Hi! I was planning on EDing to Northwestern and am having second thoughts. Will not EDing to a school hurt me in the long run? I know my chances will decrease, but do I still have a chance at T20s without EDing? Are schools going to accept more students in the ED round this year? Thanks!
@qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq great question! thanks for putting it out there.
No you do not need to ED to a school. You should only ED to a school that is absolutely your first choice, and that is affordable.
IMO one should only ED only if the following two conditions are true:
- the applicant has an absolute top choice college AND
2)that college appears affordable and the family does not need to compare financial offers from other colleges.
Many students do not apply anywhere ED. If you don’t ED you may want to consider applying to a couple of colleges with non-binding EA or rolling decision so hopefully you can have an acceptance or two in hand by December.
I’d disagree with happy 1 on the first point. ED gives you a better chance of being admitted, so if you would be happy with going to that school (even if it meant you would be happy at 2 or 3 different schools) choose one and ED to it. Example, if you would be ecsatic about going to NW, Cornell or Penn, choose one and ED to it. I agree with point 2.