We aren’t. As I wrote above, we assumed he might be rejected and so we were expecting to figure out an ED2 and have him submit additional RD applications. Now that’s not necessary.
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Certainly depends on the school - I just got the ED figures of Columbia University’s Barnard College, and this year they filled 62% of their 2026 class (of 700 total) already. ED applications were up 17% over last year’s. The other 8,500+ RD applications will then compete for the remaining 265 spots.
So it’s probably worthwhile to investigate admission stats for schools your daughter is considering, assuming she’s very certain about a certain college. For some schools it might offer only a slight advantage, but at others, it might be a factor 10.
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Some students do, others don’t.
My S’s top choice college was EA so he did not ED anywhere (although he did do a number of EA and rolling admissions colleges.)
My D knew she wanted a LAC and after some research and discussion with her guidance counselor we found that many LACs took a large percentage of their class ED. So with her we started the process of visiting and interviewing at colleges a bit earlier and she did have a definite top choice in time to apply ED.
I think students should only apply ED if: 1) they do have a definite top choice college AND 2) the school appears affordable after running the net price calculator.
For those that do not apply anywhere ED, I recommend applying to a few safety/match colleges either EA or rolling – getting an acceptance by December takes a great deal of pressure off the process in my expereince.
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How does a HS student know for sure that her/his “top choice” college in October will remain her/his top choice next April? If the student needs FA, how would s/he know that a college that appear to be affordable based on NPC in October will actually be affordable in December when the decision is announced?
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How does a student know in May that his/her top choice in the fall will be the same? It is a matter of making the best choice possible for each student. Nothing is guaranteed.
In my D’s case she was set on attending a LAC so we thought appling ED somewhere may make sense to consider. Because of this, we started the process early junior year. By the time it came to the late fall we had visited all the colleges she was considering, she went back to her two favorites to shadow a student, and made a third trip to her top choice college for an interview. By December she felt very confident that one school was her favorite (fortunately she also felt she could be happy at a few of other colleges we visited if the ED application didn’t work out). If she did not have a clear favorite she would not have applied ED. In her case it worked out really well – she got in ED AND had a fantastic four years at her college.
Again, as I said up-thread, IMO ED is not for everyone.
Anyway, since debating is not allowed on CC let’s move on.
in our experience, every student is encouraged to apply ED. the message that is being sent to student is that they need to use ED strategically. there is tons of pressure from the colleges themselves to apply ED - if you look at many stats about filling up classes 50-60% from ED. it is in the college’s best interest for their yield management but ends up creating pressure on the kids. my DD did one ED, one RD and then rest EA -
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Looks like they’re cross-posting to Reddit.
There are many such posts.
Just today there was a “I was just admitted ED, does anyone know about this school” and “I was admitted ED with no financial aid needed, but now want to go to another school, do I just notify them that I don’t want to attend?”
Many people apparently don’t understand what ED means.
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Absolutely. Not only do schools market their ED option aggressively, but it’s super clear to anyone who wants to venture into hyper selective admissions that ED will help them, even if the odds are bumped from 5-6% to 12-13%. Unhooked kids will take whatever advantage they can find because the odds are so stacked against them.
I think it’s a sad move all around, forcing kids to pick a single favorite when they’re 17 years old, locking families and schools into permanent relationships as soon as November of senior year.
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You’ll love this one, a girl at my D22’s school has applied to Princeton Restricted Early Action, but she has also gone ahead and applied to many private schools EA as well. Clearly explained that you cannot apply to an early program to a private school if applying restricted EA. She said at the lunch table that the other schools were non-binding, so…
This looks suspicious… I thought school GC also has to sign the SCEA or REA agreement?
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I’m sure the GC did. I’m irritated because my D has applied to 1 of those other EA private schools. Really stinks
Actually I stand corrected… Lot of colleges like Notredame have REA that is non-binding , allows you to apply to other colleges EA … only restriction is that you cannot do ED to any college.
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Princeton REA says no EA program for private schools. Public schools are ok and so are rolling admissions schools, but not EA to private schools
You are right about Princeton … that’s why it’s called SCEA ( Single Choice EA)… a more restrictive form of REA.
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Yeah, this stinks. I know that they are all still kids, but cheating isn’t fair to anyone else.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that your D gets the EA decisions she wants.
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REA is just a name. It could mean any type of EA with restrictions. Stanford calls its early action REA, but it’s identical to Princeton’s SCEA.
The ED expectation is real among my friends from Long Island whose kids meet regularly with college advisors and attend “feeder” schools for Ivies. They all have ED strategies.
There is zero expectation in our 44% low-income average public high school. A few kids in the top 10 applied REA to Stanford, I think, but I don’t know of any ED applicants. I attribute it to (1) a need/desire to compare merit and financial aid packages before committing, and (2) in the absence of personalized advice from counselors and advisors to help students settle on a major and perfect a college list, a need to spend more time researching schools and majors before making a final choice.
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The BS my son attended has reported that many more students apply somewhere in an early round, if not ED. Iirc, it’s about 75%. (This includes EA and rolling!) And lest you think it’s only FP students doing this, it’s not. Good NPC calculators make it possible for families to determine whether an ED option will be affordable based on the FA they are likelyto receive. . Lots of FGLI students also use this strategy but unlike many of their counterparts elsewhere, they are getting great guidance from their CC whose sole job is helping kids work out successful application strategies.
There are families that don’t qualify for FA and want to compare merit. They are probably the group that is, at least IME, the least likely to feel comfortable pursuing ED. It’s often harder to figure out what merit aid you’ll get than what FA.
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Exceptional acronym work (EAW)!
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Excellent interpretation work! (EIW)!
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