Is there any benefit to applying early (not EA or ED, just in general) to schools? I know that a few schools have rolling admission, but other than that, does it improve someone’s chances to apply earlier than the deadline (like Oct, Nov, etc)? Just wondering, this is what my parents are telling me but I don’t believe them. I would much rather wait as long as I can–but I have the ability to apply early if it really does benefit. So are my parents right?
<p>If it's rolling admissions you are better off applying early because they admit people as they go, and if you apply closer to the deadline you are competing with more people.</p>
<p>Yeah, that makes sense, but what if it's not rolling admission?</p>
<p>almost any early program will have a higher rate of admission, but sometimes at the cost of being your only option</p>
<p>Applying ED, Early Decision, will make it easier to be accepted. The stats for students accepted ED are normally lower than students accepted during RD. In addition, colleges can fill 20-50% of their freshman classes with ED applicants and so there are less open slots for RD applicants. However, if you are accepted ED, you agree to go to that college provided they give you sufficient financial aid to make it possible. The first reason not to apply ED is that you may not be sure where you want to go yet. The second reason not ot apply ED is that you don't get to shop around for financial aid packages. Financial aid can differ in the grant/loan ratio. One college may give you $20K in grants and $5K in loans. Another college may give you $10K in grants and $15K in loans. The second college is $10K per year more expensive. A general rule is not to apply ED if you are also going to apply for financial aid. By applying ED, you give up your ability to compare FA packages.</p>
<p>Similar to ED is EA, Early Action. EA means that you are applying early, but there is no binding commitment that you will attend the college if accepted. There is no advantage to EA other than getting everything over early. It is not normally easier to be accepted in EA than RD.</p>
<p>The rules for ED and EA are complicated and you have to read the fine print at each college concerning when you can apply ED/EA to other colleges. Each college has different rules.</p>
<p>I was recently reminded that ED applications are not always the best choice because the rates can be misleading. Yes, there is a higher acceptance rate with ED, but you are drawing from a smaller applicant pool, so if 20% of 400 kids are accepted, that is only 80. If 10% are accepted out of 20,000 thats 2,000. Also ED consists of people who really really REALLY want to go to that particular college, meaning most of them have good essays and have a great feel for the school. Many people play a "number's game" where they apply to their reach and expect to be accpeted because of the admission rates. That is not the case.</p>
<p>harajuku: That is a good point, but extremely selective colleges typically fill up 30-50% of their freshman classes with ED applicants.</p>
<p>Proponents of ED say that the best students apply early and that students applying early are strongly committed to a particular college. Critics of ED say that colleges are using ED to lock up 30-50% of their freshman classes so as to improve yield projections, that high school students are being forced to use ED as an application strategy in order to be accepted to extremely selective colleges, that ED applicants are statistically less qualified than RD applicants (according to the colleges' own stats), and that ED disadvantages minorities who can't afford to take the financial aid risks. </p>
<p>A good article is: "Is Early Still Better?" at
<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5626555/site/newsweek/%5B/url%5D">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5626555/site/newsweek/</a></p>
<p>Due to a lot of criticism of ED, Yale and Stanford switched from ED to SCEA (Single Choice Early Action) in 2003. Harvard followed shortly thereafter. Since Yale, Stanford and Harvard switched; there was hope that ED would go away or be deemphasized by the colleges. Currently, the effect of SCEA is being examined.</p>
<p>IMO, the whole ED situation has gotten to the point where it is obscene, but you have to play the game by the current rules.</p>
<p>Is the advantage equivalent (as some say) to 100 points on old SAT/150 points on new? I understand that the formula for acceptance is much more complex but in its simplest terms is there a numerical advantage?</p>