Don't Sweat Early Applications

What happens to a Harvard-

early-applicant deferred?

Do they give up

And think they're all done?

Or cry like babies--

And then run?

Do they get depressed?

Do they feel ill?

Like after an ugly night at The Grill?

Maybe they just sag,

feeling as if they committed a sin.

Or do they get in?

Okay, okay, so I'm no Langston Hughes--I know that. But being privileged enough to attend this fine institution, I want to take a few paragraphs to talk to any high school seniors reading this column who are still in the midst of an arduous process I like to call the College Research and Admissions Process-- more succinctly, CRAP.

Right about this time of year college decisions get mailed--unless of course, a high school senior gets wait-listed and it becomes an even more lengthy process that does often not resolve itself until the very last minute. For the most part, however, right about now kids feel either incredibly validated and complete, or utterly worthless and pathetic. And all because of a thin or fat envelope bearing the results of an enigmatic and mysterious collection of suits and dresses' value judgement on high schoolers using a folder generally thinner than Ally McBeal's waistline as their only criteria.

But still, in most kids' minds it is this all-important decision that determines if they will make more money than Bill Gates or have to peddle incense and fake Rolexes on urban street corners. How did this process turn into the Wheel of Fortune or Failure? Two evil words have perverted this whole process: Early Decision.

I will be the first to admit that I'm not a great decision maker. Ordering a sub at a deli can perplex me for ages, and I will still often regret my choice after finally picking. So imagine my dilemma in knowing that many colleges admit half of their entering classes early, thus rushing my judgement about where and when to apply. But this decision was a no-brainer for me, I knew after visiting the August before my senior year: I was gonna be a Duke Blue Devil baby!

Sure enough I sent my application that fateful November 15 and gave up any dreams I had of being a D-3 football stud--or sticking around the spot that Richard Nixon, that bastion of liberalism, once called "the Kremlin on the Charles." I wanted out of the confines of my native Boston. It was too small, boring and limiting. No, I needed the raging metropolis of Durham, North Carolina. Unfortunately, about fourteen months later I was banging out a transfer application on my computer--and for a variety of reasons. And that, folks, was my experience with Early Applications.

Friends of mine got deferred or even rejected during the admissions process and ended up loving their college experience at institutions bearing hardly any similarity to the institution they would have bound themselves to, had they the choice. But because everyone was applying early or because they were too worried about later rejection, they chose that route. Early decision almost became disastrous for them.

Forget about it if you are trying to play sports and have even mildly suspect grades: Commit early or check out the two-hand touch league at the local Y near campus! People have these horrendously flawed, preconceived notions of places based on nothing at all. And they get held to it--because colleges are being selfish. In this day of extreme selectivity at big name schools, colleges want insurance that admitting one student over someone else won't hurt their yield and drop them in those asinine U.S. News and World Report rankings.

For all of its flaws, Harvard got it right on admissions. They give kids the chance to get in early and forget about the process but, on the other hand, you're not bound to anything--you can shop around and check it out. Granted, Harvard has somewhat of a unique position on this because of their ridiculously high yield but everyone could still follow suit and end up with kids that are where they should be.

Unfortunately, Early Decision appears to be here to stay, making kids and parents crazy for an agonizingly long period of time. But to everyone either deferred or rejected from Harvard, I offer this advice: It's not that grades and college don't matter. The bottom line is that they do. But they do not matter to the extent that people have started to think. Maybe your first few job offers will be a bit better coming from a big name institution, but you can certainly succeed without the Harvard name.

If you get in, you will reap some absolutely extraordinary benefits. If you don't you'll get great benefits somewhere else. But most importantly, your chances of predicting your college experience wherever you go are probably only a little bit better than filling out perfect Final Four bracket--although if that's your thing, I'd give Duke a long look.

Brad R. Sohn '02 is a government concentrator in Kirkland House. His column appears on alternate Mondays.