athletic recruiting occurs during this process.

Though many colleges are reevaluating the purpose of early decision application, Miller believes that it is "good for students to have the option to apply early, get a decision, and enjoy their senior year with out the pressure of the college applications."

While some schools who discontinued the option feel that students may rush the choice, admissions has conducted extensive research which found that their early decision students did not feel as though they made hasty or premature decisions and that graduation rates for early decision applicants are the same or higher than those who applied regular. Furthermore, Miller noted that "some of our best students and alums have been early decision [applicants]."

Miller provided a final word of wisdom regarding this process, "[admissions knows] it is a big issue for families and for students and [that] there's a lot of folk wisdom in general about how families feel like [they[ have to game the early decision process a little bit-that [they] have to try to figure out how to beat it or how use it-but [we] try very hard to play it straight and use it the way it was intended."

Early decision applications for the class of 2007 are due Friday, November 15, 2002.