NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- So many students have been admitted early to the Ivy League colleges that a good part of next year's freshman classes already are filled.
Poor students who cannot attend an elite school without financial aid may be most affected.Harvard has admitted 72 percent of its freshmen class under an early action program; Yale, 42 percent; and Columbia, 45 percent.
Joyce Smith, executive director of the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Alexandria, Va., said, "because (early admission plans) have gotten more visibility, more and more parents feel that's the only way their children are going to get in."
More than 400 colleges and universities have some form of early application program, including many of the country's 120 most-selective schools.
Students benefit because they don't have to spend their entire senior year fretting. And administrators are assured of having bright students for whom the school was their first choice, and they don't have to do as much recruiting.
Admissions officers admit that financially needy students can be left out in the rush. Poorer students are less likely to apply early because the early admissions process, in many cases, does not allow for comparisons.
Under most early decision programs -- including those at Dartmouth, Cornell and Yale -- students must commit to attending that school if they are accepted. They are held to that promise, regardless of the financial aid package offered.