Stanford’s Early Action Decisions Released Today

Stanford’s Restrictive Early Action applicants will receive their admission decisions this afternoon at 3 pm (Pacific Time), several days ahead of schedule.

According to the Stanford website, “The admission committee finalized its selection process earlier than anticipated and in an effort to quell anxiety among applicants, parents, counselors, and alumni, Dean Shaw made the executive decision to release decisions today, December 9.”

“So many people have wished me good luck today, but I realized that even if I get rejected, these people will still support me, commented one applicant posting on the College Confidential discussion board. I'm super nervous, but honestly, I'm not going to be disappointed if I don't get in. We're all awesome people who will go on to do great things, so if you get rejected, it's really Stanford's loss, not yours.”

“And this has been the longest day of my life,” said another anxious applicant

Stanford received 5,880 restrictive early action applications for the class of 2016. This represents a slight decrease from 5929 applications received last year. If last year’s numbers offer any insight, Stanford will probably accept between 12 and 13 percent of the early action pool.

While not binding, Stanford’s early action program prohibits applicants from applying early to other colleges and universities. Those accepted now are free to pursue other applications and compare results later in the application cycle. All final decisions are due by May 1, 2012.

But don’t look for too many deferrals to the regular pool. Stanford’s philosophy is to “make final decisions whenever possible.” As a result, only a small percentage of early action applicants will be deferred.

The earlier-than-planned results should give students more time to digest the news and move on if necessary. Stanford may be among the first of the ‘big names’ to send this year’s early admissions decisions, but many local students have been quietly receiving responses from colleges with different forms of early application and/or rolling admissions. More are scheduled to arrive over the coming days and weeks.

Disappointment in the form of deferral or outright rejection always stings. The best antidote is simply to keep the process moving and resist the temptation to freeze in place.

As a truck driver says to the character played by Sandra Bullock, in All About Steve, “If you miss a bus, I’m thinking maybe you weren’t meant to take it.”