the Sam Jackson College Experience

This is quite significant news which is why I made sure to wait a little while before publishing on it. Not that there’s anything wrong with “riding the wave” of coverage on the topic; I just like having some time to let my thoughts evolve and multiply before spitting them out.

Sorry about the hiccups in posting the last two weeks–I’m at school now, yes, but thanks to my God-like time management skills, I’ve still been writing, I just haven’t been publishing. There is a subtle but real distinction.

Back to Harvard. So they ended early admissions–what do I think about that? It doesn’t affect my chances (if I apply) since I’m applying this year, but I’ve still got some things to say.

First, Some [cynical] people, like the sharp bunch at IvyGate, will note that the only way Harvard could make this move with confidence was because of their fabulous wealth and stupefyingly high yields; fundraisers brought in $595 million in fiscal ‘06 (Crimson). With the immense recognition and value of the Harvard brand, Harvard is safer than other schools in tossing early programs, because it can be reasonably assured of a strong applicant / admit pool early action notwithstanding. The Daily Pennsylvanian ran an editorial praising Harvard but noting that UPenn isn’t in the same position and couldn’t do the same (yet). The Ithaca Journal more or less did the same for Cornell.

Dean J over at UVA (she hides her real name on the blog, so I guess I will leave it out here too) asked last week: ” The start of a revolution or brilliant PR move?” mentioning a “a tiny, cynical voice in my head that can’t help but look at this as a PR/marketing move.” It looks like the two of us have some tiny voices in our heads in common…The point is that Harvard has very quickly gotten a good amount of praise and attention for its move. Pick most any paper–let’s say, The Christian Science Monitor–and you’ll find a recent editorial praising the move. Everyone is feeling fuzzy about Harvard again.

My Existentialism teacher obnoxiously brought up the fact that Harvard dropped EA at the start of class on Tuesday because he enjoys cruelty and general taunting and felt that he could dig into the generally privileged and advantaged Exonian with that barb; I spat back some acid about the decision which he probably hadn’t realized. This was the first example I saw of half-informed people succumbing to the subtle public relations / marketing impact of the decision without even recognizing it!

More significant than the impact on Harvard is the impact on college admissions nationwide. Harvard’s little shakeup is only on a trial basis for now, anyways, lest it result in any unpleasant shift in applicants. But at the same time, other schools are now accelerating their discussions about EA. Yale was a leader in these sorts of college admissions reform not long ago, but now they’re watching Harvard get all the credit (and prestige?) for making this sort of decision; they’re waiting to see what happens to Harvard before making their move. (Yale Daily News)

So my conclusion? Harvard, citing inequality, ends Early Action. This gives them good publicity and good karma, and is the right thing to do. Other schools watch and wait. Nothing affects me since I’m applying this year. College Admissions just as fickle as ever.

Quick shout out to about.com’s college blog hitting me up with the news first, a testament to my feed reader’s eccentricities as much as anything else.