This year, Dartmouth College and Yale University will allow applicants to check their admission status online, in an attempt to get students information as early as possible. The Internet has made communication faster and more efficient; it can now make valuable contributions to admissions officers and students alike. Dartmouth and Yale have taken the first step, and it behooves Harvard to follow in kind.

Posting students’ individual outcomes online and providing students with pin numbers to access their Harvard admission accounts will afford students the opportunity to determine their status as soon as possible. While it is unfortunate that applicants are in such a hurry for their decisions, instant gratification is the reality of our age. Immediate access to the information online may only eliminate the two or three day “snail mail” waiting period, not the months of anxiety; nonetheless, those days will provide applicants with several important opportunities. Some early applicants wait for a decision before applying in the regular admissions process. The two extra days will give these students extra time to fill out those applications. It will also give other students a head start on their matriculation decisions, and the ability to make travel arrangements to visit schools further in advance.

Web-based decisions will also reduce cost to schools as well as time for students. When Web-based decisions alleviate the need for mailing decisions at all, the Harvard Admissions office will save money on paper and postage. Byerly Hall could then pass the savings onto students by decreasing the application fee.

While Web-based decisions are helpful and cost-effective, there are two caveats worth considering. First, a secure website with a student’s status is superior to an e-mailed decision. E-mail is easier to tamper with or replicate fraudulently. Furthermore, a website allows students to link to more information: about the school, the orientation programs, or even a student’s financial aid package. Second, the Ivy League common notification date should translate to the online admissions decisions. Staggered announcements may affect students’ matriculation decisions negatively, which is why the Ivies agreed to standardize their notification date in the first place. The use of online admissions information need not imperil this agreement.

Online admissions decisions will soon be the norm for colleges––if Harvard fails to follow suit, it will seem out of date and out of touch. We should not be complacent about Harvard’s current leadership in the admissions process. Harvard must take the leap before it falls behind.