Seniors will now be able to submit multiple Early Action (EA) applications as a result of a change in Stuyvesant’s application process.
Before the change, seniors were allowed to submit only one EA application. The new policy does not affect ED applications.
The College Office informed seniors of this change through a posting on Stuyvesant’s Web site, e-mails to their Stuyvesant e-mail accounts and phone calls to their homes on September 25.
EA, which is non-binding, and Early Decision (ED), which is binding, allow applicants to submit their applications sooner than the regular deadline in order to receive an earlier admissions decision.
Students can apply ED to only one school, while most colleges allow students to apply EA to several schools. Some colleges, however, have a Single Choice EA policy, which restricts students to apply EA only to their school.
“A number of parents raised the question […] about the limit on Early Action schools” at a college meeting held for the parents of seniors on September 20, Parent Coordinator Harvey Blumm said.
Blumm expressed concerns about the change. “Students feel tremendous pressure to apply early to a school, even if they’re not 100 percent sure if that’s the school they want,” he said. “They’re doing it because they know that for many colleges, it’s easier to get in early than it is regular decision.”
Principal Stanley Teitel declined to comment on the change, and College Advisor Pat Cleary was unavailable for comment. Other college advisors declined to comment.
Senior André Lazar shared Blumm’s view. “The whole point of the Early Decision/Early Action process is that students can indicate their number one choice, where they’d really like to go, and if they can just apply to a lot of schools, then that makes it redundant,” Lazar said.
Junior Alon Sicherman liked the idea of having multiple choices for EA admissions. “You can just get over the college admissions process earlier,” he said.
“It’s become a monster,” Blumm said, regarding the excitement and stress over early admissions processes.