Princeton University announced Monday that it would be joining Harvard in eliminating early admissions.

On Sept. 12, Harvard University announced plans to eliminate its early admission program effective next year. It will now have a single application deadline of Jan. 1.

“The college admissions process has become too pressured, too complex and too vulnerable to public cynicism,” Harvard interim President Derek Bok said. “We hope that doing away with early admission will improve the process and make it simpler and fairer.”

Bok said early admission programs favor wealthy students over minorities and the poor.

“We agree that early admission ‘advantages the advantaged,'” Princeton President Shirley Tilghman said, echoing Harvard’s comments last week.

Early decision programs have been criticized for increasing the anxiety of the application process and informally discriminating against less wealthy applicants.

Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for public affairs at the University, said Harvard’s decision was positive.

“It helps the under-represented students,” she said. “It’s pretty tough for students who need financial aid to make a decision before they find out about their financial aid packages.”

Kaler said Harvard’s decision will not affect the U of I.

“We have our own admissions processes. We don’t worry about what others are doing,” she said.