Word: nacac
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Last fall, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) revised its policy on early programs, allowing students to simultaneously apply to Early Decision and Early Action. Under Early Decision, students make a binding commitment to the institution to which they apply, indicating that school to be their top choice and agreeing to enroll there if accepted. Early Action involves no such binding commitment—it is virtually the same as regular admissions, except of course that the decision is made earlier...
...NACAC rules are a substantial step forward for high school students. With Princeton and Brown, Early Decision is a one-shot deal: if students apply there early and get rejected, they must wait until the regular admissions cycle to hear any responses—reducing their options and forcing them to compete with many more applicants. But if a student applies Early Decision to Brown and Early Action to Harvard, and is rejected at Brown but accepted to Harvard, then there is no conflict—the student and Harvard benefit, while Brown loses nothing...
Officials at Brown and Princeton said they wanted to maintain autonomy over their own application processes. This reasoning appears specious; both are members of NACAC and are thereby obliged to adhere to its admissions guidelines. It is more likely that Brown and Princeton are worried that students they accept Early Decision, but who are also accepted Early Action at another university, might enroll at the Early Action school and break their commitment to attend the Early Decision institution...
...believe that the new NACAC policy, as well as the policies of many colleges and secondary schools, actually promote more, not fewer, early applications,” Hargadon wrote. “Nor do I think it a great idea for my colleagues in other colleges to be spending valuable time reviewing applications of Early Action candidates who, unbenownst to them, are already committed to attend, if admitted, an Early Decision college to which the have also applied...
...obvious route out of the stalemate is for NACAC to change its policies again at this week’s conference. Wilder said Early Decision and Early Action policies are likely to be reviewed in detail and that many options are up for consideration, including limiting all students to one early application...