For high-school seniors across the country, May 1 is the denouement of a college-admissions chess game that has become more complicated than ever.
Friday—the deadline for students to tell colleges their final decisions—marks the culmination of an admissions process whose intensity has accelerated in recent years. Schools are pushing to get commitments sooner, adding new early-admission rounds, and using wait lists aggressively. The tactics force students, in turn, to strategically optimize their odds.
“Some students have this mentality of being a shopper, being the buyer,” said Adam Nguyen, founder of admissions-consulting firm Ivy Link. “You’re not the buyer—you are at the mercy of these colleges.”
When 17-year-old Lauren Tyree plotted out her college-application plan, she shuffled pieces of cardstock around on her table, each labeled with a target school, its deadlines and application stipulations.
She saw that applying to Princeton early, for instance, was limiting: Its “Single-Choice Early Action” option prevented early application to other private schools. Notre Dame’s “Restrictive Early Action” option, however, gave her more leeway.
She was able to apply regular-decision to the Ivies—and got into Harvard, where she committed. “We had a very clear strategy about maximizing the schools and the chance,” Tyree said.