I have a kid at Hamilton and a kid at Emory. My personal opinion is that both would be a stretch for OP.
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Donāt forget that of this 40% admit rate you speak of that the overwhelming majority of the ED pool is hooked: Recruited Athletes, Legacies, Developmental Admits, Questbridge finalist, FacBrats, local commitments. This leaves very little room for unhooked applicants who are. not at the top of the pool (even some of those will be left behind)
Please donāt think that we are beating up on you. Unfortunately I see it all to often- students believe that they could be a lock or overestimate their chances of being admitted. If you are willing to submit your application, walk away and not give it another thought (where you could be surprised) then do that. Otherwise, you are settingyour self up
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Notwithstanding, my GPA to Emory would be very high. A 4.0 UW, 4.6 W. That is about the only thing Iād have going, and perhaps my major. It is a very pre-professional school. They could possibly be looking for literary types.
does your school have a good track record of sending kids to Emory (or your other reach options) every year? If yes, then your counselor can definitely tellyou what they are looking for.
At least one kid got into Emory this year and attended. Most highly class ranked kids at my school go on to Cornell, Columbia, Brown, and those types. Emory, I imagine, would be more so a reach for someone like me.
Does your school use Naviance?
Depending on the feedback given, you can see where the students applied, how many applied gpa, scores (if submitted) and outcome. Yes, there will be an incomplete story because you will not have essays and recommendation information, but it is a start.
Linking the common data set for Emory and Tufts so that you can start your research and get a better assessment
https://provost.emory.edu/planning-administration/data/common-data-set.html
Tufts common data set
Tufts doesnāt seem to have posted the ED admit rate in the last couple of common data sets. But in the last one I could find it was about 41%. Thatās a significant difference vs RD.
Emoryās is 38%, Tufts ~40%, Wesleyan 43%.
For reference, Williams is 37% and Princeton ~20%, meaning Tufts is pretty good in the ED cycle.
So 168+ posts in and the take away is to apply ED to greatest name recognition school juxtaposed against highest ED acceptance rate.
Donāt take a standardized exam because it requires effort and wonāt in your estimation have an impact.
Have a support teacher LOR explain a lack of rigor and performance.
This is seemingly exactly what your views and intentions were throughout and at the outset of your various threads and posts.
It is contrary to almost all of the advice you solicited and received. I would recalibrate and contemplate fit.
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I would have said this more delicately, but absolutely agree with you. OP, if you donāt think Emory would be a good fit for you, why in Godās name would you apply early decision there?? Same goes for Wesleyan. Sounds like you visited and had a bad impression. Why ED there?
OP, just going to give you my two cents as the mom of a dyslexic kid who is also going through the college process this year. You already have a couple of hurdles to get over due to freshman grades and course rigor. You are adding another by going test optional. Why not take a standardized test and see how it goes? Worst case scenario is you get a less than desirable score and you donāt submit it. I would recommend you get a private tutor who has experience working with kids who have learning differenced and prep for the October 23 ACT. My kid worked with a tutor for an hour a week for about 8 weeks and scored a 34 composite. Most kids find that with accomodations, the ACT is a much easier test than the SAT.
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So 168+ posts in and the take away is to apply ED to greatest name recognition school juxtaposed against highest ED acceptance rate.
There are two ED slots. In the first one, Iād like to go for a reach. If that fails, I will use the second slot for a more realistic school, like a Skidmore, or on the possible reach side, a Hamilton.
As Iāve mentioned, I already have a bunch of targets and safeties Iād be happy to attend, even over slightly better reputed schools. I am only asking about reaches here.
Donāt take a standardized exam because it requires effort and wonāt in your estimation have an impact.
Never stated this. I canāt take a standardized test because there simply isnāt enough time to do so for ED. Believe me, I wish I could. I took an ACT practice test last night and scored much higher than I had expected. Maybe I could take it for the RD round, but ED is a no go.
Have a support teacher LOR explain a lack of rigor and performance.
No. I want this teacher, my GC, or both, to explain that I took the most courses available to me given my course track. The reason for my low trajectory would potentially be explained in the additional info section on the Common App that many are recommending I use.
Colleges will accept the October 23 ACT for early decision.
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So you can do it?
āEmory is a far better school than Wesleyan, at least rank wiseā
So it is about rank vs fit!
At one point you explained that you didnāt complete a summer calculus program because of the cost yet you also boast that you would readily pay $65k plus to attend UCLA.
AOs will not have the time or inclination to sort through specifics but they will recognize the inconsistencies and short cuts.
I am being honest and brutal because you still have time. Do the work and be realistic while you can positively impact the outcome.
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I read on ACTās site that the test should be taken 2 months at minimum before applying to schoolsā¦
You know what? You need a separate thread on the subject of āPicking A EDā. Thereās no sense in prolonging this one which ostensibly is about one thing, LoRs. As predicted, it has drifted into a Chance Me thread/ED List hybrid that makes it very hard to be systematic in helping you.
It will vary by school, so definitely check with the colleges you are interested in.
Iāve decided that I may take it for RD. If Iām able to at some of my ED picks, Iāll take it on Oct. 23.
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You have nothing to lose by taking it. As I said before, you donāt need to submit it anywhere if you are unhappy with it
Good luck 
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Not all schools offer an ED2 option.
Mother of a recent Stanford admit here. At highly selective colleges, 9th-year grades are considered. Low grades need to be explained for any grade. Also, they influence class rank and schools care about rank - top decile vs top quartile vs top half. This is a metric that is included in the Common Data Set. Most unhooked ORM candidates from wealthy families that went to private schools are expected to fall into the top decile. The lower stats are reserved for URMs from poor economic areas and athletes.
Somebody mentioned UCLA - looking at the admit profile, the 25 percentile admits have 19 honor* semesters and the 75 percentile have 30 honor semesters (15 honor/AP classes). This is for domestic candidates, for out of state the number is higher. Itās difficult to get into UCLA from a wealthy white family, even in state.
High admit rates in ED are mostly due to all the hooked kids applying ED/EA - children of faculty or wealthy donors, legacy, athletes. The admit rate for unhooked candidates is probably similar to the rate in RD or slightly higher.
The letters of recommendation need to be from a teacher that taught you in the classroom. The recommender is asked in what capacity they know the student. Getting a LOR from an LD aide seems to me like shooting oneself in the foot. Why would you want to disclose a learning disability? The recommender will also be asked if the student is the best student in the class, in the school, or in their lifetime. So, the teacher might say that you are the best student with a learning disability that they taught and that you made tremendous progress to the point that you no longer need help. While this is a strong endorsement, it only highlights your LD.
- Honors Courses included in the totals below are taken in grades 10ā12 and are counted by semester, which means a year-long high school honors course would count as two. A single-semester course would count as one.
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