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CNN Live At Daybreak
Getting in School: Early Admissions
Aired December 16, 2003 - 05:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Across the nation this time every year, high school seniors are watching for those letters from colleges and universities, hoping for early admission. But as the student population grows, so do questions about early admission, the early admission process itself.
CNN's Louise Schiavone reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michelle Leeds of Washington is one of about 4,000 students rolling the dice on early admission at Yale.
MICHELLE LEEDS, SENIOR, MARET SCHOOL: Yale is definitely my first choice in terms of where I really want to pick out. I mean that's the school that I definitely want to be going to in September.
SCHIAVONE: The guidance counselor at her upper crust private school says asking for early admission lends a definite advantage.
LEONARD KING, MARET SCHOOL: It does identify you as a first choice candidate. It's a smaller pool.
SCHIAVONE: She has put together a good-looking application, along with a couple of political internships, as well as a semester in the U.S. Senate Page Program. She's an avid polo player and near the top of her class. Another factor, attractive applicants who get top notch counseling, like Michelle, do even better in the early admission process.
CHRISTOPHER AVERY, AUTHOR, "THE EARLY ADMISSIONS GAME": On the surface, it seems the colleges are favoring the early applicants. The early applicants are wealthy. They tend to be non-minorities. They tend to be from privileged backgrounds, educationally, as well as financially. So at the beginning of the process, these groups are getting a big boost.
SCHIAVONE: What could be perceived as favoritism is sparking public scrutiny of the early admissions process, which is offered in different forms at different schools. Under a binding admission policy, Princeton, for example, requires students accepted early to attend. Other schools, like MIT, permit early admission applications at more than one school.
On the other hand, Harvard, Yale and Stanford permit single choice early action. That is students may only seek early admission at one school, but they are not required to attend. That change alone has broadened the pool at Stanford.
ROBIN MAMLET, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: One of the things that we found when we went from early decision to this new single choice early action is that in fact our early pool became much more diverse. And in fact that's another reason why we moved to single choice early action.
SCHIAVONE: The fairness of early admissions is being questioned so much that a Senate committee is considering hearings on the subject.
(on camera): Experts say applying early absolutely improves a student's chances, just as much as an extra hundred points or more in the SATs. And with a population of high school seniors expected to peak in four years at 3.2 million, it could make all the difference.
Louise Schiavone for CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 16, 2003 - 05:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Across the nation this time every year, high school seniors are watching for those letters from colleges and universities, hoping for early admission. But as the student population grows, so do questions about early admission, the early admission process itself.
CNN's Louise Schiavone reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michelle Leeds of Washington is one of about 4,000 students rolling the dice on early admission at Yale.
MICHELLE LEEDS, SENIOR, MARET SCHOOL: Yale is definitely my first choice in terms of where I really want to pick out. I mean that's the school that I definitely want to be going to in September.
SCHIAVONE: The guidance counselor at her upper crust private school says asking for early admission lends a definite advantage.
LEONARD KING, MARET SCHOOL: It does identify you as a first choice candidate. It's a smaller pool.
SCHIAVONE: She has put together a good-looking application, along with a couple of political internships, as well as a semester in the U.S. Senate Page Program. She's an avid polo player and near the top of her class. Another factor, attractive applicants who get top notch counseling, like Michelle, do even better in the early admission process.
CHRISTOPHER AVERY, AUTHOR, "THE EARLY ADMISSIONS GAME": On the surface, it seems the colleges are favoring the early applicants. The early applicants are wealthy. They tend to be non-minorities. They tend to be from privileged backgrounds, educationally, as well as financially. So at the beginning of the process, these groups are getting a big boost.
SCHIAVONE: What could be perceived as favoritism is sparking public scrutiny of the early admissions process, which is offered in different forms at different schools. Under a binding admission policy, Princeton, for example, requires students accepted early to attend. Other schools, like MIT, permit early admission applications at more than one school.
On the other hand, Harvard, Yale and Stanford permit single choice early action. That is students may only seek early admission at one school, but they are not required to attend. That change alone has broadened the pool at Stanford.
ROBIN MAMLET, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: One of the things that we found when we went from early decision to this new single choice early action is that in fact our early pool became much more diverse. And in fact that's another reason why we moved to single choice early action.
SCHIAVONE: The fairness of early admissions is being questioned so much that a Senate committee is considering hearings on the subject.
(on camera): Experts say applying early absolutely improves a student's chances, just as much as an extra hundred points or more in the SATs. And with a population of high school seniors expected to peak in four years at 3.2 million, it could make all the difference.
Louise Schiavone for CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
