<p>What are the benefits to a university of having non-binding early admissions? Is it hoping that students admitted early won't apply to too many other schools, thus increasing the school's yield? Is it simply a method for spacing out the flood of applications? A way to determine the most interested students? I'm having a hard time seeing how EA (in contrast to ED) benefits the school in question.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>I’ve wondered about this, too, momdoc. I think your guesses are all valid possibilities…plus, I’ve wondered if maybe EA originally arose as a response to kids who wanted to “get the ball rolling” early to see where they stood, but did not want to go the ED route. So, in that regard, maybe it was a response to what the “consumer” was asking for.</p>
<p>Other thoughts?</p>
<p>It’s a great question.</p>
<p>I think ED benefits the universities, but EA benefits the students. IMO.</p>
<p>The spacing out apps may be a possible benefit for the universities. Getting applicants that may have higher stats may also be the result of EA. Students have to get their testing done earlier, their recommendations and applications in months before the rest of the students. It might provide an early look see to check the quality of the applicants.</p>
<p>Students may also be a little more inclined to visit earlier in the season after getting an acceptance, and they may decide faster. </p>
<p>I know that when my own kids got into schools under EA, it took an enormous amount of stress off the rest of the admissions decisions. They could breathe a sigh of relief, often around the first of the year, visit all their campuses and then decide without having to wait until March or April.</p>
<p>as a correlary to this question, who does non-binding SCEA benefit?</p>
<p>SCEA and EA are basically used for enrollment management. Statistically, fewer students succumb to “summer melt” who got in and accepted earlier via EA than in RD. While of course it does happen that someone accepts an EA acceptance and enrolls and then just doesn’t show up after summer, the number is almost 45 percentage points lower than in RD, making enrollment managers happy (they love predictability, you know!) At the same time, EA applicants usually respond faster to acceptances so it’s easier to get a feel for how much resources (staff, space, dormitories, etc.); on average, they might learn info about the EA applicants a good four months before the RD applicants slowly start to respond after Universal Decision Day in the Springtime!</p>
<p>ED, of course, is even better to the University but as far as fairness to the student it’s kind of iffy. EA is less beneficial to the University but there are still a wide galaxy of beneficial circumstances wherein the school and the university are both mutually benefited by the helpfulness wherein.</p>
<p>Here’s one benefit: They get more applications. Some students just want to know they got in “somewhere”, so they’ll apply EA. </p>
<p>Another benefit: some schools have a higher acceptance rate for EA applicants if that applicant is a legacy, but that preference doesn’t continue for RD.</p>
<p>I think it is also easier to target your marketing to those students who applied, were accepted, and haven’t decided versus to students who haven’t even applied. Obviously, those who applied are at least somewhat interested in the school versus the nearly blind approach of mass mailings like all the tech schools that send my d letters.</p>
<p>One of the factors that comes into play is the accepted students day. If you are accepted EA - many colleges have a February or March accepted students day. I think the thinking is that by giving the student an early answer and having them at an early accepted students day - the student is more likely to decide to attend that college - rather than waiting for April 1 decisions and doing more accepted students days in April - the process can really drag on - particularly since it now begins in junior year. I read somewhere that colleges see a benefit to being the first acceptance the student has in hand. I would think that being the first accepted students day program they attend would also be a benefit.</p>
<p>Several benefits:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>EA encourages many applicant to submit early, thus spreading out the processing of applications and allowing the staff to begin work on apps in October and November rather than January or February. It may reduce overall staffing needs if a significant number of students take advantage of the offer.</p></li>
<li><p>There are probably some students who apply EA to schools who would not otherwise apply, because the EA school is not one of their top choices – but they elect to apply precisely because of the EA opportunity. For example, they apply EA to a match school reasoning that if they get accepted, they won’t need to worry about applying to safeties; or they apply EA to a reach “just to see” if they get in, whereas in the RD round they might focus their efforts on a more honed down list.</p></li>
<li><p>EA admitted students are probably more likely to attend for a variety of reasons. Students who are admitted to one or more EA schools probably apply to fewer schools in the RD round – they immediately eliminate all schools from their list that rank lower on their personal preference list than the EA school. This in turn puts the EA school at a competitive advantage – the EA school can turn up its marketing efforts with phone calls, invitations, etc. - and also can offer financial incentives, such as merit aid. The student who gets accepted to an EA school with a generous offer of, say, a $15,000 scholarship may never know that there are safeties on the list that would have offered a full ride – and if the EA student doesn’t get into or can’t afford the other schools in the RD round – then the EA college ends up being the choice.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Even aside from money, the EA college has the opportunity to build up a greater sense of brand loyalty in its admitted students, through mail, phone calls, etc. Internet social networking helps to reinforce that – by the time the RD decisions come out, the EA admittees may have already met and corresponded with other EA admits. Once being admitted, they may have taken a greater interest in learning about practical aspects of their EA school – choosing a dorm, looking at the course catalog to think about classes for the fall, etc. </p>
<ol>
<li> Some EA admits will accept their spots early and make a deposit. This enhances planning and improves yield – for example, there may be 1000 spots in the incoming class. As of March 1, perhaps 200 EA admits have already accepted and deposited --that leaves only 800 spots to fill with the remainder of the application season.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>I think that EA is actually a win-win situation for both the college and students-- but if the college is savvy about marketing and enrollment management, then it probably has even more to gain than the student.</p>
<p>I agree with the above post - it is much easier for a college to do intense marketing of the accepted early action students than the general population.</p>
<p>In addition, many students get over-stressed waiting for an April 1 decision. Meanwhile, another college may accept them in February or March and be intensely marketing them with dorm sleepovers, special events, etc.</p>
<p>I love EA, it benefits the students - if they get accepted they can hone their lists, if they get rejected they may realize that they need to either improve their application or aim less high and if they are deferred, they can assume that they are close, but they haven’t quite made their case. (My older son for example added outside recommendations which he’d dillydallied about getting.)</p>
<p>For my younger son it was clear that U of Chicago used the time to woo him. They came very, very close to getting him.</p>