UVA’s return to early action admission was recently featured in the New York Times. Dean of Admission Greg Roberts presented the Board of Visitors with the new policy last week.
Starting in the fall of 2012, high school seniors can apply to UVA early, but their decision to do so is nonbinding—a difference between the school’s plans for 2012 and the former binding early admission policy, dropped in 2007.
In the article, Roberts tells the reporter that he and his staff heard from high school councilors in Virginia that students want to know whether they have been admitted to UVA as early as possible. He adds that students accepted early to other schools sometimes did not apply to UVA during the regular admissions cycle.
"In some ways, this well help eliminate some of the stress," Roberts tells the Times. "I know that sounds counterintuitive."
Roberts also told the Times that the group of students that applied early to nonbinding programs is often more economically and racially diverse than groups of students that apply to binding programs. The previous week, the Times’ Choice blog published stats from schools with binding early decisions programs that show an increase in early applications at many programs.
