<p>Like others, I've looked at the differential acceptance rates for ED and RD across schools. On the surface it looks like a good idea to apply ED somewhere (assuming you are resigned to being full pay as we are)! </p>
<p>Others suggest those different acceptance rates are misleading because the applicant pool in ED and RD are so different. ED is more competitive because it includes recruited athletes/legacies/development case, and will have a greater proportion of in-the-know/affluent/competitive-HS applicants. So a particular applicant's odds are not better in ED vs RD. </p>
<p>What do you know about this issue? What am I missing? Anyone have any data? I love data.</p>
<p>Also does anyone have one location to find data showing the breakdown of % of students at a school who are admitted ED vs RD? </p>
<p>Big apologies if this has been covered but my search didn't turn anything up.</p>
<p>I think the ED admit percentages are skewed by athletes, legacies, etc., but I imagine there is still some advantage to applying early… and particularly if you’re full pay.</p>
<p>But, if you’re full pay, and you know what your #1 choice school is (which you should be dead certain about it you’re applying ED in any case), then I’m not sure why you’d have any hesitancy in applying ED… just in case it improved the odds.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if the student wants to wait and have choices later in the year, applying ED is probably a mistake.</p>
<p>Sorry… don’t have data. I believe I have seen some posted here before though. Hopefully someone will provide that.</p>
<p>For the tippy-top schools, the ED advantage is small (a few %), for the unhooked applicant. For the next xx numbers, the ED advantage can be significant. Two years ago, a Duke rep said the ED differential was 10% for unhooked apps.</p>
<p>I think as in a lot of things, this gets the ambiguous “it depends”. Sometimes you can see the percentages applied/accepted ED/RD in the school’s Common Data Set.</p>
<p>One site that I always find helpful is collegeboard. On that site, go to admissionsof a particular college, scroll down and it gives # of ED applicants plus # of ED admitted, as well as overall acceptance rate. You’ll have to do the figuring for yourself, but it’s a start.</p>
<p>Obviously it makes a big difference which school you are interested in, and whether it’s an Ivy. (Afterall, the advantage of ED is for the college to know a portion of its incoming class. Ivy schools already have a high yield, so ED isn’t necessary. If you’re an athlete or legacy, you’ll HAVE to apply ED.)</p>
<p>^ I know that with Penn, if you want to use your “legacy” status you <em>must</em> apply ED. And Penn at least “claims” that legacy status is a big deal for ED. I don’t know about the other ivies that use ED. Some schools will tell you their ED acceptance rate vs. their RD acceptance rate, but they are not going to give you a breakdown regarding legacy, URM, athletes, etc. The kids that I know that applied ED probably could have gotten in RD.</p>
<p>Some kids will apply ED to an uber reach, thinking that they have nothing to lose. I would be very careful with that strategy because it can be pretty demoralizing to be deferred or rejected, and then to have to turn around and send out a bunch of applications.
I think where ED can be very helpful is in the smaller schools- LACs that may be fairly competitive, ( the Pomona, Amherst, Swat type schools) but where they lose a lot of regular admits to Ivies, Stanford, etc. Because top LAC applicants are often Ivy admits as well, the LACs are happy to nab them early, I think.</p>
<p>At schools below the tipy top, it’s clearly an advantage to apply ED. At the top schools it’s an advantage for some–high stats kids from over represented pools are one example. If 10 more from your high school who read a lot like you are applying RD, it can be your best bet.</p>
<p>What it’s not at top schools in an opportunity for marginal candidates. Dartmouth, Penn or Brown will snag you if it looks like HYPS might RD. Then always look at the percent of the class that’s accepted ED–at Penn it’s long been half of the class so there’s room for the unhooked, at Dartmouth it’s been a third of the class so there’s less room.</p>
<p>xiggi did a post within the last 6 mos that shows the ED and RD rates for the top colleges and universities. I don’t have a link, but search under his name. The title of the thread was about a student applying to Stanford, Vandy, and a few others. It was very helpful. In fact, I downloaded it to my iPhone for reference!</p>
<p>For many schools, the acceptance rate for ED is higher than for RD; however, the applicant pool is also smaller and usually consists students who have competitive stats. That said, if you’ve identified THE one school for you, then I would encourage you to apply ED. Nothing states an applicant’s desire to attend a particular school more than applying ED. For those for whom finaid is an issue, at some places, you can even get a good finaid package as well.</p>
<p>Many schools post the stats for ED and RD separately. Look on Naviance or on the Common Data Set. I have never heard of the stats being higher ED</p>
<p>I am so sorry, I was unclear. I have seen the stats on the differential acceptance rate for ED and RD across schools. </p>
<p>What I was looking for was some data that supports (or refutes) the argument that the actual odds for a given student are comparable for ED and RD (we know there are different acceptance rates but are those differences offset by differences in the applicant pool characteristics of each?). So data that reveals the distribution of SAT scores for ED vs. RD applicants would be nice (or data showing a significant difference in accepted students scores at ED and RD would be useful if one could account for legacy/athletes etc. from that first set). I know, wishful thinking on my part…</p>
<p>As far as I know, the only people who have the data that would really tell the story are the admissions offices themselves. While the simple acceptance rate for ED is often substantially higher than for RD, I’ve heard many admissions officers say ED isn’t really easier because the ED pool is so much stronger than the RD pool. But they are the only ones with the data on the strength of the 2 pools, and as far as I’ve seen they aren’t publishing those data.</p>
<p>So who knows? Perhaps very experienced guidance counselors who have seen many kids apply to schools over the years, with similar kids applying RD versus ED. But I have yet to see real data that prove things one way or another, and I don’t expect to see real data anytime soon.</p>
<p>^ LOVE you! Thanks so much. This board is so cool. </p>
<p>The GC at our childens’ school, which places students very well and all would be full pay students, has said they have been told over and over again by admissions counsellors that unless a child is a legacy, donor, athlete, there is no benefit to them applying ED (and the school strongly discourages it on those grounds, which completely surprises me).</p>
<p>Starbright - the article and particularly the book are perfect for an open minded, analytical person like yourself who is trying to review the data and reach your own conclusion based on what the facts and figures indicate.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to buy the book, it would be worth it to see if you can get it from the library. (A lot of statistics and analysis in the middle that you can skim, you can cover this book over a weekend.)</p>