top of page

Opinion

Guest Essay

The Early Decision Option Is a Racket. Shut It Down.

Dec. 10, 2025

By Daniel Currell

 

Mr. Currell was a deputy under secretary and senior adviser at the Department of Education from 2018 to 2021. He is a trustee of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.

 

This week, about 200,000 applicants to elite colleges will learn the result of their one and only binding early decision bid, which offers by far the best odds of admission. But for those who get in, the news comes with one giant asterisk: Back when they applied, they had to commit to attending the school if they were accepted — without knowing how much financial aid they’d get and without being able to weigh better academic or financial options elsewhere. As for those who don’t get in, the news can be crushing. Their silver bullet missed its mark.

​

Until a few years ago, early decision was a niche option offered by a limited number of selective colleges and governed by rules that shielded applicants from aggressive sales tactics. But legal changes in 2019 — and a huge increase in applications to selective colleges in 2020 — led more schools to funnel more of their admissions through this channel. Now, many top schools reserve half to three-quarters of their entering class for those willing to submit to these restrictive terms. (A note: Other early pathways, such as early action and rolling admissions, merely speed up the process, without any of the restrictions.)

Schools like the early decision track because it allows them to lock down attractive prospects and raise the school’s yield, the status-bestowing percentage of admitted students who enroll. Applicants put up with it because they feel they have little choice. It turns the business of applying to colleges into a complex strategy matrix in which students try to game out their chances rather than looking for the school where they’re most likely to thrive.

​

Applying to college doesn’t have to be this way. Congress should take action, now, to forbid binding early decision agreements for tax-exempt universities receiving federal aid. State legislatures should bar restrictive early decision practices in their states, as several have done for legacy admissions.

The House Judiciary Committee is already investigating the admissions process, out of concern that tuition algorithms may violate antitrust law. On a recent trip to Washington, I met with representatives of that committee to explain that strict early admissions agreements are part of the same problem, a tool with which schools in effect force families into paying whatever the algorithm determines.

​

Early decision forces 17- and 18-year-olds to make life-altering decisions without comparing options. It scares off middle- and lower-income households, allowing colleges to pad their budgets with full-pay students while still claiming to be need blind. And it reinforces a cynical, transactional approach to higher education that cheapens both students and institutions.

This year, Eryn Schoenebeck of New Prague, Minn., applied to Boston University, her top-choice school, through the early decision option. Would she have done it if she didn’t think it would help her get in? “Definitely not,” she told me. “If it didn’t influence my chances of admission, I would’ve loved to see where else I could get in.”

​

At Boston University, her chances through early decision are three times as likely as through the less restrictive options. Elsewhere, the numbers are even more skewed: If you want to get into Amherst, signing away your chance to consider other options gives you an almost fourfold advantage. At Tulane, the advantage is fivefold. At Northeastern, it’s more than tenfold.

​

Ms. Schoenebeck told me she’ll be thrilled if she gets a yes from Boston University, but that on balance, “I think it would be better for students if the whole system ran on regular decision.” As she put it, “I’m only 17. At the end of the day I’m still a kid. I get why schools do early decision. But asking a 17-year-old to sign an agreement” that could obligate them to “pay $90,000 a year is a really, really big ask.” As of this writing, she’s still waiting to hear the school’s verdict.

​

The early decision agreement that students, parents and high school counselors must all sign states that a student must attend the college if accepted, but it hints at an exception if, even with financial aid, the cost of attending is still too high for the student to afford. The thing is, says Mark Salisbury, an expert on how financial aid and admissions interact, the school gets to decide what qualifies as too high. A spokesman for Tulane told me that of the people it admitted by early decision last year, it released around 10 percent from their obligation, for financial reasons. But applicants don’t know in advance how this will play out.

Because there is so much uncertainty, families with high incomes are more likely to choose early decision and therefore benefit from its more favorable odds. It’s the perfect tool for maximizing revenues at schools positioned as luxury products, with price tags to match. “If you are filling half your class through early decision, and most of those kids are full pay or close to it, you’re not really need blind,” said Sara Harberson, the founder of Application Nation, a college advising service.

​

The system pits the interests of teenage novices against those of powerful institutions that pay huge salaries to admissions leaders to maximize the school’s advantage at every turn. It’s not even clear that the early decision agreement would hold up in court, and a lawsuit now challenges the whole approach on the grounds that it violates antitrust law. If colleges claim these contracts are binding when they’re really not, that’s a substantial misrepresentation. In any case, the implied threat is terrifying.

Tulane has found a way to make the process scarier still. After a few applicants reportedly reneged on their commitments, Tulane responded by blacklisting the students’ next high school graduating  class from its early decision admissions round. This kind of payback is the stuff of mob movies. We shouldn’t see it from tax-exempt, nonprofit universities.

In spite of this — or perhaps because of it — early decision is spreading, even among some colleges that accept more than 80 percent of all applicants, likely because it makes them appear more selective. It’s also catching on in public universities, almost all of which had previously steered clear. This year, the University of Michigan offered binding early decision for the first time, joining the University of Virginia, which reinstated the practice in 2019 after having discontinued it as a barrier to qualified low-income students.

​

American colleges face a daunting array of challenges. Federal research grants have been slashed. The number of college-bound high school seniors is declining. Artificial intelligence has undermined academic honor codes. Faculty members worry that their institutions are in a race to the bottom that ends in a diploma-for-cash trade. Running admissions like a high-class casino is not the solution.

​

Applicants should be able to weigh multiple options before deciding where to spend the next four years of their lives. Killing early decision would benefit students and schools and be a small but important step toward revitalizing a culture of learning on our campuses.

​

 

​

5 Red Flags that Ivy League Admissions Officers Look For
 

Oct 15, 2024
 

Every application cycle, admissions officers read tens of thousands of applications, looking for “red flags” to weed out unqualified applicants in the arduous review process. While understanding what admissions officers are looking for is crucial for compiling standout applications, it can be equally beneficial to understand what admissions officers don’t want to see. If you’re a senior brainstorming personal statements, crafting supplemental essays, and drafting activities lists, or a younger student engaging in extracurriculars, selecting courses, and planning your summers, identifying and eliminating these missteps can save time and effort—and level up your application strategy.

Whether you’re vying for Ivy League admission or seeking to join the bustling community at a state school, here are five “red flags” that admissions officers will notice on your application—and how to avoid them:

1. Lack of Course Rigor

Admissions officers want to see that students have challenged themselves by taking the most rigorous courses available to them at their school, such as honors, Advanced Placement (AP), or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes. Opting to take easier courses could suggest that a student isn’t prepared for the academic challenges of collegiate study—particularly at Ivy League and other top-tier institutions. It is critical that underclassmen not only maintain good grades, but also deliberately select courses that will push them intellectually. This is especially important with regards to courses in a student’s area of interest—if you intend to study engineering but have not taken any advanced physics or chemistry courses throughout your high school career, admissions officers will likely assume that you lack adequate training in the discipline or that you are not aware of the demands of the subject. Starting sophomore year, identify and enroll in classes that will demonstrate your academic expertise and deepen your knowledge of your subjects of interest.

If you are in the height of the application process and fear that you lack the necessary course rigor, consider how you might highlight your pursuit of further learning outside of the classroom. Have you conducted independent research? Participated in a prestigious summer program? Taken an online course? Use your supplemental essays to highlight the academic value of these involvements and how they have uniquely prepared you for the demands of university study.

2. Lack of Extracurricular Engagement

The majority of your time in college will be spent outside of the classroom, and admissions committees want to understand the kind of community member you will be on their campus. Top schools want to admit students with a history of contributing positively to their communities—those who will continue to use their skills and knowledge to enact positive change in the world after they graduate. Therefore, a lack of activities or involvements outside of the classroom will be a red flag to admissions officers, conveying a lack of interest in helping your community or a dearth of experience leading and working with others. Keep in mind that you can show your commitment to bettering your community in both large and small ways—and that admissions officers will evaluate your application in relation to the resources available to you. In other words, you don’t need to petition before Congress, found a nonprofit, or invent a groundbreaking technology in order to make a difference; what matters is that your engagement in your community stems from your genuine passions and unique perspective on problems that impact those around you.

Starting freshman year, seek ways to connect with community members (whether your peers, teachers, or industry leaders in your field) and get involved with volunteer organizations or clubs that align with your interests. Junior and senior years, serve in leadership roles or found your own initiatives to address needs that you have identified through your engagements early in high school. Finally, as you craft your applications, be sure to highlight these community-oriented activities and articulate their impact on your perspective and values. However big or small, you should provide compelling descriptions of your contributions and their impact on your worldview.

3. Unrelated Extracurricular Activities

Your extracurricular involvements should tell a story about your interests, skills, and growth. While students should use their freshman year to explore and experiment with activities and organizations outside of the classroom, their goal should be to hone their involvements around their core passions over the course of their high school careers. A resume filled with diverse, unrelated extracurriculars that are not connected by any narrative thread will confuse admissions officers and ultimately hurt your application.

Instead of joining a bunch of clubs for the sake of padding your resume, be intentional about selecting activities on the basis of your passions and interests. As you engage with these activities over time, seek to make a tangible impact that will be evident to admissions officers, whether by taking on leadership roles, mentoring younger students, or starting your own club or initiative. Additionally, when it comes to crafting your application, be sure to connect the dots for admissions officers—even if your extracurricular involvements reflect the diverse or interdisciplinary nature of your interests, be sure to show admissions officers how you have (and will continue to) draw creative connections between your interests that will enrich your intended field of study.

4. Inappropriate Social Media Presence

Admissions officers are looking for students who will positively contribute to their campus culture and reflect their institution’s values. Given that 67% of admissions officers “believe that checking out applicants’ social media posts on apps like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, and Threads to learn more about them is “fair game” to help them make decisions about who gets in” (according to a 2023 study), what you post has the potential to influence your odds of admission. ​​Inappropriate content—whether it’s offensive language, inflammatory comments, or evidence of risky behavior—will raise concerns about your character and maturity, and can impact your admission status even after you get in.

Be sure that you are not posting anything you would not want Ivy League admissions officers to see. Additionally, avoid linking your social media accounts on your application unless they directly pertain to work you have done during your high school career (a small business you founded, a volunteer opportunity, an educational TikTok, etc.).

5. Unpolished and unprofessional Essays

Finally, students should keep in mind that the personal and supplemental essays are their most direct opportunities to speak to admissions officers on their application. This means that the essays are critical components of your applications, and both their content and their execution can convey a lot about you as a person and applicant. Given the pressure that comes with these essays, many students fall into traps that can lead to unprofessional writing. First, in their desire to stand out, some students choose to write about ideas or experiences that they consider “edgy,” but these topics are often unnecessarily divisive and can place them out-of-step with the values or mission of the institutions to which they are applying.

Another trap that students can fall into is oversharing about personal experiences. While it’s important to share challenges you’ve overcome, there’s a fine line between vulnerability and trauma-dumping—going into excessive detail about traumatic or tragic circumstances in the hopes of gaining admissions officers’ sympathy. Everything you share in your essays should convey something about who you are now—how you have grown, developed, and introspected through your life experiences—rather than simply listing the difficult experiences you have gone through.

While applying to college can be stressful, some of the anxiety of the process can be relieved by understanding what top colleges are looking for—and what they seek to avoid. Students should take these red flags into account as they build admissions profiles that they will be proud to submit when the time comes.

Search

5 Red Flags that Ivy League Admissions Officers Look For

  • bshore357
  • Oct 31, 2024
  • 5 min read

Oct 15, 2024


Every application cycle, admissions officers read tens of thousands of applications, looking for “red flags” to weed out unqualified applicants in the arduous review process. While understanding what admissions officers are looking for is crucial for compiling standout applications, it can be equally beneficial to understand what admissions officers don’t want to see. If you’re a senior brainstorming personal statements, crafting supplemental essays, and drafting activities lists, or a younger student engaging in extracurriculars, selecting courses, and planning your summers, identifying and eliminating these missteps can save time and effort—and level up your application strategy.

Whether you’re vying for Ivy League admission or seeking to join the bustling community at a state school, here are five “red flags” that admissions officers will notice on your application—and how to avoid them:


1. Lack of Course Rigor

Admissions officers want to see that students have challenged themselves by taking the most rigorous courses available to them at their school, such as honors, Advanced Placement (AP), or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes. Opting to take easier courses could suggest that a student isn’t prepared for the academic challenges of collegiate study—particularly at Ivy League and other top-tier institutions. It is critical that underclassmen not only maintain good grades, but also deliberately select courses that will push them intellectually. This is especially important with regards to courses in a student’s area of interest—if you intend to study engineering but have not taken any advanced physics or chemistry courses throughout your high school career, admissions officers will likely assume that you lack adequate training in the discipline or that you are not aware of the demands of the subject. Starting sophomore year, identify and enroll in classes that will demonstrate your academic expertise and deepen your knowledge of your subjects of interest.

If you are in the height of the application process and fear that you lack the necessary course rigor, consider how you might highlight your pursuit of further learning outside of the classroom. Have you conducted independent research? Participated in a prestigious summer program? Taken an online course? Use your supplemental essays to highlight the academic value of these involvements and how they have uniquely prepared you for the demands of university study.


2. Lack of Extracurricular Engagement

The majority of your time in college will be spent outside of the classroom, and admissions committees want to understand the kind of community member you will be on their campus. Top schools want to admit students with a history of contributing positively to their communities—those who will continue to use their skills and knowledge to enact positive change in the world after they graduate. Therefore, a lack of activities or involvements outside of the classroom will be a red flag to admissions officers, conveying a lack of interest in helping your community or a dearth of experience leading and working with others. Keep in mind that you can show your commitment to bettering your community in both large and small ways—and that admissions officers will evaluate your application in relation to the resources available to you. In other words, you don’t need to petition before Congress, found a nonprofit, or invent a groundbreaking technology in order to make a difference; what matters is that your engagement in your community stems from your genuine passions and unique perspective on problems that impact those around you.

Starting freshman year, seek ways to connect with community members (whether your peers, teachers, or industry leaders in your field) and get involved with volunteer organizations or clubs that align with your interests. Junior and senior years, serve in leadership roles or found your own initiatives to address needs that you have identified through your engagements early in high school. Finally, as you craft your applications, be sure to highlight these community-oriented activities and articulate their impact on your perspective and values. However big or small, you should provide compelling descriptions of your contributions and their impact on your worldview.


3. Unrelated Extracurricular Activities

Your extracurricular involvements should tell a story about your interests, skills, and growth. While students should use their freshman year to explore and experiment with activities and organizations outside of the classroom, their goal should be to hone their involvements around their core passions over the course of their high school careers. A resume filled with diverse, unrelated extracurriculars that are not connected by any narrative thread will confuse admissions officers and ultimately hurt your application.

Instead of joining a bunch of clubs for the sake of padding your resume, be intentional about selecting activities on the basis of your passions and interests. As you engage with these activities over time, seek to make a tangible impact that will be evident to admissions officers, whether by taking on leadership roles, mentoring younger students, or starting your own club or initiative. Additionally, when it comes to crafting your application, be sure to connect the dots for admissions officers—even if your extracurricular involvements reflect the diverse or interdisciplinary nature of your interests, be sure to show admissions officers how you have (and will continue to) draw creative connections between your interests that will enrich your intended field of study.


4. Inappropriate Social Media Presence

Admissions officers are looking for students who will positively contribute to their campus culture and reflect their institution’s values. Given that 67% of admissions officers “believe that checking out applicants’ social media posts on apps like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, and Threads to learn more about them is “fair game” to help them make decisions about who gets in” (according to a 2023 study), what you post has the potential to influence your odds of admission. ​​Inappropriate content—whether it’s offensive language, inflammatory comments, or evidence of risky behavior—will raise concerns about your character and maturity, and can impact your admission status even after you get in.

Be sure that you are not posting anything you would not want Ivy League admissions officers to see. Additionally, avoid linking your social media accounts on your application unless they directly pertain to work you have done during your high school career (a small business you founded, a volunteer opportunity, an educational TikTok, etc.).

5. Unpolished and unprofessional Essays

Finally, students should keep in mind that the personal and supplemental essays are their most direct opportunities to speak to admissions officers on their application. This means that the essays are critical components of your applications, and both their content and their execution can convey a lot about you as a person and applicant. Given the pressure that comes with these essays, many students fall into traps that can lead to unprofessional writing. First, in their desire to stand out, some students choose to write about ideas or experiences that they consider “edgy,” but these topics are often unnecessarily divisive and can place them out-of-step with the values or mission of the institutions to which they are applying.


Another trap that students can fall into is oversharing about personal experiences. While it’s important to share challenges you’ve overcome, there’s a fine line between vulnerability and trauma-dumping—going into excessive detail about traumatic or tragic circumstances in the hopes of gaining admissions officers’ sympathy. Everything you share in your essays should convey something about who you are now—how you have grown, developed, and introspected through your life experiences—rather than simply listing the difficult experiences you have gone through.

While applying to college can be stressful, some of the anxiety of the process can be relieved by understanding what top colleges are looking for—and what they seek to avoid. Students should take these red flags into account as they build admissions profiles that they will be proud to submit when the time comes.


Originally Published on Forbes.

 
 
 

Recent Posts

See All

Comments

bottom of page