This move will do nothing to eliminate the advantages and disadvantages inherrant in the college admissions process.

Harvard University, breaking with a major trend in college admissions, says it will eliminate its early admissions program next year, with university officials arguing that such programs put low-income and minority applicants at a distinct disadvantage in the competition to get into selective universities.

Harvard will be the first of the nationÂ’s prestigious universities to do away completely with early admissions, in which high school seniors try to bolster their chances at competitive schools by applying in the fall and learning whether they have been admitted in December, months before other students.

Some universities now admit as much as half of their freshman class this way, and many, though not Harvard, require an ironclad commitment from students that they will attend in return for the early acceptance.

Harvard’s decision — to be announced today — is likely to put pressure on other colleges, which acknowledge the same concerns but have been reluctant to take any step that could put them at a disadvantage in the heated competition for the top students.

Except it does nothing to eliminate what is seen as being at the heart of the problem.

But at Harvard and many other universities officials have grown concerned that early admissions present a major obstacle to low-income and working-class students. Such students have also been hurt by steep tuition increases and competition with students from wealthy families who pour thousands of dollars into college consultants and tutoring.

“I think there are lots of very talented students out there from poor and moderate-income backgrounds who have been discouraged by this whole hocus-pocus of early admissions by many of the nation’s top colleges,’’ said William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard College’s dean of admissions and financial aid.

So how is this going to stop the spending of large sums of money by wealthy students intent on getting into the right school? How is this going to make college more affordable to the students in the middle -- neither poor enough to qualify for a free ride nor wealthy enough to afford it? It is all window dressing!

Absent a system like hospitals use to award residency positions -- one with nationwide competition and a matching system that includes all applicants and schools -- you won't get away from teh identical problem.

But then again, such a system would never be accepted.

It would kill athletic programs. It would end legacy admissions. And what of the poor kid who wants to go to a local college in his or her hometown who is instead assigned to Middle-Of-Nowhere State University in Hicktown, Montana?

So while the Harvard move looks good on paper, it doesn't really address the issues at hand -- and cannot.

Posted by: Greg at 10:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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