Early admissions programs have come under scrutiny in recent years. Critics claim the system gives an unfair advantage to student and families with access to good guidance counseling---namely, white students from more affluent backgrounds. They also claim that many students aren't mature enough to make the critical decision about college choice so early in their senior year of high school.

Hogwash. Years ago, when few families understood the advantages of applying early (a greater percentage are accepted), perhaps the system favored those with better access to counseling. Today, just about everyone is aware of early admissions programs. And I don't believe a few months of one's senior year makes a tremendous difference; how much more mature will someone be in December as opposed to October? Does some magical epiphany occur in those intervening months?

Opponents of early admissions do have one good argument: Applying to only one college eliminates the possibility of comparing financial aid packages. In other words, students who don't need financial aid can attend their first choice college, pay the full tab (or most of it), and not worry about what kind of aid some other institutions might have offered. That said, elite colleges, where early decision programs have thrived, lead us to believe that admitted students receive their fair share of aid, based mostly on need (at the Ivies, entirely on need). Those who wish to compare aid packages, assuming they'd be radically different from one institution to the next, shouldn't apply early, and therefore won't benefit from the more relaxed standards. And that's how the system benefits the rich.

Enter a new wrinkle. As this Boston Globe piece points out, some students now take advantage of some colleges' later "early" deadlines. Let's say a student applies early to Dartmouth and doesn't get in. Given the timing of the decision, he can still apply early to Tufts using that school's second early deadline. This strategy violates the principle that students should have one "first choice" college and not apply elsewhere. But when that first choice says no, another college becomes the new first choice.

Loophole or forgiveness factor? Now that colleges are wise to such trickery, let's see if things change.