Does ED/EDII/EA help or hurt?!

Applying to College
1

<p>So. I always thought that applying Early would HELP your chances in showing interest, etc. But... does it really? Because recently all I've heard is that Early candidates are more "qualified", thus the applicant pool is more competitive, thus it really doesn't help at all for people who need the help.</p>

<p>My stats are below par for Macalester. EDII is Jan 3. RD is Jan 15. I'd like to apply EDII just because I'm incredibly impatient and would like a decision ASAP... but as I'm not really a competitive candidate against 36ers and 2400ers and 4.0ers.... should I bother?</p>

2

<p>Macalester is not that competitive a college to require you to get a 2400, 4.0 or 36ers. In fact I would say go ahead and apply early if you really love Mac. It's your interest that counts. However, if you do think that you are going to retake your SAT in Jan or your mid-year results does matter in helping AOs make a decision, then apply for RD.</p>

3

<p>Don't apply binding ED if you need a significant financial aid package since you give up your ability to compare FA packages.</p>

4

<p>ED does help, even if colleges deny that it does, but if you think that you can improve your stats for RD, that would help even more.</p>

5

<p>my counselor says that EDII has pretty much no impact... ive done some investigation as i am in a similar situation :)</p>

6

<p>How is EDII different from ED?</p>

7

<p>they know you prob didnt get into the college of your choice and nobody likes to be a backup. Moreover, they've already filled up the ED quota with ED I schools</p>

8

<p>not school students.... sorry apps on the mind</p>

9

<p>Interesting.</p>

<p>My GPA is going to go from ~3.44 to ~3.5. However, I feel like my class rank will change somewhat significantly considering how many "good" students at my school have become infected with senioritis. I'm at 26% class rank (which I guess colleges only consider as "top half").... and I think I can, with the GPA change, go to top 25% ("top quarter")...</p>

<p>So even with small number changes should I sacrifice EDII to RD? The other thing is.... Macalester will send out EDII decisions second week of February. My semester ends at the end of January. RD gets decisions beg. of March. So they may consider first semester either way, which is why I wanted to apply EDII, if anything, at Macalester, because I assumed they'd consider first semester....</p>