INVERSIONS

15th December 2018, by Alex C. (G12)

Students at Korea International School, Jeju (KISJ) had submitted their early applications to various universities mostly in US and UK. They applied to universities on Nov 1st mostly and now are waiting for the result, while some of the students already received their results and are having many different emotions.

While current seniors are somewhat depressed due to the results and waiting for the results, it is nothing new for the school in which students from previous years had already received their results from colleges. This year, comparable more students applied to early application. Some of the students did not apply to early application while most of students applied to at least one school, their dream school. Early application is the process where the students apply to the college earlier than the regular decision deadline, which is usually January 1st. When they apply earlier than the regular application, the admission office of each college go through the document submitted earlier and inform students about their acceptance result around December 15th which is much faster than regular decision results dates, which is around March (three months later)

In large, there are two types of early application methods: Early Action (EA) and Early Decision (ED). There is a big difference between these two; if students are accepted to their regular decision schools after they applied to early decision, they must go to their early decision school even if they are accepted to other schools too. Therefore, it becomes students’ responsibility to go to school when they are accepted. However, early action is quite different from that in an aspect that they don’t need attend school even if they are accepted to early action. Therefore, this is freer option to students. Due to this difference, people think that early decision has a higher percentage of acceptance rate since it shows students’ devotion to that school. While it is partly true, there is no huge difference between the acceptance rate of early action and early decision. Also, there are some schools that only offer early action.

For far reach schools, such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, they only offer restricted early action in which students can not apply to other schools during early application period if they applied to these schools. Therefore, it is a disadvantage for students who consider other schools in their mind. Therefore, those students who are applying to these schools are considered to be more devoted to that school. In KISJ, there are also many students applied to restricted early action, and they all were not able to apply to other schools except the one that they chose. Although it might look disadvantageous, students who really want to go to those schools that only offer restricted early action will feel confident with their decision to apply to those schools. One of current seniors in KISJ, Joshua P(G.12) says, “I did not hesitate when I heard that I can only apply to one school during early application. I am certain that my decision is correct even though there is restriction.”

Since early application results come out faster than regular decision results, students hope that they could be accepted to schools that they applied for early applications. If the result is good, they feel more relaxed for the other semester and they don’t need to apply to other schools and go through the painful waiting process. It gives them composure and they can do things that they want to do other than academic things. This makes them happier and more comfortable while they are staying in the school, so for many students one of their dreams is to be accepted in early application.

When students are not accepted to early application colleges, they can still apply to regular schools around January 1st. Since there is a limited number of colleges that students can apply in KISJ, they should be careful in deciding which schools to apply. However, KISJ limits students from applying to more than 10 schools. Although it’s purpose might not be intending to limit students’ opportunity, KISJ’s rule, which does not apply to most schools in the United States, makes students difficult to decide the college list. Certainly, there might be some cases in which students lose their chance to be accepted to schools, which they were not able to apply due to the limitation. One of previous KISJ students, Edward Y (G.12) said, “I think it’s better to put no limit on the number of colleges that students can apply. My school has no limitation and I was more easier in deciding the schools that I want to apply.” However, it is considered to be good rule by some students. Amy K (G.12) said, “I think the limitation should be continued since it makes students to focus more on college decision process which result in higher quality of college application lists.”

Regardless of pros and cons of KISJ rule, current seniors in KISJ will successfully accomplish their college application process and will later support juniors and sophomores who will later apply to colleges.