<p>I'm just wondering, are there any instances where it's better to NOT risk being deferred and apply Early Decision?</p>
<p>Many of the apps I sent out are maybes, and I had some grade weaknesses I was hoping to make up in essays/ECs. Ultimately I got involved in the college process too late to apply EA anywhere, but I'm wondering if applying EA is neccesarily always a good thing.</p>
<p>Applying EA is advisable for students that are very strong and probably won't be able to boost their application much with second semester grades. EA also works for people who want to end the college admissions process in January and then turn their focus to obtaining financial aid during the spring semester. </p>
<p>EA is surprisingly efficent and stress relieving, you can get in by January and focus on communicating with the college about financial aid and worry about getting the neccessary documentation in without also stressing about getting in.</p>
<p>I don't think it's always a good thing - sometimes the EA pool is pretty competitive, and if the college doesn't often defer students, that doesn't really put you at an advantage.</p>
<p>I decided not to apply early anywhere because I had a "b" in calculus last year and I wanted to prove that I wasn't getting lazy by getting straight "a"s first semester, which I think is a good reason. It really depends on what you want to show to your colleges, so it's certainly feasible that applying EA isn't always advantageous.</p>
<p>ED is a bad choice for students who need financial aid. There is no way to compare FA offers if you apply ED. ED is also a bad choice for a student who is not 100% sure that the college is where they want to go. It is not unusual for folks to change their minds about schools as senior year progresses. EA is fine in any situation since you don't have to make a committment until May.</p>
<p>Applying EA is like practice for your RD apps. You can force yourself to get all your apps done by Nov but then you get two more months to mull those essays over, think of new ways of organizing your accomplishments into a coherent application, new interview strategies, etc.</p>
<p>shennie is correct, if you want to compare financial aid, RD is a better way to go. If you do ED you commit to that school regardless of their FA, and you are captured at that point. However, you can get out of it if the FA makes it infeasible.</p>
<p>lol at colleges where RD is the only choice? I'd say don't apply ED if you have any uncertainty at all about where you want to go for college or what you want to do with your life after high school, and def. don't do ED if you've never been to that college</p>
<p>^^ Well, ED is very risky. As far as EA goes though, I think it just depends on how strong your app is early. If you do not start applications by early September, I'd say it's better to wait, as, at least for me, it took a LONG time to get my essays to the perfect place. Also, if a school does not defer many, it might be a bad choice unless your application is very strong early senior year - but if a school just defers you if it is unsure, you can always send updates. After getting in EA to my top two schools, I'd say EA is AWESOME - my stress ended earlier, and I was able to apply to so many fewer schools.</p>