[Papa John]

<snip>
"Disadvantage no one" is a tricky position to be very certain about.  Stanford has been quite adamant that its "all frosh start together policy" is good for all, or at least most, students. If they have been correct, then getting rid of it would be ... well, less good. Getting rid of it for football players might advantage their football careers, but possibly not their academic careers. Of course that's a trade-off most in-coming recruits would take.

Yes, frosh (and transfers, few though they may be) starting together in the fall is best for most students. New Student Orientation, bonding--or not--with dormmates, enculturation, taking year-long first-year courses in sequence, etc. I don't want Stanford to be like USC, which has no early admissions for the non-athlete, but first-year football players can enroll in January while high school applicants are still waiting to hear back from the admissions office. That's flat out hypocritical.

As I mentioned earlier, Stanford now has Restrictive Early Action admissions--students apply by November 1, decisions come out around December 10, and financial aid awards are announced by December 15. On the REA application, a student could indicate to which quarter they seek to matriculate. Fall would, of course, be the default, but students seeking early enrollment could write a short explanation. More devil in the details, but this can and, in my opinion, should be done for those few students who might be better off matriculating in winter or spring. I have no problem that football is the catalyst for this change, but I would object if only football players could take advantage of it.

[Papa John]

<snip>
"Disadvantage no one" is a tricky position to be very certain about.  Stanford has been quite adamant that its "all frosh start together policy" is good for all, or at least most, students. If they have been correct, then getting rid of it would be ... well, less good. Getting rid of it for football players might advantage their football careers, but possibly not their academic careers. Of course that's a trade-off most in-coming recruits would take.

Yes, frosh (and transfers, few though they may be) starting together in the fall is best for most students. New Student Orientation, bonding--or not--with dormmates, enculturation, taking year-long first-year courses in sequence, etc. I don't want Stanford to be like USC, which has no early admissions for the non-athlete, but first-year football players can enroll in January while high school applicants are still waiting to hear back from the admissions office. That's flat out hypocritical.

As I mentioned earlier, Stanford now has Restrictive Early Action admissions--students apply by November 1, decisions come out around December 10, and financial aid awards are announced by December 15. On the REA application, a student could indicate to which quarter they seek to matriculate. Fall would, of course, be the default, but students seeking early enrollment could write a short explanation. More devil in the details, but this can and, in my opinion, should be done for those few students who might be better off matriculating in winter or spring. I have no problem that football is the catalyst for this change, but I would object if only football players could take advantage of it.