In signing the Higher Education Act of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson described education as "the most important door that will ever open." Earning a college credential can mean a better living and a better life for students and their families. But to earn that credential, students must first navigate the admissions process. Education…

Gifted girls and gifted boys are more alike than they are different, although researchers remain fascinated with sex differences. Small differences between gifted boys and girls in achievements, interests, careers, and relationships can become exaggerated through gendered educational practices. Kindergarten "red-shirting" of boys and the denial of…

Describes how the refusals of Princeton and Brown to follow restrictions on early-admissions programs have put the universities at odds with a national admissions association, and left applicants in the middle. (EV)

Describes how a growing number of colleges are using on-site "instant" admissions programs to let applicants know in person whether they have been accepted. (EV)

Discusses criticism of early admissions decisions, including claims that it heavily benefits colleges, puts too much pressure on some students, and hurts those who need financial aid. (EV)

The director of undergraduate admissions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discusses why the institution decided to end early admissions. The decision will benefit students and families of all background, he asserts. (EV)

A survey of 27 young women who entered the University of Washington's Early Entrance Program (EEP) between 1988 and 1992 found that, although gender was not a factor in most respondents' decisions to enroll in the EEP, the young women derived a number of unique benefits from radical acceleration, including acceptance and encouragement at a…

Academic planning at many colleges and universities has recently focused on early admission programs for high school students. The pros and cons of the policy are examined. (Author)

In 1951, 240 high school students with great academic promise interrupted their high school careers after completion of the 10th grade in order to enter college through an early admissions program. This document presents a follow-up study of these students, 213 of whom were males, and 252 other students who entered college in the conventional…

Discusses why early-decision programs have added an "insane intensity to middle-class obsessions about college." Asserts that they distort the admissions process, rewarding the richest students from the most exclusive high schools and penalizing nearly everyone else, but that the incentives for many colleges and students are "as irresistible as…

A college admissions officer at Wesleyan University (Connecticut) offers two views of early decision programs, one based on personal experience as a student and one drawing on professional experience as an administrator and knowledge of the concerns of parents. The evolution of different kinds of early decision policies and the resulting confusion…

Describes the development since 1978 of the Clarkson School, a special division of New York's Clarkson University. The school provides college credit courses, school orientation programs, and personal adjustment assistance to entering students who have completed their junior years of high school and desire early admission to college. (PGD)

In early-decision programs, high school students apply to their first-choice college and receive an admissions decision by December of their senior year. These programs are binding, meaning that if a student is accepted into a college through the early decision process, he or she must rescind applications to other colleges and forgo the chance to…

This study interviewed students (n=24) participating in the University of Washington's Early Entrance Program. Students were unanimous in their satisfaction with their choice to forego major high school social events and found attitudes toward them sometimes annoying. (DB)