Rewriting the rules on early admission: a notional association pitches a new policy.

The topic of early admissions never fails to get a reaction from admissions officers. Some rely on early admissions policies to snap up the brightest students, others criticize them for pressuring students to make hasty decisions.

To date, early admissions policies have come in two flavors, so to speak. The most common policy--early decision--forces a student to apply early to a first-choice school and obligates that student to attend if accepted. The other policy, early action, does not obligate a student to attend if accepted early. Critics have charged that early decision has favored wealthy students who have the financial cushion of accepting their first choice offer, even if a financial aid package from a competitor might be better. Stanford, Harvard and Yale have already adopted some form of early action, but the details of their plans vary.

Now the National Association for College Admission Counseling has voted to adopt what it is calling a "single-choice, early action" policy, and is urging its 5,000 member colleges and universities to embrace it. This new policy WILL be similar in practice to early action, allowing students to apply early to a school, but not obligate them to attend, thus remaining open to better offers.

NACAC, however, hasn't yet worked out the full definition. That task has been handed to its Admissions Practices Committee, led by Pete Caruso, associate director of Admissions at Boston College.

"It is important that we create a uniform definition," he says. The committee began its work after NACAC's conference in early October.