Early College Applications. NACAC Report: Applications for Undergraduate Admission Prior to the High School Senior Year

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1 Early College Applications NACAC Report: Applications for Undergraduate Admission Prior to the High School Senior Year August 2006

2 Introduction This report includes information collected by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) in 2005 about colleges and universities that allow students to either initiate or complete an application for undergraduate admission prior to September 1 of the high school senior year. purpose The primary purpose of this report is to respond to requests from two NACAC standing committees for information about colleges and universities that conduct admission practices for full-time fall enrollment (upon graduation) prior to students senior year in high school. The NACAC Admission Practices Committee and Current Trends and Future Issues Committee, independently of one another, identified committee priorities and/or actions related to concerns about the encroachment of the traditional college admission process into the high school junior year. method Early College Application Survey In June 2005, NACAC conducted a mail survey ( Early College Application Survey or ECA) of all 2,232 four-year, not-for-profit colleges and universities in the U.S. During survey analysis, staff discovered several limitations in the data based on question wording, resulting in recommended updates as a follow-up to this survey. The ECA survey as disseminated provides a directory listing of institutions that responded to NACAC s 2005 survey of early college admission. As such, it is not a representative sample, but provides the committee with a list of colleges that allow some application activity prior to September 1 of the high school senior year. ECA Survey results do not provide sufficient focus on institutions that provide notification of the admission decision for fall enrollment upon graduation from high school prior to September 1 of the high school senior year to enable a broadly applicable conclusion about the extent of the practice. Admission Trends Survey results provide a more reliable estimate of the extent of practice in this area, though some respondents continued to express confusion about what was being asked. Survey results find some preliminary evidence that institutions encourage students to at least begin the application process prior to September 1 of the high school senior year, but more research is needed to determine the extent to which institutions go to use pre- September 1 admission as a marketing incentive.

3 Admission Trends Survey In August 2005, NACAC included a question on the Admission Trends Survey to ascertain whether more reliable data could be obtained through question wording improvement. Similar to the Early College Application Survey, the Admission Trends Survey was mailed to all 2,232 four-year, not-for-profit colleges and universities in the U.S. The Admission Trends Survey only collected data on the question of whether colleges allow students to apply for and receive notification of an admission decision prior to September 1 of their high school senior year for fall enrollment upon graduation from high school. Questions about incentives for early application, duration of early application policies, and other questions included in the ECA survey were not included on the Admission Trends Survey due to space limitations. The survey population was identified using the U.S. Department of Education s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), data from which are available online at survey response rates Five hundred twenty-eight institutions responded to the Early College Application Survey, a response rate of 24 percent. Because the purpose of the survey was to obtain directory information, there can be no assurances that the data presented from the June survey in this report is representative of the overall population of U.S. colleges and universities. Five hundred and eighty-two institutions responded to the Admission Trends Survey, a response rate of 23 percent. Data from the Admission Trends survey is broadly representative of the public/private distribution of colleges and universities, as well as distribution by enrollment and by selectivity. Data presented in this report describes only those colleges that chose to respond to the NACAC surveys.

4 Summary of Findings application and notification distinction Results from two NACAC surveys make clear that there is a significant difference between the number of colleges that allow students to begin the application process prior to September 1 of the senior year and the number of colleges that provide notification of admission decisions prior to September 1 of the senior year. pre-september initiation of applications The 2005 NACAC Early College Application survey showed that the concept of allowing students to begin the admission process prior to the start of their senior year was not a new phenomenon. While NACAC s 2006 proposed amendment to the Statement of Principles of Good Practice enacting an earliest application date would not prohibit institutions from allowing students to begin the process before the start of their senior year, the Committee felt the survey results would help illustrate the distinctions it uncovered in researching and discussing the phenomenon of early application. Sixty-eight percent of respondents reported allowing students to begin the application process for regular admission prior to September 1 of their high school senior year. An initial review determined that a large number perhaps more than half of respondents that allow students to apply for regular admission prior to September 1 of their high school senior year do so under either (1) a rolling admission plan, where applications may be initiated (but not decided) prior to September 1, or (2) dual enrollment, where a student may simultaneously enroll in college coursework while still in high school. Seventy-nine percent of respondents that allow students to begin the application process before September 1 have done so for more than five years. Eighteen percent of colleges have offered this option for two-to-five years, and three percent are offering this option for the first time in Fifty-six percent of respondents reported that information about how to begin the application process prior to September 1 is available on the college s Web site. Eleven percent of respondents that allow students to submit an application prior to September 1 of the high school senior year reported that the admission decision is binding if the student is accepted. Seven percent of respondents reported offering special incentives, such as financial aid or preferential housing, to students who apply prior to September 1 of their high school senior year. Thirty-four percent of respondents encouraged students to begin the application process prior to September 1 of their high school senior year.

5 applications and decisions prior to september 1 As a follow up to the Spring 2005 survey, NACAC s Admission Trends Survey asked colleges the following question: Regular Decision. Does your institution offer an admission option that allows students to submit applications for full-time, first-year undergraduate admission AND receive admission decisions prior to September 1 of their senior year of high school for fall enrollment after graduation from high school? (NOTE: Such policies are limited to those that provide students with a final admission decision prior to September 1 of their senior year in high school.) The purpose of posing this revised question was to separate institutions that allow students to begin the application process prior to September 1 from institutions that offer admission decisions prior to September 1. Twenty-five percent of institutions that responded to the Admission Trends Survey indicated that they allow students to apply for and receive an admission decision prior to September 1 of their senior year for full-time, first year undergraduate admission for enrollment in the fall after the completion of their senior year of high school.

6 Survey Findings NACAC ADMISSION TRENDS SURVEY Question: Regular Decision. Does your institution offer an admission option that allows students to submit applications for full-time, first-year undergraduate admission AND receive admission decisions prior to September 1 of their senior year of high school for fall enrollment after graduation from high school? (NOTE: Such policies are limited to those that provide students with a final admission decision prior to September 1 of their senior year in high school.) The 2005 NACAC Admission Trends Survey found that 25 percent of postsecondary institutions allow students to apply for admission and receive notification of an admission decision for fall enrollment upon graduation from high school prior to September 1 of the high school senior year. Figure 1. Percent of Colleges Offering Pre-September 1 Admission Decisions YES, 25% NO, 75% As Table 1 (on the next page) shows, there are few institutional characteristics that allow for a broad classification of colleges that are most likely to offer admission decisions prior to September 1 of the senior year. There was a statistically significant relationship between an institution s acceptance (selectivity) rate and their propensity to offer pre- September 1 admission decisions, but the relationship was not strong enough to draw broad conclusions about institutions based on selectivity alone.

7 Table 1: Percent of Colleges that Admit Students Prior to Their Senior Year 1 by Selected Characteristics Percent Admitting Students Early Total 25 Control Public 24 Private 26 Type Two-year 28 Four-year 25 Selectivity Accept less than 50 percent 22 of applicants percent percent 33 More than 85 percent 24 Yield Enroll less than 30 percent 25 of admitted students percent percent 32 More than 60 percent 28 Source: NACAC Admission Trends Survey, Refers to admission decisions made prior to September 1 of student s senior year. Does not include Early Action and Early Decision.

8 8 overlap with early action/ early decision Schools that offered pre-september 1 admission decisions were neither more nor less likely to be Early Action or Early Decision colleges. Of the one hundred three institutions that offer pre-september 1 admission decisions, only 19 of those institutions (22 percent) also report having an Early Action policy, and only 16 (17 percent) also report having an Early Decision policy. online applications Institutions that report admitting students prior to their senior year receive, on average, the same percentage of their applications online (49 percent) as the overall population of institutions. Compared with results from the Early College Application Survey, it appears as though question wording contributed to a substantial difference in respondent interpretation and response. Responses from that survey are outlined below. EARLY COLLEGE APPLICATION SURVEY Question One: Does your institution allow students to apply for regular admission prior to September 1 of their senior year in high school? Sixty-eight percent of respondents reported allowing students to begin the application process for regular admission prior to September 1 of their senior year of high school. If respondents answered yes to question one, they were asked to fill out the remainder of the survey. Figure 2: Percent of Respondents Allowing Students to Apply Before September 1 of Their Senior Year 32%, NO 68%, YES

9 While analyzing a sample of survey results, staff found numerous surveys with unsolicited open-ended comments conveying confusion about the wording of question 1. Specifically, a number of respondents perhaps more than half of all respondents, based on the sample analysis allow students to begin the application process prior to September 1 of the senior year. However, these institutions do not provide admission decisions until all information, including test scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, or other application information is received during the fall of senior year. Many respondents that provided open-ended feedback or that contacted NACAC directly indicated that allowing students to begin the application process prior to September 1 was a common feature of rolling admission policies. Several respondents that accept pre-september 1 applications for admission also expressed that they accept such applications only as part of dual enrollment programs, where students may simultaneously enroll in college coursework while still in high school. The survey did not specify whether colleges (1) accept completed applications for fulltime, first year admission (upon graduation from high school), or (2) issue admission decisions for full-time, first year enrollment (upon graduation from high school) prior to September 1 of the student s high school senior year. ECA Question Two: How long has your institution offered this option to prospective students? The majority of respondents (79.4 percent) that allow students to begin the undergraduate application process before September 1 have done so for more than five years. Eighteen percent of colleges have offered the option for two to five years and three percent reported that 2005 is the first year the option has been offered. Figure 3: Amount of Time Institutions Have Offered Pre-September 1 Application Option First year Two five years More than five years

10 10 ECA Question Three: Is the information about how to submit an application prior to September 1 of the high school senior year posted on your institution s Web site? The majority of colleges (56 percent) reported the information about how to begin applications prior to September 1 is listed on their Web sites. Figure 4: Percent of Respondents Providing Information about Pre-September 1 Application on Web site YES, 56% NO, 44% ECA Question Four: For applications submitted prior to September 1, is admission binding if the student is accepted? Eleven percent of respondents that allow students to submit an application prior to September 1 of the high school senior year reported that the admission decision is binding if the student is accepted. Binding, 11% Non-Binding, 89%

11 11 ECA Question Five: Does your institution offer special incentives, such as financial aid or preferential housing, to students who apply prior to September 1 and are accepted for admission? Seven percent of respondents reported offering special incentives, such as financial aid or preferential housing, to students who apply prior to September 1. Figure 6. Percent of Respondents Offering Special Incentives for Pre-September 1 Applications Special Incentives, 7% No Incentives, 93% ECA Question Six: Does your admission office encourage students to apply before September 1 of their senior year? Thirty-four percent of colleges reported encouraging students to begin the application process before September 1 of their senior year. YES, 34% NO, 66%