Harvard may ignore early decision

June 8, 2002 9:36 PM

Harvard may ignore early decision and attempt to enroll students who have agreed to matriculate elsewhere. Is this the beginning of the end of early decision?
posted by oaf (7 comments total)

More on the ED controversey here. (Boola, Boola.)
posted by chino at 10:44 PM on June 8, 2002

But that promise is an "honor-bound agreement" that "doesn't have any legal standing,"

In a more perfect world the honor-bound agreement would be more binding. Why would Harvard want students who don't keep their word anyway?
posted by jaden at 12:18 AM on June 9, 2002

Because they want the best students and they think Early Decision is stupid. Once they have driven a stake through the heart of ED, they won't have to worry about matriculating promise-breakers, because kids won't be making the promises.
posted by anser at 7:49 AM on June 9, 2002

Also, if colleges offering Early Decision really wanted those agreements to be legally binding, there has never been anything stopping them from sending out actual contracts which the parents or legal guardians sign - like sports recruitment. But they don't, because they are perfectly aware that it would scare off a big chunk of ED kids and families. The system "works" mostly because it is NOT legally binding. All they really want you to do is to stop applying to other colleges, which in most cases guarantees that your ED school is your only option anyway. For kids willing to ignore this, apparently a number of schools have been willing to take applications and not ask questions about whether you ED'd elsewhere for a couple of years. All Harvard is doing is advertising it on a billboard...
posted by anser at 7:58 AM on June 9, 2002

The Atlantic Monthly ran a great story on the Early Decision process sometime last year. Don't remember which issue, but it's on their website here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/09/fallows.htm
posted by herc at 2:46 PM on June 9, 2002

Because they want the best students

Or the dumbest if they have enough money and family connections they can buy an MBA. Don't even have to understand the English language, just the language of "the benjamins."

Feel free to speculate about to whom I'm referring.
posted by nofundy at 6:08 AM on June 10, 2002

The Harvard Business School (where the MBA's come from) does not participate in Early Decision/Action programs and is not affected by this recent change.
posted by anser at 7:44 AM on June 10, 2002