Yale, Stanford drop early admissions

Critics say the programmes, in place at many of the nation’s top schools, have contributed to a growing frenzy surrounding the college admissions process and favour affluent students, whose parents and high schools tend to be most sophisticated about the process.

Both universities said they will shift to non-binding ‘‘early action’’ programmes, in which students also apply and are accepted months before the traditional spring admissions cycle — but are not required to decide immediately whether they will attend.

At both institutions, the change will take effect for those starting college in the fall of 2004. In making his announcement, Yale President Richard C. Levin said he has grown increasingly troubled by what he and others see as the stress and other negative effects brought about by the early decision programmes.

Students who require help paying for college are often uncomfortable applying early because they need to compare financial aid packages offered by various schools. Last fall, Levin proposed that his and other elite institutions agree to abandon the binding programs and, in a sign of how competitive the college admissions process has become, said that his university could not afford to make such a move alone.

Levin’s comments last fall helped fuel a growing debate over the early programs. It was further intensified by new research showing that early application to a competitive school improved the odds for admission by the equivalent of about 100 extra points in the SAT.

Levin said Yale had decided to go forward on its own and hoped other schools might follow suit. ‘‘We feel strongly that this is the right thing to do,’’ he said, despite the risk that the move might result in fewer students accepting Yale’s offer of admission.

For colleges, one of the clear benefits of the binding early admission programmes is that they allow the schools to lock in talented young scholars early, thus enhancing their standings in the influential rankings published by US News & World Report and others. (LATWP)