NACAC Endorses New Admit Rules

The early admissions policy Harvard has employed since last year was endorsed by an organization of admissions officers and college counselors at a meeting last Saturday, putting the University and other member colleges back in compliance with the group’s rules.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) voted at its annual meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to change its guidelines to recognize single-choice early action, the process under which students may only apply early to a single school but, if accepted, are not bound to enroll. The group had previously approved only “unrestricted” early action, by which students can submit early applications to multiple colleges.

“There was a groundswell of support for single-choice early action,” said Pete Caruso, admissions practices chairperson for the Alexandria, Va.-based NACAC. “The assembly clearly thought that this was a viable option.”

Caruso’s committee is now charged with crafting the group’s guidelines to redefine its early action policy, he said.

“It’ll just be a third option,” Caruso said. “There will be early decision, non-restrictive early action, and single-choice early action.”

Harvard put itself in the third category in April 2003, when it announced it would revert to its old policy of not allowing early applicants to apply early to other colleges as well. NACAC directed its member colleges to offer unrestricted early action.

But in March 2003, the organization announced a moratorium on enforcing the guideline, and Harvard, Stanford and Yale Universities continued to offer single-choice early action. Caruso said that Saturday’s vote puts the institutions in “full compliance.”

“These institutions are our members,” he said. “We want to serve them and understand their challenges in the admissions process.”

Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ‘70-’73 said she felt that unrestricted early action “seems to say that this is more of a form of rolling admissions than it really is.”

McGrath Lewis said she was “delighted” with the NACAC decision.

“It was to us quite clear that [single-choice early action] was the right process for Harvard to follow,” she said.

But she also said that the University would have stuck with single-choice early action regardless of the NACAC vote.

McGrath Lewis acknowledged that the change to single-choice reduced the volume of applications but said that students’ concerns come first and the change to single-choice “isn’t a question of administrative convenience.”

“I think last year we felt having returned to the single-choice process [admissions] had returned to a level of sanity,” McGrath-Lewis said. “We were able to devote our time to choosing the people who were really very careful and considerate and appropriate in making their application to us early.”

But McGrath Lewis said that Harvard’s process isn’t for all colleges.

“There really is room in the country for a lot of different practices,” she said.

Stanford and Yale Universities in 2002 switched to single-choice early action from early decision, which requires that accepted students commit to enrolling.

Freshman Samuel Shapiro ’08 praised Harvard’s system. “There’s so much of a rush in the college process,” he said. “It gives you time to hopefully get good news early and to still be thinking about it.”