Author: Arielle Darr
More and more colleges and universities across the nation are choosing to terminate early decision (ED) options for high school seniors. However, Oxy’s commitment to early decision remains strong. According to Occidental College Admissions, the ED pool for the class of 2012 included 114 applicants, with 50 admitted. Similarly, the ED statistics gathered as of Nov. 21, 2008 for the class of 2013 have been 118 applicants to date. “ED applications to colleges seemed to spike a few years ago. Although it’s too early to assess this year’s national trend, early word is that it’s up from last year,” Dean of Admissions Vice Cuseo said.
These numbers will continue to climb, according to the Newsweek article “Getting In Gets Harder,” which explained that more high school seniors are applying to college, making the admissions process even more competitive.
In regards to Oxy’s early decision option, Cuseo said, “We believe in the value of giving prospective students the choice to commit to Oxy earlier in their senior year if they’ve found us to be the place where they’ll thrive for the next four years. Approximately 10-12% of our first-year class enrolls through ED, and they typically bring enormous enthusiasm for and vitality to the campus.”
“I felt comfortable when I visited Oxy […] I am definitely happy with where I am,” Lily Orcutt (first year) said on why she applied ED to Oxy. Besides a feeling people get when they visit a school, students choose to apply early to one school because there are advantages to the process.
“If a student has done her or his extensive college research and has clearly identified Oxy as a first-choice school, then it’s an opportunity to expedite the college search process,” Cuseo said. “It dramatically reduces the angst of senior year if a student determines her or his ideal college and is fortunate enough to be admitted in December rather than in March or April. And most colleges, including Oxy, will consider the fact that it’s the student’s first choice in its evaluation of the student’s application,” he added.
According to Cuseo, there can be disadvantages to the process. “Students should be certain of their ED college choice. They evolve and change. Will a college that appears to be the ideal fit seem that way in April as it does in November? [. . .] Additionally, any applicant seeking financial aid won’t have the opportunity to compare financial aid packages from other colleges,” he said.
Students who apply early decision to Oxy must consider that Oxy solely offers early decision. This means that unlike early action, which gives students the opportunity to apply early to several different schools, early decision is binding, meaning a student must attend the one school he or she applied to if accepted.
According to Cuseo, Oxy has early decision and not early action because “we believe the binding early decision policy serves both the student and the college best. EA provides those who happen to complete their application in the fall an opportunity to receive a decision well prior to those who may need more time to weigh their college application options. It doesn’t necessarily signal a high level of interest in the college to which they’re applying, especially in this era of electronic submission of applications and the Common Application [. . .] We don’t want to advantage one set of applicants while disadvantaging others.”
One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she applied early decision this year to become a part of the Oxy Class of 2013 because “I knew I wanted to go to Oxy and wanted to find out early so I would know where I was going.” When asked how she felt about the disadvantages that come with applying early she said “It doesn’t bother me because I’m pretty confident in my decision [. . .] I took a year off before going to college so I am not a high school senior anymore and I’ve really looked at a lot of colleges.”
Oxy Admissions believe the advantages of the early decision process outweigh the disadvantages. “If students decide Oxy is their ideal college environment, then we want that student to be able to reveal that to us,” Cuseo said. “There are only a handful of colleges or universities that decided to eliminate any version of an early program. They are of a type hyper-selective places, such as Harvard, that could fill a significant portion of their new class through early programs. They decided many students were merely using early programs as ‘leverage’ for admission.”
Oxy has no future plans to eliminate early decision, although Cuseo said that “we reassess our policies after each admission cycle, so there’s always the possibility of altering our approach.” For now early decision at Oxy appears a steadfast part of the admissions process, as, according to Cuseo, “Oxy entertained only about 20 ED applications a decade ago. We’ve seen 90-120 applications in the past three years.”
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