<p>I’m no math whiz, but I see on USNWR that BU’s acceptance rate for ED is 50%, and their acceptance rate for RD is 52%. Am I right in thinking that there is no implied boost for applying ED? Isn’t that unusual?</p>
<p>This year the RD acceptance rate was 45% of 31,000 applications, the largest applicant pool in history. BU has not released the ED acceptance rate figure.</p>
<p>Remember that acceptance rates vary by program.</p>
<p>Where is NON to help answer this one since I am curious too????</p>
<p>I imagine with such a large student body the whole process may be tackled differently than at a LAC. There are the BA/MD kids, the Univ. Professors Program, then you have many that apply to CAS but are only accepted at CGS but they count as accepted students same as those rejected from the 7 yr MD tract but given acceptance to CAS.</p>
<p>Also, the whole merit scholarship piece must come in to play since schools like BU tend to offer them to the top 10% of accepted students and again it may be difficult to know what those numbers look like until March.
It must be a complicated system and since they are so many applicants they may not feel a need to overdo it on giving the ED kids too much of an edge.</p>
<p>Dogs - I was hoping you would post! Thanks. I guess they don't want to give ED kids too much of an edge, and I can understand that. But I'm surpised by the fact that it seems to be harder to get in - it's not even equal. So maybe, as kinshasa, says, we should wait to see what figures are released for the current class. If the same thing happens, it would appear better to apply RD than ED, which would certainly be different.</p>
<p>fiddlefrog - are the different acceptance rates by department available to us? That would be really interesting to see.</p>
<p>I've been wondering the same thing.</p>
<p><em>throws up hands</em>
¡no tengo ningún idea!</p>
<p>In fact, I remember asking you, dogs, this very question some time ago. </p>
<p>There is a fundamental problem with comparing ED and RD acceptance rates: Student qualification differs dramatically. The current trend is to apply to your reach school early. That way, you're given two looks by your dream school (in the case of deferral). In addition, the AdCom knows that their school is number one in your book. This can sometimes give you a cow-tip, so to speak (not a big push, but a final one). It is rare for match/safety students to apply early, but we do turn up every so often.</p>
<p>As a result, I would expect the ED pool's average statistics to be lower than those of the RD student body. BU receives a huge number of overqualified applicants intending to use the school as a safety. This small group drags up the group average significantly. Note the non-CGS applicant SAT average, for example: 1341 (found on the "Welcome Page"). Although we don't have any data on enrolled students, this mean score is a good deal greater than the point halfway between the 25% and 75% marks of last year's admitted class (I know that this number doesn't necessarily represent the 50th percentile, but I'd bet it's close) . The 16 point difference is significant when dealing with groups of students this large. The suggests that the aforementioned safety-school phenomenon is pretty important. These students throw off the mean while the median stays pretty much the same (so, they don't knock Average Joe out of his slot). These students artificially inflate class profiles and acceptance percentiles.</p>
<p>I would expect an even greater disparity between the two admission periods' scores (what with the low-scoring reach students applying early and the safety kids applying regular).</p>
<p>But in the end, for these reasons, none of this matters. The order of causation is backwards in applicants' minds. Your individual decision to apply ED does not affect the likelihood of your acceptance. Rather, the self-acknowledged likelihood of your acceptance influences your decision to apply ED. These numbers are a product of student behavior, not the admissions committee. They approach the class holistically.</p>
<p>If you're mediocre, it won't change a thing. If you excel, you have an even greater chance of success applying ED. But you would be accepted RD, anyway. So stop fussing about this!</p>
<p>[I apologize in advance for my grammar. I am tired and incoherent.]</p>
<p>I would love to know how I got in, my stats aren't at all impressive. Unless as Nom says, the stats are a bit inflated. I got in ED with a 1220 SAT, 28 ACT, and a good mix of As and Bs with quite a bit of AP classes.</p>
<p>i beg to defer with nom. if the applicant pool was lower for ED. as an average student that might just make it with BU's standards, they have a greater chance of getting in than one who applies RD with a stronger applicant pool. because the number of students who apply with stats on par with BU's will be significantly more than how much BU can accept. so if you were of a match for BU and you applied ED, you would stand out more than if you applied RD.
plus, the yield rate is like 100% for ED (or should be) anyways so tufts syndrome will not occur.</p>
<p>@nymph: I tried my best to explain that it does that matter if you "stand out" among the ED. I suggest you either reread my post or pose questions for clarification before passing judgment on my conclusions. . . especially in a way I feel I've already addressed.</p>
<p>EDIT:</p>
<p>@theintellectual: I don't know about your case in particular, but BU does recruit students by geography and background (to some degree). It isn't as if Tokelau has one exceptional student applying to BU each year. The same applies to rural Nevada-ian students.</p>
<p>that's not true. because the yield rate is much higher and predictable for ED, universities are much more willing to accept those who applied ED.</p>
<p>for example, if two students with very similar stats/credentials, essays, etc. both up to BU's standards, one ED and one RD. if BU were to reject one and accept one, they will almost 100% accept the ED one over the RD one. </p>
<p>applying ED is another factor that would distinguish you from another applicant (if comparing from ED/RD), the concept is similar to ECs, for example we have two students with similar scores, one is a tuba player and the other just have typical ECs, if the university needs a tuba player, they will pick the tuba player over one that has normal ECs. they are both deciding factors.</p>
<p>colleges want to keep their yield rate as predictable as possible. it's like being waitlisted, appealing would greatly increase your chance of getting in, BECAUSE you are showing interest. similarly, applying ED is showing interest because you are demonstrating to the university that they are your first choice...like you said earlier, students who have BU as their saftey is unlikely to apply ED (especially if it's binding!) and it is those who have BU as their saftey that lowers the yield rate.</p>
<p>Still, the numbers are driven by the students. It's absurd to compare the statistics of the two groups (like I did. . .)</p>