The University of Virginia will offer a nonbinding early-action admission plan starting next fall, officials announced on Tuesday. The news comes four years after the university dropped its binding early-decision program amid concerns that the option attracted a disproportionate number of affluent students.
In 2011, early applicants would apply to Virginia by November 1 and receive a decision in January. Successful applicants would have until May 1 to accept or decline their admission offers, and they would be able to apply to other colleges—under early-action, early-decision, or regular-decision programs.
Several selective colleges have some version of an early-action program, but restrictions vary. Georgetown University, for instance, tells its early applicants that they may apply to other colleges’ early-action and regular-decision plans, but not to a binding early-decision plan.
Greg Roberts, Virginia’s dean of admission, said he and his staff considered a variety of early programs over the last six months. “This provides the most flexibility and freedom for students,” he says. “It’s the type of plan that will result in the most diverse applicant pool.”
Recent conversations with high-school counselors and families helped convince the university to restore some form of an early-admission program. Some students have told Mr. Roberts that they would have applied early to UVA if they could have done so. “From an institutional self-interest perspective, we thought this might attract students who aren’t in our pool,” he says. “The fact of the matter is that some students want to have an admissions decision or an offer in their hip pocket early in the year.”
Ali Bhanji, director of college counseling at the Potomac School, in McLean, Va., predicted that many students would happily apply early to Virginia. “I like the idea that some students will be able to know where they stand with UVA before the holidays,” he wrote in an email on Tuesday. “But similar to most highly selective early-action colleges, only the strongest (or those most prioritized by the institution) will be admitted.”
