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This may have already been posted but:

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/

It makes the very interesting (even heretical) point that early decision admits are in fact less well qualified than regular admits. Lots of other good stuff too, although fairly scary.

By Elleneast (Elleneast) on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 04:54 pm: Edit

Often schools take many of their legacies and recruited athletes in the first round, hence the lower average qualifications. It is my understanding that the academic applicants have equally good credentials as those taken in the main draw.

By Jenniferpa (Jenniferpa) on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 06:14 pm: Edit

Yes the article makes this clear. In many cases the schools aren't picking the top of the class, they're actually picking the bottom. On the other hand, you would think that the most popular schools would be able to find legacies and particularly recruited atheletes who actually have the academic credentials as well. Of course, the colleges have the knowledge that a higher percentage of early decision candidates are going to pay full tuition, because those who need substantial financial aid are going to be wary of locking themselves in like this.

By Sluggbugg (Sluggbugg) on Friday, April 11, 2003 - 03:09 pm: Edit

Jennifer, thanks for posting the article. Yes, it was very interesting.

I especially liked the description of college admissions as "...a casino on Mars: you have to guess the rules of the game you are playing, and the rules can change while you are playing it."

That pretty much sums up our year!