I received an email today announcing that Syracuse is adding Early Action for the next class.
We are pleased to share that Syracuse University will offer Early Action (EA) as a new non-binding application option beginning with the Fall 2027 admission cycle. This expands our existing suite of admission plans, which currently includes Early Decision (ED), Early Decision II (ED II) and Regular Decision, giving your students greater flexibility in how they choose to apply.
I don’t see an announcement on their site yet, but the details have been added to their Dates and Deadlines page.
Does this mean that EA applicants who are reasonable candidates for admission are likely to get a deferral with an invitation to switch to ED2, and that RD will become more selective than previously?
So there have been a couple adding EA. I am wondering if it is the somewhat cynical reason cited above, or if it is to do with the trend (at least as identified by our school counselors) that many students are applying EA to schools that offer it - possibly meaning they either don’t bother to apply to RD schools as well or don’t wait for RD decisions before committing to attractive EA offers? Also wondering if the college will simply benefit from earlier information about the composition of the current year’s applicant pool.
I will note that early February is late for announcing EA decisions. My kid’s last one this year was 1/31 and most were well before that.
Edit: randomly, I also note that their ED reply deadline seems more flexible than others and that students only have to reply by 5/1 if given alternate choice. At my kid’s ED school, alternate was not binding but had the same reply deadline as the first choice ED decisions.
Could be that some students assume that RD is not worth the bother when EA is offered, because some colleges fill up their classes (or popular majors) in EA.
If this means second choice of major or something like that, does this mean that Syracuse also unbinds the ED admit if admitted to the second choice?
The dates also indicate that Syracuse gives ED admits to their first choice something like six weeks to reply (presumably checking their financial aid offer and such).
I think all colleges do, but underscored in Syracuse’s case by extending commit date to May 1 if offered alternate choice. Admittedly I only have knowledge of one other college to compare it to so it’s possible that outcome is more widespread.
The sophistication around enrollment management has become far greater than public perception. Nobody can truly know how Syracuse will use EA, how Florida will use ED, and similar.
My frustration with the whole game is when stronger applicants do not get into a school because they passed on ED, or “just” applied RD. Offering four ways to apply is trending normal and that seems to mean this will also become more typical.
I will always have a bias for schools that largely play it straight up: MIT, UNC, Georgia Tech, UCLA, UT Austin and others. I prefer schools where admissions decisions are less dependent on whether a student chose ED1, ED2, REA, SCEA, or another strategic application lane. It makes the process feel more transparent and equitable.
I 100% agree with this…, but I admit that as long as Syracuse or any school that makes admissions more complicated offers a good “education” at the end, then I don’t really mind. I’m somewhat convinced that admissions is fairly disconnected from the rest of the school. While I despise, for example, the UChicago admissions process, I think the school does a good job in the following 4 years. As long as ‘cuse does a good job on the educational mission side then I’m ok with messing up their admissions process. I mean, it’s got to be better than last years wait-list payoffs, right?
Has anyone been reading about Syracuse’s enrollment/financial situation? Maybe deserves its own thread.
Overall, there is little doubt that Syracuse hopes to solve its problems with EA. More applications (lower admit rate) and more filtering into ED2. Offering merit money to the people in EA who improve the standards.
People may be thinking…. “Why doesn’t Syracuse enroll more of their class from ED like all the other $100k privates?” But when the people you need to enroll, do not have the academics, you risk your standing/ranking still. That is a hidden issue, along with international student enrollment slowing down.
Top 50 privates playing enrollment games and charging $100k should watch this play out closely, and with some fear.
Syracuse University now offers an early action application option for the upcoming admissions cycle, according to its website.
Those who apply through early action by the Nov. 1 deadline will receive their admissions decision in “early February,” according to the website. In previous admissions cycles, SU only offered the binding early decision option as an alternative to applying through regular decision.
Early action allows prospective students to receive an admissions decision earlier without being legally bound to attend the school through early decision.
Beyond what I mentioned in the post above? Not much beyond I don’t think these are Syracuse-specific or even private-specific issues. Demographics + issues with internationals affect everyone. As an example I also noted in that thread that C26 got a late merit offer from UMN and then we got an email from UMN a week after May 1 to say there was space available if they still wanted to enroll.
No school is immune to a failed enrollment strategy. Syracuse, unfortunately, has to deal with their own issues. I hope EA does the trick for them. Regarding Syracuse and also your experience with UMN, I hypothesize many of the schools in the US News 51-99 are in a dog fight right now.
I don’t see it so much as “failed” as needing to adjust to a new demographic reality. We’re seeing it in highly ranked privates too, also partly as a result of the funding squeeze - U Chicago being an example here of having to cut programs (albeit mostly grad school), and possibly being part of the reason behind its ED0 strategy. I also don’t see the rather sudden increasing generosity of a number of T20-30ish schools in providing free tuition to families earning under $100/200/250k (depending on school) as separate from these other factors either. All aimed at attracting students.
That will be extremely difficult for them to do. They could pump up the percentage enrolled from ED, but they would need to lower academic standards to do so. Vicious cycle. The EA filter to ED2 game will get them a few more applicants, but will it be enough?
I think this is why schools have/add EA…many students have decided or have a strong lean to where they are going before March. Students do become ‘attached’ to the schools where they have been accepted. Syracuse (and other schools without EA) lose out on a relatively large proportion of applicants having this mindshare.
I do wish Syracuse released EA decisions before winter break though…applicants would likely send in fewer RD apps (so ultimately less competition for Syracuse), and some applicants would become ‘attached’ to Syracuse for whatever reason, maybe it’s their first acceptance. There is also a great deal of marketing colleges can do with accepted EA students, and the earlier they can start that, the better. IMO of course. But if I were their enrollment consultant, I would advise them to hire enough readers so they could release EA decisions (and FA packages!) before the holidays.
Definitely.
For Syracuse, IMO the headwinds are greater than just the demographic cliff. Some of the issues might swing back to benefit Syracuse, like international students, or a decrease in the proportion of northeast students who want to go south for college. Even winning a national basketball championship would help. IMO it would not be stupid from a marketing perspective to invest significant dollars in attracting some of the top HS basketball players in the country/world. For many years the strength of Syracuse’s men’s basketball team brought in applicants.
There are hundreds, maybe 1,000+ colleges that are still taking students for the Fall. Just not the ‘popular’ ones.
Syracuse is not missing enrollment numbers because of a demographic cliff. They are missing numbers because they have a flawed model. People should think of this no differently from if a business failed to get enough customer revenue over a number of years, and was losing money because of it. That is how the president and head of enrollment are being evaluated; I am certain.
I don’t disagree, but that is the first reason President Haines mentioned in his letter. It’s difficult to blame the enrollment cliff when the school received a record amount of apps!
If implemented correctly, I do think EA will help them improve their yield, but in the short term at least increasing yield is going to be relatively expensive (requiring more discounting.) And I will die on the hill that releasing EA decisions before the holidays would be better for yield than releasing decisions in February, as is currently planned. All IMO of course.