Reviewing admissions

With Dean of Admission Hargadon's recent departure, Dean Rapelye's new arrival and Stanford, Yale and Harvard's decisions to adopt early action admission policies, it's not surprising that the University is examining its own policies. Princeton saw its number of early applicants plunge as the early action schools' early applicant pool increased by as much as 62 percent.

Of course, the number of applicants shouldn't be all an admissions policy is based on. And neither early decision nor early action is perfect.

Early decision is the most heavily criticized admissions policy because studies have repeatedly shown well-connected and wealthy students can best take advantage of the system. This special group not only has full access to prep schools with highly qualified college counselors, but also has the advantage of deciding upon a school without having to factor in cost. Yet, early decision is also the strongest form of commitment a student can demonstrate to any college. As Hargadon has often said, the policy also allows admissions better control over the makeup of a class, ensuring a desirable ratio of athletes to musicians and engineers to humanities majors that can be hard to get at a smaller university.

Like early decision, single-choice early action allows applicants to apply to only one school in the early round, but students need not commit until spring. They can then apply regular decision to as many schools as they wish. This form of admission gives students of lesser economic means the opportunity to shop around for better financial aid packages. Even though Princeton has a very strong aid program, the thought of committing to a school that costs nearly $40,000 a year without knowing what aid is available can be dauting, to say the least. Admissions, however, has less control over the composition of the class.

We're glad the administration is examining admissions options. If the other schools' experience is any indication of what ours will be, any change in admissions procedures will have significant effects on Princeton's applicant pool. The administrations is right to go forward carefully in examining its options.