Similarly, Charles Guerrero, a counselor for the Prep for Prep program in New York, which enrolls solely students of color who are usually in the first generation in their families to attend college, stated, “[Students eligible for Prep for Prep] lack sophisticated understanding of the college admission process and are ill informed about the differences between individual institutions.”
Data that we collected from the admissions offices at fourteen highly selective colleges reveal the differences in demographics between the pools of early and regular applicants. Jean Fetter was right: Early Action and Early Decision applicants are disproportionately nonminorities from advantaged backgrounds. At each college in the admissions office data, African Americans and Hispanics applied early at lower rates than the overall early application rate.
Across the schools, African Americans applied early about half as often as others; Hispanics about two-thirds as often as others. Specifically, 11.9 percent of African Americans and 13.5 percent of Hispanics applied early at Early Action schools, while 20.5 percent of all applicants to those schools applied early. The pattern is the same at Early Decision schools: 3.6 percent of African Americans and 4.8 percent of Hispanics applied early at ED schools, while 7.4 percent of all applicants to those schools applied early.
Similarly, financial aid applicants were less likely than others to apply early. Our interviews with college students at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Yale augment these findings. Among these college students who attended high school in the United States, 70.3 percent applied early to some college. The students who attended prominent private high schools and who were not relying on financial aid were even more likely to apply early.
Among those who went to a prominent private high school, 83.5 percent applied early; among those students for whom financial aid was not a concern, 78.0 percent applied early to some college. In contrast, of the students who went to a less competitive public high school (where it is common for graduates not to go on to college), only 42.6 percent applied early. Similarly, among the college students who reported that financial aid was important to their choice of college, only 48.0 percent applied early to some college.
A likely reason for these disparities is a difference in the timing of college visits, which is probably due in part to the geographic location and the comparative lack of wealth of financial aid applicants. Some students can only afford to visit a small number of colleges. For these budget-constrained students, it may be an extravagance to visit a college before being admitted to it; if rejected by the college, the expense of the trip is a loss. In our interviews, 83.3 percent of the students from prominent private high schools and 69.1 percent of the students who were not relying on financial aid reported that they had visited the college they ended up attending (or had a close family member attend the school) before the early application deadline. In contrast, only 34.6 percent of the students from less competitive public high schools and 41.1 percent of students for whom financial aid was a major concern had visited the college (or had a close family member attend the college) that they ended up attending before the early application deadline.
By contrast, a greater percentage of alumni children, recruited athletes, and those not seeking financial aid applied early than did students overall in the admissions office data. For example, 34.0 percent of alumni children applied early at Early Action colleges, and 17.1 percent of alumni children applied early at Early Decision colleges— rates that are significantly higher than the 20.5 percent and 7.4 percent of all applicants who applied early at those schools. For five of the fourteen colleges, we have the zip code for each applicant.
In general, we found that applicants from zip codes with unusually high per capita incomes or unusually high percentages of college graduates applied early more frequently than did others.Identified minorities, public school students, and financial aid applicants constitute a noticeably smaller proportion of the early application pool than of the regular pool at both Early Action and Early Decision colleges.
Recruited athletes quite often apply early at selective colleges. At these colleges most athletic recruiting occurs in the fall, and coaches tend to emphasize early applications. A student at Princeton summarized her experiences as a recruit for the golf team: “Coaches prefer for you to apply early to demonstrate interest; if you apply early, they might move you up the list of their preferred applicants. Potential teammates will emphasize this if they want you to attend” (Jill, Princeton, ’00). Early Decision also serves as a vehicle for attracting student-athletes at Wesleyan. Some top athletes hold out hopes for scholarship offers and are unprepared to apply Early Decision by the November 15 deadline. The extension of the Early Decision deadline helps schools like Wesleyan to secure additional commitments from student athletes.
Read More : Who Applies Early Admission Program?
