<p>Looking for comments/feedback on D's approach: she applied ED to a LAC. If she gets accepted, she'll be happy going there. If she gets rejected, she'll apply EDII at another LAC she likes a lot. My question is: if she gets deferred at the EDI school, is it worth it to wait to see if "deferred" becomes "accepted" (i.e., don't apply EDII elsewhere -- just apply regular to other schools so she can see if the EDI school admits her) or does it depend on the school; how much she likes it; where she was in the admissions pile? Can a GC reliably tell you how "deferred" might play out? I've heard parents say that if you get deferred, move on -- apply elsewhere, and apply ED elsewhere if you can -- deferred usually doesn't turn into accepted. Any experience/advice? Thanks all</p>
<p>I suspect that it depends on the particular school and reason for deferment. At some schools, nearly all ED kids not accepted are deferred, but few then move to accepted. At others, this is not the case. Sometimes a GC can reach out to a school and find out the reason for the deferral and sometimes not.
So, not much help. Given the tight timing, I suggest talking to the GC now so that your plans are in place before you get the news (good or bad).</p>
<p>Excuse my ignorance…what the heck is EDII?</p>
<p>I first heard about it from another mom. It’s like EDI (where the deadline is Nov 1 or Nov 15; you find out by Dec 15) but with EDII, the deadline is Jan 1 (or thereabouts) and you find out by Feb 15. Basically, if you know where you want to go, and you think applying ED will give you a boost, you apply to your top pick via EDI; then if you find out you didn’t get in, you still have time to apply EDII to your 2nd pick. Someone here posted a list of schools that offer EDII…several NESCAC schools offer it…</p>
<p>It’s a second round of early decision. The applications are due January 1st instead of November 1st (for the most part). It’s still binding, but it’s just not as early as EDI.</p>
<p>Thanks…I’ve never heard of it. It sounds like it’s a RD deadline but a binding agreement with an earlier decision. Excellent information. S2 is already set on his list, but there’s still S3!</p>
<p>btw, nemom’s advise sounds good. See if you can find out if deferred is a polite way of saying no thank you (like 5000 students on a waitlist), or if they genuinely look at these students midterm grades and revaluate them with the RD students. This way you can be ready to roll if your daughter is not selected at school A, and move on to school B.</p>
<p>*I crossed posts with sara12. I think I got it right.</p>
<p>Yes – thanks nemom – good advice.</p>
<p>Deferred in most cases unfortunately means you’re not going to get accepted. At best, it typically means you have the same chance as an RD candidate.</p>
<p>I think EDll can be a good strategy. Many schools seem to be upping their petcentageof ED applicants in this economy. They can lock in more full payers, and more good quality students.</p>
<p>OP - from what I have seen - the more selective the college - the less chance a deferred decision will turn into an acceptance. Based on my son’s ED deferral and others I have heard about - it is more likely a deferred ED will ultimately become a rejection than an admit. I would vote for moving on to ED II with the 2nd choice school.</p>
<p>I visited a school last week that had both ED1 and ED2. They even said if you apply RD, you can call admissions up to Jan 15 to change your app to ED2 (they said, for example, if it takes you longer to decide that is your top choice).</p>
<p>Deferred means they’ve taken a good look and decided to wait and see what else comes along, or that they need your first semester grades. </p>
<p>Mathematically, whatever you thought the probability was of getting in by applying ED, it must be lower once you’ve seen a deferral. </p>
<p>Some people do get in though after being deferred ED, so it really depends how much more you love the ED1 school over the ED2 school whether to give up that small chance.</p>
<p>It really depends on how close those two choices are. If ED is an absolute #1 (which it should be), but your daughter gets deferred, how would she feel about going to EDII? If she’s kind of iffy, then skip it. Hopefully she has a list of a variety of choices… That binding agreement is still binding whether it’s from ED I or ED II. </p>
<p>And, to your original question: I think a deferral just leaves the kids wanting and hoping and it makes senior year pretty stressful. Your GC may be able to guide you about how likely your DD’s chances will be.</p>
<p>IMO if the ED1 school really was the first choice school, it should still be the first choice school. I’m not a big fan of early decision. I don’t think kids should be locked into choices early in the year. So I would jump on some other bandwagon. I’d just go ahead and apply to a wide variety of schools. I’d send the first choice a letter saying it was still my first choice and of course if there is any new material (awards are always nice) you can tell the school about them.</p>
<p>Adding my voice to the chorus: A deferral is not the same as a rejection, and some kids are accepted RD after being deferred ED. But if the choice between EDI college and EDII college was relatively close, and the applicant would rather have a bird in the hand than two in the bush, one of which already deferred her, then what the OP’s daughter is proposing is perfectly reasonable. And, in fact, pretty common, I think. Basically, the whole idea behind ED II is that it’s a second round for people who are left hanging after ED I (or other early application round). (There are some other ideas as well, but I’ve never met anyone who applied ED II without having applied somewhere else early and having been disappointed December 15.)</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the attitude that no one should apply ED unless that’s the only college in the world for her. It’s not marriage. There shouldn’t be only one college in the world for anybody – the differences between them aren’t that great, no matter which college you talk about. (Or maybe it is like marriage – if one guy lets you down, there are lots of other guys you could love. Really.)</p>
<p>Putting aside financial aid issues, it’s fine to apply ED to a college if you like it enough to be happy about going if it accepts you early. And it’s fine to like another college almost as much, and to give it a chance to accept you early if the first one doesn’t recognize your worth sufficiently. As long as you are not going to eat yourself up with regret over what might have been – and there’s absolutely no reason anyone should do that – things will be great.</p>
<p>EDIT: Wow! Rare proof that mathmom and I are capable of disagreeing with one another.</p>
<p>^Well thank heavens!</p>
<p>See if you can find data on early decision acceptances for each college. </p>
<p>As noted above, some colleges (such as Georgetown) use an early decision or early action process to only accept the very best applicants, and then accept many more at the regular decision level. At many other private colleges, it is much easier to get in early decision than regular decision.</p>
<p>Both of mine have applied ED I and are awaiting Dec 15. They both have schools that they really, really like where, should their ED I’s not pan out, the current plan is that they’ll go ED II. I can’t say that they absolutely will, because that’s their choice to make, but I would strongly encourage them to ED II instead of hanging on to slim hopes from an ED I. </p>
<p>And I think deferrals from ED stink. You’re in or you’re out. You made me declare my love; so either declare you love me back, or go court someone else.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the ED II. Why should the kids apply ED II while they can apply several RDs with the same January 1 deadline? Would they have better result with multiple RDs instead of committing to a single ED II? I think colleges with ED I & ED II make thing to complicated.</p>
<p>“Play me or trade me” sounds like an appropriate response if being deferred on ED. It’s the same as I feel regarding a waitlist of 5,000. It’s much easier to tell an alumni that their son or daughter was not denied, they were waitlisted…</p>
<p>I can see the value to ED2 if a school offers it. Some students do have ED1 schools, or just aren’t ready to commit in November for whatever reason. It’s the same deadline as RD, with an earlier decision, and I assume better chances as the yield is near 100%. If aid isn’t an issue, and you have a clear favorite that you would commit to as soon as you got the admit on 4/1, regardless of decisions from other schools, isn’t getting that admit in February much better? I’d say so!</p>
<p>If the kids don’t have a good Christmas and New Year vacation after Dec 15 with the family then it’s not worth. Plus the hassle to withdraw RD apps after February and loss of joy to compare admittance and financial aid offers after April 15.</p>