* Early decisions on college applications take the pressure off for some
* Those who are declined or who are still waiting can have a tough time this week
* College success factors are outside of early admission process

By JOE GRIMM

I have been enjoying the Facebook party in which some high school journalism students I met in Northwestern’s Cherubs program are reporting their college acceptances through early decision.

No wonder they are celebrating! College applications grueling and the wait is nerve-wracking. Some students have been losing sleep to college application anxiety. To get early decisioned into your chosen school takes off a lot of pressure. The ED route can be tough because acceptance binds you to the school

The New York Times looks at the college early decision process as part of its effort to demystify the college admissions process. Times education writer Jacques Steinberg reports that Northwestern early decisions are up this year, as are early decisions at Yale and early decisions at Williams. Early decision applications are down at some other universities.

The early-decision college admission road is a controversial one and not everyone takes it.

For this week, though, with early decisions clustered around Dec. 15, it is time to celebrate for those of the Class of 2010 who now know their direction for the next several years.

DISAPPOINTMENT FOR THE OTHERS IS TEMPORARY

But I am thinking about those high school seniors who did not go early decision or who were declined. The pressure is still on for them and disappointment can be deep.

In years of recruiting student journalists on college campuses from California to Missouri to New York, I came away with the strong feeling that the university or the journalism program does not matter as much as the person. The best J-schools have excellent professors, zippy equipment, a competitive peer group and national networks, but that can only take one so far. The real push has to come from inside. People over programs.

I met and hired great people from what some would consider to be mediocre programs and I met mediocre people in great programs. I was not as interested in the name on the top of the diploma as the person whose name was written on the diploma. And that’s the way it should be.

Whether you get into a program first, by early decision, or last, what it really comes down to is what you do after you get in, not before. College turns out to be pretty much a fresh start.

THE TRUE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE STUDENT’S CHARACTER

I found that the bedrock character traits that set the winners apart in journalism had everything to do with who they were, not who they knew, and what they were made of, rather than what they had learned.

Early decision people are an impressive lot. But there are some great people coming along with them — and the Cherubs I worked with at Northwestern have friends in every group of admission types. Getting accepted this week is a great thing, so let the (non-alcoholic!) champagne flow. Just keep your eyes open to see who does the work to be early accepted into jobs and grad schools in five or six years when they graduate.

Congratulations to those whose plans are set — and soon to all the others, too.

It’s the people, not the program.