ADMISSIONS
Introducing Early Decision
Santa Clara offers a new option for students who know right off that this is where they want to be.
Beginning this fall, prospective students who rank Santa Clara as their No. 1 choice—and want the University to know it—will have a new option when applying for admission: Early Decision. It’s a binding program with a Nov. 1 deadline—the same as the University’s Early Action program, which is nonbinding.
As for Early Decision: Students who are ready to make a commitment need to talk with their parents and high school guidance counselors about it, as all three parties must sign an agreement on the Common Application stating the intent to commit upon acceptance. What are the benefits? A shorter waiting period for a decision; time and money saved on submitting multiple applications; more time to make housing arrangements and prepare for college if accepted; and time to apply elsewhere if not accepted.
There is a trade-off with early decision: Students cannot apply to other schools’ early decision programs; they can, however, apply to other early admission and regular-deadline programs. If admitted to SCU early decision, they must withdraw their applications elsewhere and commit to Santa Clara. (The nonbinding Early Action option allows students to wait until May 1 to commit.)
For the University, the new program is a helpful enrollment management tool, notes Michael Sexton, vice president of enrollment management. “We’ve seen a 41 percent increase in applications during the last three years,” he says, adding that this year alone, the admissions office reviewed 1,000 more applications than last year—with no additional staff support. Early Action applicants are also on the rise—up 47 percent in the last three years.
In terms of being binding, early decision does offer one exception: According to the agreement on the Common Application, if the financial aid package offered by a university won’t permit an admitted student to attend, he or she may decline the offer of admission and be released from his or her commitment.
And, of course, if Early Decision and Early Action aren’t routes that students want to take when applying, there’s still the regular admission process.
Winter 2013
Table of contents
Features
To catch a thief
A young mathematician at SCU has helped equip police in Santa Cruz and L.A. with an algorithm that predicts where crimes might happen next. Is this the future of policing?
How to avoid a bonfire of the humanities
A veteran chronicler of Silicon Valley looks at why the high-tech industry needs—and wants—folks who know how to tell a story.
The play’s the thing
Kurds, Arabs, countrymen: Shakespeare Iraq brings the Bard to Ashland like you’ve never heard him.
Mission Matters
Heart of the matter
A statue that’s gazed on the Mission Gardens for 130 years gets a much-needed restoration. As layers of paint are peeled away, stories of the past emerge.
All work and all play
They make Erik Hurtado ’13 WCC player of the year and the No. 5 pick in pro soccer’s draft.
Got MOOC?
There’s global interest in a Massive Open Online Course in business ethics.
If a student applies for Early Action to Santa Clara and is not accepted, will the application roll over to regular decision?
Early Action applicants can have three outcomes in December:
1. Admitted
2. Denied
3. Deferred to Regular Decision
Only the 3rd one will roll you into regular. If a student is denied, that concludes his/her admission cycle.