Do colleges mostly work on getting hooked applicants accepted during the early decision round?
If so, does this make the early decision round less advantageous than the regular decision round for unhooked applicants?
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It’s generally to your advantage to apply ED as it tells the school they’re your top choice and you will definitely attend if you’re admitted.
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For colleges that consider “level of applicant’s interest”, applying ED is the strongest possible way to express a high level of interest.
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Also important to make sure you understand your financial obligation for your ED and RD schools. We see it over and over that applicants are accepted, but did not do the upfront homework to understand if the school is a financial fit.
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No. It’s almost always to your advantage to apply ED, as long as you can afford the school.
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Thanks for the replies.
How about for SCEA and REA?
SCEA and REA have minimal boost for an unhooked applicant. Certainly not like ED. And the colleges that offer SCEA and REA do not consider demonstrated interest.
Thank you for this information.
The Harvard lawsuit regression analysis found that among unhooked applicants with full controls, including having controls for similar academic, EC, LOR, … ratings, similar scores, similar planned concentration, … ; there was a 4.2x (odds ratio) increased chance of admission for applying REA. This is weaker than traditional hooks, like URM or legacy, but still quite a significant boost for applying REA among unhooked kids.
Other colleges may show somewhat different patterns. For example, Stanford has a reputation for giving less weight to REA/SCEA than peers.
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Thank you for your response.