Differences in chances of admission (EA, ED, Regular)

I would appreciate some feedback about the issue: EA in my understanding the hardest to get in, and if you get in, you don’t have to attend the college. I thought that ED was easier than regular decision, until a Brown interviewer told me that ED may even be harder because you have to be “definitely good enough” to get accepted ED. I got deferred in BC EA, (despite my high SAT scores, honors classes, immigrant ESL status, touchy-feely essay etc.), and when I asked whether my chances increase during RD, the stupid operator said “not necessarily”, can someone clear up the whole issue for me?

<p>Okay, EA is the most competitive because the best applicant's in the country tend to apply EA just to get an early decision, and not be bound by it. This way, they'll keep their options open. Regular Decision is slightly less competitive than EA. Finally, ED is the least competitive because applicants who apply under ED tend to have "weaker" stats overall as compared to Regular Decision candidates, and Early Action Candidates. Now, as far as what the Brown Interviewer told you, I don't know what to make of it. According to it's ED acceptance rate, it accepts a lot more applicants under ED as opposed to RD, and it's ED applicant pool may be less competitive than it's RD. This interviewer could have been right when he said that you had to be "definitely good enough" to get accepted ED, or he could have been discouraging you from applying ED in order to have a better chance of getting in because colleges have begun to realize that students apply to ED to maximize their chances, and they want to "prevent" this from happening. They want students to apply early ONLY if it is their first choice. As far as being deferred early by BC, you should have a better chance under RD as opposed to EA because the quality of the applicants under EA is stronger. The operator told you "not necessarily" probably not to get your hopes up because you technically can be deferred EA and rejected or waitlisted RD, and you never know. Plenty of students are deferred, and then rejected or waitlisted RD.</p>

<p>Thank you for replying, but still it's weird that colleges tend to accept more people, AND with lower stats than regular decision</p>