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Many Colleges in Limbo on Fall Admissions
Online applications, choosy students, and competitiveness all make the admissions picture murkier.

June 14, 2000 — Students used to apply for early admission to secure their choice of schools. Today, many students do not yet know where they will be attending college this fall — and are weighing their choices much like choosy consumers.

More than 530,000 prospective freshmen applied to New England area colleges for the fall term this year, according to a recent survey by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE). But one month after the traditional May 1 acceptance deadline, 158 of 214 New England area schools still had not figured out exactly who would fill the lecture halls next school year.

How pervasive is the issue of late acceptance? The entire college admissions process is in transition these days, according to Joyce Smith, executive director of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), a nonprofit education association of secondary school counselors, college and university admission officers and counselors and other individuals who work with students as they make the transition from high school to postsecondary education. The association represents nearly 7,000 colleges, universities and related organizations. Office.com spoke with Smith about the new market forces that are reshaping the field and the admissions process.

A recent survey by the New England Board of Higher Education revealed that 158 schools of higher education — including Harvard University — had still not filled their fall courses by the May 1 deadline. Why are so many college admission offices having trouble figuring out who is coming to school this fall?

My first reaction is that I was surprised by the suggestion that they'd not filled, because all the information I've been getting is the complete opposite. Colleges are telling us that they're getting more applications than they can realistically admit and that they had extended admission to a number of students trying to project what their yield might be. Many of them were concerned about going over what they are projecting as their yield, because of housing and other constraints.

If there is any delay in acceptance, it might be because lots of students have applied to lots of colleges. College admissions officers usually try to admit a certain percentage, assuming that a certain yield will accept their offer of admissions. If they're off in terms of how they've selected students for the upcoming entering class, normally they then go to their "wait list." We try to encourage colleges not to have a long wait list, and not to keep students waiting all summer. That's why we try and enforce May 1 as the candidate's reply date. So students' lack of response or indecisiveness ends up affecting other students.

The "'why" could be that students are weighing their offers among different colleges. Students might also be considering their financial aid offers, and some of them may have reconsidered their choices, because of the level of aid. But it surprises me that the number of colleges would be so large, and that it would be so late.

Demographics and a hot economy have combined to make this one of the most competitive years on record for getting into top schools. How does this affect the admissions process?

First, I want to respond to the reference to the "top schools." It's troubling to me, because there are about 3,400 two- or four- year institutions, and 85 percent of all college students are educated at public colleges and universities. Students need to consider what's the best match for them in their application process, and not get caught up in going to the "top schools."

When all the emphasis is on the top schools, I think that continues to elevate parents' and students' anxiety about whether they're going to get in anyplace, let alone the "top schools." In some ways, competitive years and record years, from the college's side, may be viewed as an abundance of riches. They have lots of applicants, lots of qualified students, and, quite frankly, these students present some very hard choices, when admission officers are going through and trying to figure out who will be admitted to these top schools.

Colleges then become more and more competitive for the top kids. At that point, some of the caveats about students' ability to pay start trickling into the process. Our association has real concerns about this. A couple of years ago, we had a policy called "need-blind" admission. Today, more colleges are "need-conscious." If you have more and more students in the pool, more and more students who really want to come to your school, you might begin to see colleges looking at those who have the ability to pay. When I use that term, "abundance of riches," it could be literal. Colleges might be looking at just the cream-of-the-crop students, and that is of grave concern to our association and to parents. The stakes are going to get a lot higher for both the institutions competing for students, and the students themselves.

The advent of early admissions seems to have thrown everything into somewhat of a disarray in the traditional college admissions process. What is the real purpose of early admissions, and is it a good thing for schools and students?

Let me define the terms, because they often are confused. Early decision involves the student applying in October, November or December and getting an answer to their application for admission in January, and needing to commit to the institution in January. Early action is applying in October through December, hearing from the institution in January, but still having until May 1 to decide. Early admission is sometimes interpreted as students being admitted in their junior year of high school.

The traditional college admission process has been thrown totally out of kilter because of these early plans. The real purpose historically was for kids who knew that the school was their first choice, and if an offer of admission was extended in January, they could say "yes" without hesitation. Twenty-some odd years later, there's a very different interpretation of the need for these plans.

They've become an admission strategy, serving thousands more students than were originally intended. Less than 500 four-year institutions offer the early-decision and early-action plans, but media coverage has started a bit of a scare among parents, who think their children won't get in if they don't apply for one of these plans. Colleges like the plans, because they essentially know that a certain number of students have been admitted, and some of these schools may admit 30-50 percent of their students this way.

Our main concern with these plans has to do with financial aid. Students who apply early do not have the most up-to-date financial information from their families, such as income tax information, for example. A lot of the shuffling and reshuffling that happens occurs when students get the real letter for financial aid. It may not cover all their expenses, as anticipated. Financial aid seems to be one of the major drawbacks for students applying for early decision. Another concern is the diversity of the pool. Generally, there are not a respectable number of students of color, or from different parts of the country participating in early plans.

How has the online application process changed the way kids apply to colleges today?

The online application — both materials being available and being able to apply online — has drastically changed applications, and exacerbated some of the problems we're talking about. If you can get applications from colleges around the country, that's great. But if it's easy to complete an application, and hit a "'common application" or "universal application" to 20 or 30 schools, it starts to inflate everyone's applicant projections.

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