A change to how early decision programs should work?

[premedalt]

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What if instead of making the requirement that an applicant can only apply to that one school until October 1st, they make it that an applicant can only choose one school as early decision, and the condition is that if they get accepted they must withdraw their application from all other schools within a week.

This rule would definitely increase the number of students that use the early decision option, since there's no longer any risk.

This would also probably result in a higher yield of acceptances for medical schools.

It would decrease the number of applicants in the applicant pool early in the cycle, allowing schools to better utilize the time they would have spent evaluating and interviewing applicants who probably would not have matriculated.

I just feel like admissions would be so much more straight forward this way. I'm sure there are more benefits to this rule than I mentioned.

What are the downsides to such a change, and if there aren't, what would it take to implement such a change?

Tagging @Goro, @gyngyn, @LizzyM, @Med Ed, @gonnif, and any other adcoms or students who have thoughts on this.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

This is the only reason I, and many others, opted against the early decision program. The benfits are too minuscule compared to the risks of having a late application. This would be feasible option to make it more balanced!

 

[PA_dud3]

This is sort of akin to how undergrad early decisions work.

 

[LizzyM]

My school starts reading applications in August. Why should I waste my time reading your application and maybe inviting you for decision if you have applied early decision and might get and accept an offer of admission from your top choice by October 1? I'm certainly going to put off looking at your application until October 1. At that point, if you are the cream of the crop, you may rise to the top when I sort applications and you'll get reviewed in October. If not, you might get reviewed at the very end of the cycle, but at that point we'll still have interview slots left so you won't get left out if you are truly in the top 10-20% of applicants who get invited for interview.

Undergrad is so much different than med school, including the fact that there aren't interviews for undergrad.

Early decision is like a arranged marriage. Why not get out and visit a number of schools and get an idea of which one might be the best fit for you. It seems to me that early decision short-circuits the decision process. Plus, if you see the school and it doesn't seem like a good fit, you are rather stuck if that school makes you an offer.

 

[premedalt]

My school starts reading applications in August. Why should I waste my time reading your application and maybe inviting you for decision if you have applied early decision and might get and accept an offer of admission from your top choice by October 1? I'm certainly going to put off looking at your application until October 1. At that point, if you are the cream of the crop, you may rise to the top when I sort applications and you'll get reviewed in October. If not, you might get reviewed at the very end of the cycle, but at that point we'll still have interview slots left so you won't get left out if you are truly in the top 10-20% of applicants who get invited for interview.

Undergrad is so much different than med school, including the fact that there aren't interviews for undergrad.

Early decision is like a arranged marriage. Why not get out and visit a number of schools and get an idea of which one might be the best fit for you. It seems to me that early decision short-circuits the decision process. Plus, if you see the school and it doesn't seem like a good fit, you are rather stuck if that school makes you an offer.

Well, each school will obviously have to prioritize the applicant that chose their school for the early decision program. And I can see that with this rule change, most adcoms will wait until a week after October first before beginning to evaluate any applicants that did not choose their school for early decision. At this point, schools will have a decent idea of how many more seats they need to fill, and schools won't have to waste time with applicants who wouldn't have gone there anyways. I think @gonnif pointed out on one of his posts that the majority of interviews go out to a small percentage of applicants. Schools can now save a ton of time by not interviewing applicants who don't view them as their top choice.

But why would that applicant be put on bottom of the pile to be evaluated at the end of the cycle? They'd be in the same boat as everyone else at that point who didn't choose early decision at that school, which I'm guessing would be the majority of their applicants. Wouldn't they now be prioritized/ranked the same way they would be normally? The only other people I can see being prioritized over them is anyone who didn't apply early decision to anywhere.

You do bring a very good point in the end. For applicants who aren't worried about getting into at least a few schools I can definitely see them opting out of choosing early decision somewhere so that they can find a school that's a good fit for them without jeopardizing how they are viewed at these schools.

 

[init2020]

From what I've read, early decision seems to work better for applicants if they applied to a school that offered them a counseling session prior to committing. Not all schools offer this perk though.

 

[gyngyn]

As above, if I know you have applied early decision, why would I look at your ap before I knew the outcome?
Most places do not see themselves as consolation prizes.

 

[premedalt]

As above, if I know you have applied early decision, why would I look at your ap before I knew the outcome?
Most places do not see themselves as consolation prizes.

I agree, if you knew they chose another school for early decision you wont want to look at their app until later. Until then, I'm guessing you'd anyways have your hands full making decisions on people who chose your school for early decision (which would definitely be a greater number than it is now), and evaluating applications of those who didn't choose any schools for early decision. A large number of applicants will no longer be in the your schools applicant pool a week into October, and you can begin more efficiently evaluating all those extra applications then. You would have to interview less applicants as you already have a probably decent number of acceptees that will matriculate, saving time and money for your school.