Most of you know that I am prehistoric- at least when it comes to current events.

When I applied to college, you needed to have your SAT’s (the ACT’s were barely a glimmer on the horizon) and 3 achievement tests in your arsenal before considering applying for college.  All those tests were offered by the College Board.

The achievement test program was a way for colleges to evaluate applicants in a uniform way.  Because one school’s A (or in my case 99) could have been another school’s B.

And, since my primary degree was to be in Chemical Engineering, I needed to take the achievement tests in mathematics, chemistry, and another science of my choice.  Because I was considering medical school as well, I needed to take an achievement test in a liberal arts program (I used World History), a language (I took French and Hebrew), and yet another one of my choice.

(As an aside, let me say that taking the Hebrew achievement test was a ridiculous idea.  I never considered the fact that many Israelis wanted to attend American schools- and they would, of course, opt for the Hebrew achievement test.  Needless to say, regardless of how good my Hebrew was then (and it was also more ‘formal’ and ‘biblical’ than contemporary), it was abysmal when compared to a native speaker.  Yes, this was the only achievement test that I did not ace.)

I applied to a formidable number of schools.  Thankfully, I had a decent job, so spending $ 350 or so to apply to 30 schools wasn’t overwhelming.  (Please consider the year of application.  This was more than 50 years ago!)  Not from one of them did I request early decision, which was then a new option schools offered for those who could get their act together and deliver the completed application with fees and recommendations by 1 December.  (I was just recalling how hard I must have made it for the three teachers who wrote all these recommendations on my behalf.  Remember- there weren’t computers then.  These were written by hand or by typewriter.  Thank you very much, Ms. Sue Katzman, Mr. Herbert Kamen, Mr. Robert McManus, and Rabbi Meyer Fendel.)

And, now to the real meat of this post.

As you know, I read a boatload of newspapers, magazines, and journals.  (If you’ve ever traveled with me on a plane, you will never forget that I carry a huge trashbag that gets filled before I reach the flight’s destination with all the journals and magazines that I devoured and destroyed.) And, earlier this week, I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about a new practice schools are employing.

To ensure that these schools appear more competitive and to be able to firm up their plans for the next four years, they are leaning on students who have applied- and gotten their applications in early- to convert their request from their regular application process to early-decision.

The WSJ mentioned Tulane (one to which I also applied), Colorado, and Lehigh as among those employing this process.   The Journal quoted one letter to an applicant: “If  XXXXXXXXX is your first choice school, you may want to consider switching to Early Decision II…If you are admitted, your college search is over.”

In one of these schools, the odds of admission literally quintupled!   Regular admission applicants were accepted at a 5% rate; early decision raised that acceptance to 27%.  (Early decision is a process by which some schools fill more than half their freshman class!) And, while there is no guarantee that one will be accepted by switching to the new process, one is required to rescind all other college applications should they be accepted by an early decision application.  Which means they can’t fully evaluate which school and financial aid can let them make a best cost decision.

When my kids applied to college, they made their first choice schools. (Hurray!)  But, they didn’t apply for early decision or early action.  (Yes, there was agony in the household from the 15 of March until the 2^nd of April those years.  Did the mail come yet????????)  Moreover, these schools afforded my children wonderful financial aid/scholarships, so the burden of 5 kids in college and/or private school wasn’t even more overwhelming than it was.  (The theoretical total of tuition and fees one year exceeded $ 287,000.    Yes, that was the year divorce was filed- almost 2 decades ago.)

But, it’s more than just financial aid at stake.

It’s the colleges behind this deal.  By convincing more of their applicants to switch to early decision (which means they must enroll if accepted) or early action (no such promise is made by the applicant), their schools seem to be more competitive.  By filling their freshman class with early decision (about 1/3 of all the slots are so allotted), the regular round of admission seems even more competitive.  Because the number of applicants is about the same as normal, but the number of slots have been cut by 1/3 or more.

I guess this is more lucrative than grade inflation.