This came up in another thread about whether student feel that the “need” to apply ED:
https://twitter.com/michaeltrivette/status/1388242228489949188 says that Tulane’s admission rates are 33% ED, 17% EA, and 1% RD, which is a difference that seems much larger than could be accounted for by differences in the strength of applicants.
What other colleges are similar in that applying RD is very unlikely to be successful?
That’s a good question - are there any other colleges which have Tulane’s strategy? The majority of their non-ED applicants (about 63%) apply EA, rather than RD (about 32%).
Colorado College: 14.3% overall admit rate. 30.5% Early Decision I/II; 18.6% Early Action; 3.9% Regular Action
I’ve seen data that University of Maryland is very similar.
I don’t see the numbers in their CDS, but one source states
The Class of 2023 saw 59.4% of EA applicants accepted and just 4% (not a typo) of Regular Decision applicants achieving the same positive result. A stunning 97.3% of the incoming class was accepted via Early Action.
But ED and EA is very different. Admitting most through EA is on because the student can apply to other schools s well and keep their options open.
Purdue fills most of their class EA. RD is a major reach for all the popular majors. And yes, EA is not the same as ED, but the OP asked about RD.
Yes. Which is why in the linked thread discussing ED I wrote
The question here is simply asking where “applying RD is very unlikely to be successful?”, separating it from the EA/ED discussion.
Wow, I guess I am surprised to see such low RD numbers at a public university. I was under the impression that the heavy ED strategy was an elite private school thing. Interesting.
The twitter post mentions referencing the 2019 CDS. The CDS does not print EA acceptance rates – only ED and not ED (RD + EA). That breakdown is below:
ED – 720/2163 = 33%
RD + EA – (5431-720)/(42185-2163) = 4711 / 40022 = 12%
It’s theoretically possible that twice as many kids applied EA as RD for a split of 17% admit rate on EA and 1% on RD, but this seems highly unlikely…
I looked in to this more in another thread. As I recall, the extremely low RD acceptance rates reported for Tulane and various other sites is rooted in a 3rd party website doing an odd calculation where they assume the USNWR reported EA+ED rate = EA rate. This overestimates the EA rate, so when the overestimated EA rate is plugged in to the RD +EA number from the CDS, the output underestimates the RD rate. Numbers from that website get posted around and repeated in social media posts and such. That said, I don’t doubt that Tulane has a very low RD admit rate, just not 1%.
If it is the same third-party website I found, I note it lists the RD acceptance rate at Gettysburg College as 0%, which seems…unlikely.
Wow, this is something I never considered. This is not good for the procrastinator!
At the competitive schools, getting in line early is advantageous. Applying RD drastically reduces your chances…all admissions rounds are not created equally.
My son applied Early Action to every school on his list that offered it. Unfortunately, Early Decision is not an option for him because we need Financial Aid, although he didn’t have a clear first choice anyway. I find it really annoying that his chances are reduced at the Early Decision schools.
For a large chunk of the application pool, switching between rounds changes their likelihood from 0% to 0%. There is also a big chunk of the accepted students that would get in any round. The number of applicants that get accepted ED but would be denied in RD is likely small. Of course, everyone thinks that they may be part of that population.
It does seem like a part of the system that yet again works to the advantage of the very wealthy. Even families who are supposedly “full pay” under financial formulas, but can’t just fork over $320,000 and want to compare merit awards, are in the same boat.
That’s good, and mainly what I am referring to. Obviously, ED is not an option for most. But if there is an EA option at a competitive school and the applicant applies RD they have not done themselves any favors.
Agreed. And I was not referring to ED, rather when EA is an option for a competitive applicant but the applicant waits to apply RD (due to procrastination or other factors).
I don’t think it should be called “Regular” decision if the school is trying to pull apps earlier and doesn’t intend to take the many in “Regular”. They could call it “Late” to let the students know more clearly that there is more of a risk using that date.
Any school which offers multiple ED rounds (ED I & ED II) should be viewed with caution for those considering applying RD.
I love the idea of renaming the RD round the LATE round!!! (shouted in all caps, lol)