<p>^ Some SCEA who were accepted will still apply RD whereas clearly those who got in ED will not be. The RD pool is therefore likely a bit more diluted in “firepower”. In reading the acceptance threads in the early rounds though, I often cannot discern any quantitative differences between those who were accepted and those deferred. I would accept that the RD pool is less “intense” but I don’t see that translating to 3-7x difference in acceptance rate.</p>