Students accepted early decision — including a few members of the 127th Editorial Board — love to complain about not getting invited to Brown’s admitted students’ event: A Day on College Hill. They groan about how they never got to join in on the late night arch sings, sigh longingly when someone mentions the free food and bear a hole in their hearts where others carry the ADOCH address by the dean of admission.
But then again, many of them only sent in one application, had to wait a month in agony for a decision instead of four and got sick of the arch sings that were so special at ADOCH by the sixth week of school anyways (the third if they were living in Wayland).
The University has taken pity on our memes and started inviting early decision admits to ADOCH, which will now take place over two different two-day periods. But while the invitation may sweeten the saltiness some early decision admits still feel, the move ultimately holds little meaning for those to whom it matters the most and may spend resources that would better be diverted toward other necessities, like financial aid.
The early decision admits will not be able to receive on-campus housing, which will be saved for regular decision admits. That means that ED admits will either be forced to leave after a day or find their own accommodations in hotels. This is just another iteration of the exclusionary elements of “CUBS Day” — what used to be a vastly underwhelming day for admitted early decision students that lasted about three hours and did not include any housing accommodations. A lack of housing meant the event was predominantly attended by wealthy students or those who lived nearby.
The fact that early decision students would not receive housing entirely undercuts the Admission Office’s goals of making ADOCH more equitable. We applaud the admission office for committing more money to travel grants so that low- and middle- income students can visit Brown, but what good is a student travelling out to Providence if they would just have to pay for a place to stay when out here? And perhaps the admission office isn’t deciding to fund travel grants for early decision applicants. In that case, you have mostly wealthy early decision admits coming out for ADOCH — exactly the problem they were trying to stymy by doubling their travel budget.
According to Dean of Admission Logan Powell, the University is inviting early decision admits so their enthusiasm about Brown may spread to regular decision admits who are choosing between schools. But this seems largely unnecessary as current Brown students already spread their excitement to ADOCH attendees by hosting events for them and housing them in their dorms. And the chance that early decision admits will be making a convincing case to attend Brown — especially when they are still denied the full ADOCH experience — is small.
In the end, early decision students really don’t need to be convinced to come to Brown: The fact that they applied to this school knowing that they would have to attend makes that clear. Ultimately, Brown would be wasting funds that could be better spent on other areas like financial aid.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s 127th editorial board: Lauren Aratani ’18, Matthew Brownsword ’18, Rebecca Ellis ’18 and Katharine Talerico ’18. Send comments to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
