Pushing Back Regular Decision Deadlines

Pushing Back Regular Decision Deadlines January 14 Bev Taylor, Founder of Ivy Coach, is quoted in an article of todays Daily Pennsylvanian, the newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania. Bev Taylor, Founder of Ivy Coach, is featured in an article of the newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania today on the topic of colleges pushing back their Regular Decision deadlines. Penn, after all, pushed back their Regular Decision deadline by four days. And the Quakers werent alone. Dartmouth College, the University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt University pushed back their deadlines too. And it wasnt like there was a hurricane. It wasnt like students were encountering bugs with the Common App. Rather, these colleges just decided to push back their deadlines for no good reason. Oh but therein lies the rub.  They did it for every good reason. They wanted more students to apply. The longer they push the deadline, they figure, the more students will choose to apply. And the more students that choose to apply, the lower their admission rate will be and the higher their ranking in US News World Report. Its as simple as pie. As quoted in the article on Regular Decision deadlines in The Daily Pennsylvanian, Bev Taylor, founder of Ivy Coach, a New York-based college consulting firm, believes that colleges extended their deadlines in order to attract more applications and ultimately drive down acceptance rates. It’s a strategic move on the colleges’ part, she said.  However, Taylor does not criticize the decision, since it gives students much-needed time to complete their applications. It’s a good move for students, it’s a good move for the colleges, she added. There is no harm in extending deadlines. It gets more students to apply from the colleges standpoint. And it gives students more time to complete applications, after the holiday break. So we fully support colleges like Penn, Dartmouth, University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt pushing back deadlines. Why not!