EDUCATION

The Problem With Early Decision

Here's some really useful advice if you're a high school student.  If you are absolutely sure you want to attend a very prestigious college but aren't sure you'll get into any of those, go ahead with early decision.  However, if you think you'll probably get into a highly regarded one, just go with regular decision.  It'll save you a lot of hassle in the end.   I myself had my college application experience soured by Columbia University.   It's partly their fault and partly mine.  I applied early decision to that university because I thought I just wanted the name recognition on my college diploma.   However, once I was accepted early, they said I had to withdraw my applications to the other 7 or so colleges to which I had applied as a regular decision candidate.  This is to prevent a person from "reserving seats" at more than one university.  It's a very fair policy, and I complied.  Columbia, however, was also supposed to provide me with a financial aid package outlining what I would get.  It turns out that they sent me this vital information in March, three months after it was actually supposed to be sent.   It turns out that they gave me no financial aid, and to top it off, they do not even offer merit scholarships.  I therefore found myself in possibly one of the most unenviable positions of any high school senior.  In the middle of March I was faced with the decision of either paying  the full  $35,000 to Columbia and attending that college in 2000, or withdrawing my intent to attend and having no other colleges to go to because I had earlier withdrawn applications to all of the other colleges. 

I was saved by SUNY and their rolling admissions policy however.  I reinstated my application to Stony Brook and three weeks later I was sent a letter of acceptance.  I then proceeded to withdraw my intent to attend Columbia University in 2000, short about a thousand dollars in deposit, phone calls, faxes, and registered letters, but happier for it. 

Now this is not to appease the situation or attempt to put my circumstance in a favorable perspective, but it turns out that the conundrum Columbia University put me in was in fact a blessing in disguise.   Many people I knew, and overwhelmingly, information on the internet and statistics suggested that I should go to a college where my GPA would stand out.   I doubt that if I decided on going to Columbia University that I would be one of the 37% of students who make it into medical school.