From applications to interviews to essays to school tours, the typical high school senior begins the year overwhelmed by the task of applying to college. Each college has its own set of deadlines and application criteria that require careful attention and evaluation.

The few students who know which college they want to attend are the envy of the rest of the class, as they need only apply to one school through a procedure known as early admission. Through early admission, these students find out if they are accepted to a particular school in the fall of their senior year; they don’t need to apply to any more schools if they are accepted.

We felt that early decision unfairly discriminated against students for whom money was an issue. You were very disadvantaged.”

- Louis Hirsh, admissions director at the University of Delaware

“We believe that elimination of early admission programs can reduce some of the frenzy, complexity and inequity in a process that even under the best of circumstances is inevitably stressful for students and their families,” Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman said in a recent article on Princeton’s Web site.

There are two types of early admission programs that colleges offer. Students who apply early decision enter into a binding agreement with the college, promising they will attend the school if accepted. Students who apply early action have the option of applying earlier than the regular pool of candidates, but are not obligated to withdraw applications from other schools if they are accepted.

At many institutions, applying early gives applicants a better chance of getting accepted. Last year Harvard University accepted 21 percent of those who applied in its early action program, but less than 10 percent of its regular admissions applicants were accepted.

This year at Princeton, 598 people were accepted early, nearly 49 percent of the freshman class of 1,231 members.