<p>I understand that many legacies and athletes are encouraged to apply ED. Does that mean that the ED admission percentage isn't an accurate gauge for the normal applicant? Do you know anyone who felt they got into a top-tier school because they applied ED? </p>
<p>Dartmouth is my first choice, but I'll be tempted to apply RD if the 30% admissions rate is really just artificially inflated, since my fall grades will probably give my GPA a slight boost.</p>
<p>Sounds like you are a classic case of a person who should wait until the RD round.</p>
<p>I suggest looking back at last year’s threads and comparing your stats and intangibles to last year’s ED candidates here. Obviously a subset, but all three of the accepted ED candidates in my immediate region in 2008 were either recruited athletes or legacies</p>
<p>You are correct that the ED statistics are misleading. The acceptance rate for recruited athletes is much higher than the 30% reported, followed by the acceptance rate for legacies. Non-hook applicants probably get a boost from ED, but not a large one. If Dartmouth is truly your top choice, then use ED. If you are still considering other options wait for RD.</p>
<p>There probably is a slight ED advantage for the unhooked, just because of the yield factor</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses! They were super helpful.</p>
<p>I’m sure Dartmouth is my first choice. However, I’ve decided to apply RD, since my application will look much better by December. For anyone who’s interested, I asked a Dartmouth rep. this question, and she said it was a “feather on the scale.” So ED would probably not be a tactic you could use to get into a reach school.</p>
<p>There are non hooked candidates for whom ED is a real benefit–mainly kids who are good candidates at HYPS and Dartmouth would like to lock in. High stats kids in very crowded pools–prep school kids, Asians from overrepresented states, also benefit.</p>
<p>hmom: what makes you say that kids from a crowded pool have a higher chance? wouldn’t their chances be lower because they come from such a competitive pool?</p>
<p>Take my DS. He was at a top NYC prep school that sends lots of applicants as do their peer schools. He had very high stats–HYP contender. A good counselor helped him to decide to apply ED. He was a strong candidate but by RD they would have already taken a lot of legacies, athletes and development kids from his pool and they may just not have wanted to accept anymore that looked like him on paper.</p>