what, harvard, no fanfare this time?

Harvard has decided to start admitting applicants early again. Princeton immediately followed. In their announcement about eliminating early applications back in 2006, Harvard spoke of the “fairness” of such a move. The argument was that early admissions is a mechanism for richer people to have an easier time getting into college, either because of financial aid (whose decisions come in much later), access to information, or quality of college counseling. Harvard was right in 2006. I suspect they thought more people would follow their lead, and only Princeton and UVA made serious efforts to. That’s over now. Not as much of a celebration this time. Probably because they’ve given up on a significant step to create greater class equality in higher education.