"College admissions continue to undergo scrutiny and changes. More schools are dropping standardized test scores as an admission requirement. Admission preferences for legacy applicants and the children of major donors are being challenged. Lawsuits alleging racial discrimination in admissions continue. And last summer the National Association for College Admission Counselors (NACAC) voted to strip away its former prohibitions against colleges luring away already enrolled students, opening doors for aggressive poaching.
Controversy also surrounds the adverse impact that early-decision admissions might have on certain students. The debate often boils down to the question of whether early-decision is good primarily for institutions or for students. It’s obvious how schools using early-decision benefit: they increase their admission yield (and revenue) and sometimes beat out more selective colleges for applicants who don’t want t0 risk being rejected by a more prestigious school." …