Early App Deadlines Draw to a Close

As the extended deadline for early applications approaches, members of the class of 2014 have been scrambling in a last-minute effort to make sure all parts of their application are complete and their faculty letters of recommendations are on file.A glitch in the Common App website, which caused the website to crash for approximately 12 hours on Oct. 15, forced many universities to push their deadlines further back from the original Nov. 1 deadline. Although most colleges set their new deadline to Nov. 8, some, such as Boston University, extended the deadline to Nov. 14.In addition, many students were affected by an additional wave of technical difficulties after the Oct. 15 malfunction. “These glitches happened as I was submitting my final apps, last Wednesday and this past Monday. I had to try a total of three times to get the app in. I was so scared at the first error message, but everything worked out in the end,” senior Stuart Faith said. “The glitches were awful. There were formatting issues for one of my essays, and the Common App logged me out twice each time I tried to submit my early applications.”Although he did not experience the same issues as his peers, senior Lloyd Feng, who is in Stratford this term, believes that the Common App needs much more work before thousands of seniors in the U.S. and abroad can put their trust in the application platform.“The Common App organization really needs to improve its service. I remember that last week, when one of the girls on the Stratford term abroad program with me tried to submit her finalized application, the website would always present the error message,” Feng said.A frequently raised concern during the early application process addresses the College Counseling Office’s “non sibi policy” in which students who are accepted to a school with an acceptance rate lower than 10 percent are expected to enroll, regardless of whether it is an early action or early decision.Director of College Counseling Betsy Dolan explained the reason for instituting the non sibi policy. “If students are interested in schools that have an admit rate of less than 10 percent, our mantra is that it should be a first-choice school,” she said. “And, if accepted, we ask them to attend that school, as this aligns with our school’s motto of non sibi.”Faith supported Exeter’s decision in keeping consistent with the ideal of non sibi, even in college admissions. “If seniors apply early and are accepted somewhere else with an admit rate of less than 10 percent, I do think it should be their top choice, and that they should retract all other applications,” she said. “‘Waiting around to see if Harvard accepts me,’ be it for bragging rights, a parent’s pressure or just for the fun of it, is 100 percent sibi. This process isn’t for kicks and giggles.”Senior Kevin Flynn viewed the situation from a different perspective. “I think the policy is a way that the counselors have our best interest, but it comes down to the students’ choice. If I were a kid who got in early to one of the schools below 10 percent admissions rate, but I had another first choice and CCO forced me to go to this school, I wouldn’t feel supported by CCO because CCO is supposed to guide us in a direction that we want to go,” he said.Overall, the stress of having to write college applications, compounded with the heavy workload of senior fall and various extracurricular commitments, has been affecting the senior class.Senior TJ Hodges has been feeling the weight of senior fall as the term progressed. “Deadlines have caused late nights and a lot of difficulty studying and doing homework. I did some work during the summer, but not much, so the bulk of it has been during the last several weeks,” he said. “Early apps, combined with SATs and grades, have made for a very interesting term.”Dolan sympathized with the students who are struggling to manage their workload and the stress that naturally comes with this time of the year. “There are many suggestions and interventions that we try to provide in dealing with this process. Hopefully, each student works with their college counselor to balance their list and to discuss how to manage their stress. It’s a personal process and how each student navigates—it is unique.”