The Early Admissions Game: Joining the Elite

398 Pages·2003·0.86 MB·English

by  Christopher Avery

THE EARLY ADMISSIONS GAME

THE
Early Admissions
Game
(
Joining the Elite
With a New Chapter
Christopher Avery
Andrew Fairbanks
Richard Zeckhauser
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
Copyright © 2003, 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is on file at the Library of Congress.
ISBN 0-674-01055-8 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-674-01620-3 (pbk.)
Contents
Introduction: Joining the Game 1
1 The History of Early Admissions 19
2 The State of the Game 43
3 Martian Blackjack: What Do Applicants
Understand about Early Admissions? 71
4 The Innocents Abroad: The Admissions Voyage 99
5 The Truth about Early Applications 135
6 The Game Revealed: Strategies of Colleges,
Counselors, and Applicants 171
7 Advice to Applicants 228
Conclusion: The Essence of the Game and
Some Possible Reforms 255
Early Admissions 2004 294
vi Contents
Appendix A Median SAT-1 Scores and Early Application
Appendix A Programs at Various Colleges 309
Appendix B Data Sources 318
Appendix C Interview Formats 325
Notes 333
Acknowledgments 375
Tables and Figures 379
Index 383
THE EARLY ADMISSIONS GAME

Introduction:
Joining the Game
The big secret in college admissions is that there is no big secret.
Fred Hargadon, Admissions Director, Princeton University
E
achyear,hordesofAmericanhighschoolseniorsapplytoselec-
tive colleges. They each spend hundreds of hours improving their
gradesandundertakingextracurricularactivitiestostrengthentheir
applications. What they don’t know is the true “big secret” of the
collegeadmissionsprocess:Applyingearlydramaticallyimprovesan
applicant’s chances of admission.
Thisbooksummarizesfiveyearsofresearchontheeffectsofearly
admissionsprograms.Ourworkcombineshistoricalresearch,inter-
views,andstatisticalanalysisoftwovaluablenewsetsofdata.Almost
all the selective private colleges now offer an early admissions pro-
gram, allowing students to apply and receive notification of a deci-
sion before the ordinary deadline for submitting applications. Such
programs,historicallyforthespecialfew,havebecometheportalof
entry for more than one-quarter of the class at many of America’s
mostprestigiouscolleges,andhalfofeachenteringclassatHarvard.
Of the 281 private institutions ranked as the “Best National Uni-