Harvard's Early Show (or Lack Thereof)

News from Harvard yesterday is that they're planning on dropping out of the early admissions game. You can learn more in the (Sept. 12) front page article from the Harvard school paper (The Harvard Crimson).

Harvard's bound to receive its share of plaudits for this decision: if you think you're having a hard time navigating through the differences between Early Action, Early Decision, Rolling Admission, etc., well, so apparently did Harvard. (Want a primer on the whole thing, in very nifty chart form? Visit this link from NACAC.)

Or, more to the point, Harvard is Harvard. If you apply to Harvard and you get in to Harvard, you go to Harvard.

The peril of the Early programs is that you pretty much have to tip your hand. "I really really want to go to your school. So bad that I'll enter into a possibly binding decision with you if you let me in early." But, again, if you apply to Harvard and you aren't planning on going there if you get in, why apply?

We're going to follow this and its ripple effects closely.