Should early decision be abolished? Two college admissions officers debate the benefits and drawbacks.

• Author: Lucido, Jerome
• Position: Debate

YES What's wrong with early decision? Plenty. It forces students to develop a top college choice too early. It removes the ability of students to select among those colleges that have admitted them, because early decision requires students to enroll at the one school to which they applied early.

Instead of encouraging students to carefully find the school that matches their needs best, early decison drives them to apply early as a strategy to get in. The popularity of early-decision admissions creates a fear in some students that if they don't apply early, their place will be taken by someone who did. A study by Harvard's Kennedy School confirms that it is easier to get into many top schools by applying early decision.

Abolishing early decision would reduce the pressure on students by shifting the focus of the decision process back to senior year, during which students mature in their thinking about college. It would also give students a chance to visit the colleges that have admitted them and review financial-aid awards to determine the best overall choice for them and their families. Early decision is an idea that has outlived it usefulness.

Jerome Lucido

Director of Admissions

Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel. Hill

NO "The people who love early decision the most are the students," a Penn parent recently told me. She was surprised that anyone would want to abolish this admissions procedure on the grounds...