Why is the government investigating early decision at elite colleges?

By Deirdre Fernandes

A Justice Department antitrust investigation into early-decision admissions practices has ensnared several elite New England colleges and left many higher education specialists puzzled about what message the Trump administration is trying to send.

Highly competitive schools, including Amherst College, Middlebury College, Wellesley College, Williams College, and Tufts University, have received letters from the Department of Justice asking them to maintain documents related to their early-decision programs and any sharing of the names and information of accepted students they might have done with other colleges.

The probe comes on the heels of another Justice Department investigation of race-based admissions practices at Harvard University.

Continue Reading…