ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 26, 1996 TAG: 9612260065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
A GROWING NUMBER of colleges have begun accepting early applications. The catch: You may have to commit if accepted.
Laurie Belosa is only halfway through her senior year in high school, but she already has a reserved seat at Emory University.
The acceptance letter from the private Atlanta school came last week: ``Congratulations. Welcome to the Class of 2001.''
``We all went out to dinner,'' said Belosa, of Manalapan, N.J. ``We called my grandparents.''
Like a rising number of high school seniors, Belosa applied for early acceptance, but with a catch: the students typically have to commit to that university and withdraw applications at others.
That's all right with Allison Kaye, a senior at Staples High School in Westport, Conn., who was accepted early to the University of Pennsylvania, the school her father attended.
``I knew it was the school I wanted to go to. It was my top choice,'' said Kaye, who already has been accepted by a school in Michigan.
Traditionally, students do not apply to colleges until January or February. They find out in the spring if they've been accepted.
In recent years, a growing number of mostly private colleges and universities have begun accepting applications under a practice called ``early decision.'' These students apply by early November and learn the news in December at more than 260 schools.
More than 200 other schools offer ``early action'' as an alternative. Students accepted under early action can still be no-shows in the fall.
At Texas Christian University, early applicants don't have to make up their mind until May 1. ``Asking a high school senior to make a major decision in December presumes nothing will change in their lives,'' said Sandra Ware, dean of admissions.
A survey by the Alexandria, Va.-based National Association for College Admission Counseling shows that 46 percent of the nearly 300 responding institutions experienced an increase in the number of early decision applications this fall. Students who applied early and were accepted made up less than one-fifth of these schools' incoming fall classes.
Most early-decision programs have been in place for more than five years; only 1 in 10 has been developed in the past two years. Large public universities increasingly use the programs, perhaps to compete with private schools, the association said.
Some students, who think they have nothing to lose, use early decision to apply to highly selective schools. If they aren't accepted, they figure they'll get into one of the backup schools on their list.
The acceptance rate for early applicants is sometimes higher, college officials say, because there is less competition. Also, the eager beavers tend to be the best and brightest of America's high school senior class.
``The kids are coming in saying, `We don't know where we're going to apply, but we're applying early,''' said Judith Berg, president of the Fairfax, Va.-based Independent Educational Consultants Association.
Making an early college decision isn't for everyone.
``There are some days when I wish there wasn't early decision. It adds so much pressure early on in the senior year,'' said Steve Antonoff, an independent educational consultant in Denver. ``I think the negative is that people stop looking for colleges too soon.''
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