By Derek Schlom
On the night of Oct. 31, as Halloween celebrations raged on and trick-or-treaters canvassed their neighborhoods, much of the class of 2009 ditched the festivities to submit their online applications before the Nov. 1 Early Decision and Early Action deadline of most selective colleges.
Denise
Denise turned in her non-binding Early Action application to Lewis & Clark College, as well as rolling applications to the University of Arizona and the University of Oregon.
A rolling school does not have a specific date on which applicants are informed of the school’s decision; rather, decisions are sent out gradually on a first come, first served basis. The earlier an application is submitted to a rolling school, the earlier the applicant will learn of the decision and the greater chance of acceptance.
Denise visited Occidental College, her top choice, last Saturday and met with professors from the departments in which she is interested in. She was impressed, but she doesn’t regret her decision to not apply Early Decision to the school.
"I don’t just want to commit to anything, and there are still a lot of other schools I like a lot," she said.
Her SAT scores were higher than she expected, and her grades for first quarter were her "best ever," she said.
Denise will be submitting her application to the UC system and to USC within the next several weeks, prior to hearing back from the three schools to which she has applied so far.
Brian
Brian submitted an Early Action application to Stanford and a regular decision application to Harvard. Both schools have recruited him heavily.
The coach of Brian’s sport at Harvard has indicated that Brian’s chances of soon receiving a "likely letter" from Harvard – which notifies a recruit that he or she is likely to be accepted to the institution when official decisions are made in the spring – are very high.
Harvard, which recently eliminated its Early Decision program, uses the "likely letter" system in order to draw recruits away from schools like Stanford that offer official acceptances in December.
Though he said that his 4.0 GPA is "mid-range" for applicants to Stanford, Brian’s chances of acceptance there "are about the same as the average Harvard-Westlake applicant" with help from the coach of his sport at Stanford, he said.
Stanford has been Brian’s first choice school throughout the process, and he will wait until Dec. 15, when he learns his fate at Stanford, to commit to Harvard in the event that he receives a "likely letter."
Holly
Holly submitted her application to Northwestern several days early, but not without incident. With her family gathered in her kitchen and a batch of home-made cookies fresh out of the oven, she attempted to submit her Common App supplement – and the internet went down. After 15 minutes of delay, she was finally able to push the button.
"It was so nerve-racking," she said.
Holly plans to relax for the next month until she hears from Northwestern, and doesn’t plan to work on the applications to the schools to which she is applying regular decision.
"I’m cramming during winter break if I don’t get in," she said. "I have friends that I’ve been neglecting for the past few months, and I’m going to turn my attention there now."