One senior backing out of an early decision agreement was all it took for Tulane University to block Colorado Academy high school from applying ED for the next year. This unusual move sparked conversations in early Nov. about the ethics and culture of EDs across the nation, including at UPrep.
College counselor Britten Nelson explains her perspective on the case.
“I was surprised that a college would punish an entire high school for something because it’s not like those other students had anything to do with it,” Nelson said.
This case allows more colleges to consider similar punishment, and raises concerns for students who need financial support. In a survey conducted by the Puma Press, 14 out of 17 UPrep seniors expressed disapproval of Tulane’s decision.
“I think that ED is meant to show commitment to the school,” senior Sasha Girsky wrote. “Although it’s technically not binding financially, these institutions make it very difficult to back out and it’s ‘looked down upon.’”
Tulane released admissions data, which showed that Colorado Academy was not the only high school punished. Three other unidentified schools had seniors back out of an ED without financial reason.
“I think that one student should be punished,” senior Sonya Carter wrote. “I definitely think people are now scared to back out of an ED. And to be honest, they should be.”
Senior Lucas Keppler believes the problem with this case lies in the ED agreements.
“Colleges have the right to weigh any factor, including high school, as long as that factor isn’t a protected class,” Keppler wrote. “As many ED contracts aren’t legally binding or are in other ways dubiously enforceable, they probably should be eliminated.”
In recent years, more UPrep students are applying for EDs than ever before. This year, every senior turned in an application by Nov. 1st for either an ED or early action. Last year, 28% of the graduating class attended university through an ED.
“It used to be that maybe a quarter of a senior class would apply early decision,” Nelson said. “Now closer to half will apply early decision in a given year.”
Early action is another popular application choice which allows students to learn if they’ve gotten into a university before the regular decision pool, but doesn’t bind them to the school like EDs do. Nelson explains why some students make this choice.
“Some kids just aren’t developmentally ready for [EDs],” Nelson said. “They’re just not ready to make that level of commitment.”
Going into college applications, Nelson believes that it is important for students to fully understand what they are agreeing to with EDs.
“You want to make a good faith effort to acknowledge the early decision agreement as you’re going through the process, to make sure that you’re leaving a good legacy for future Pumas who come through,” Nelson said.
Still, she believes that UPrep students usually handle EDs with maturity.
“I think our students are very reasonable in how they approach this process, and I think they use early decision for the right reasons,” Nelson said. “The Tulane situation was surprising and definitely not something I’d seen before, and thankfully nothing we’ve experienced here.”
