EA or RD application for an average applicant?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Miami - Florida
1

<p>My daughter will be doing her applications this summer and will be applying to UM (as a reach school). She likes UM but does not want to do early decision as she is not sure that it is her one and only first choice. She is really not one of their stellar applicants (on paper) because of her GPA of 3.5 to 3.6 (depending upon her last trimester grades) and her SAT of 1800 total (1140 M + CR). Her extracurriculars are limited (Band, marching band). She has about 200 hours of community service. She does go to a difficult private prep school and takes mostly honors classes. Her GPA is lower than it should be due to absences and missed work from a chronic illness. She is not going to retake her SAT since the above score is her third attempt and it is just too difficult for her to sit for the 5 hours again.</p>

<p>Given the above, which will be the optimal admission round for her to apply in? The EA, so that they know that she is very interested and so that she has her answer by the end of January ... or RD, when the applicant pool may be less competitive.. giving her a boost?</p>

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<p>I'm in a similar situation. I have around a 3.6-3.7 gpa and I am also deciding between EA and RD. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do RD, because I will be able to count my 1st semester of 12th grade (hopefully bringing my gpa up to a 3.8), and also I will have more time to perfect my application and more time to get recommendation letters. And according to usnews.com, RD applicants have an 8% higher chance of admittance over the EA/ED group.</p>

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<p>"And according to usnews.com, RD applicants have an 8% higher chance of admittance over the EA/ED group."</p>

<p>Could you please post the link to those statistics? If this is really true, it would be significant. Also, I was under the impression that U Miami's application did not need teacher recommendations only the counselor recommendation.</p>

4

<p>Seiclan, I applied to UM and got in this year. ill be headed there this fall. ill try to help with everything I learned from the admissions at UM. </p>

<ol>
<li>Do Not apply ED unless you are a stellar applicant.
what SoCAl said is true. I gave him the link a few months ago, i dont remember it now.
But here is my point:
ED at UM is notoriously the most competetive applicant pool. UM as you know does not do rolling admissions so they do compare you to the applicant pool. Most of the kids applying ED are kids with extremely high stats who most likely want to go there. Therefore if u dont have stellar gpa's note that u are competing with very competetive applicants and you are likely to get deffered unless you comapre well with the applicant pool. Also many of the ppl getting really big schollys at UM apply ED so again ED is a tough pool</li>
</ol>

<p>EA isnt as bad. u can apply EA and it is a separate applicant pool with a slightly less competetive applicant pool. however its still pretty competetive. </p>

<p>RD: I suggest this one. I did RD btw and got in and trust me, it was a reach for me as well. RD to begin with is a very large pool but there are many more slots open in RD than ED. in the RD u have a lot less competition as most of the applicants dont have the rediculously high stats required for scholarships. most of the applicants will be like your daughter. have solid strong grades but not on the top end of the applicant pool that UM admissions offices saw in the ED pool.
I hope I explained this well. Eitherway, if u are an "average applicant" def go RD and if u really want UM then consider EA but make sure u write a heck of an essay to stand out in the EA pool. ED though is a BIIIG NO NOO! :D</p>

<p>Letters of reccommendation and supplement material:
I sent a huge folder filled with thigns about me.
to begin with I sent 4 letters of reference:
- Teacher
- counselor
- Principal
- Owner of my private school
It really helped. send as many as possible if u are an "average applicant" that way they may get the idea that although ur grades arent top top, its because ur in a tough school because clearly teachers think highly of u. </p>

<p>Also send a resume of activities. ur community service will def help. UM loves community service. </p>

<p>Essay: Ok I wrote about how living in 4 countries helped me. but very importantly, i tied it a globalized and interconnected world.
Heres my point:
UM is the 3rd most diverse school in the US. On the business school website, they mention how our world is becoming more and more interconnected.
what does this tell u. UM loooves diversity and loves global awareness. if you can show them u are aware of whats going on in our world, and how open to diversity etc.. u are, they will love u! Im not saying to write about that, but through ur essay u can give them the idea that u are a person who is aware of the changes our world is undergoing etc.. </p>

<p>Finally: send them a letter showing ur interest in UM. as I said RD is an easier pool. Just because u dont apply EA, dosnt mean they will think UM isnt one of ur top choices. if U apply RD send a side letter showing why UM is on ur top choices, and what makes it such a good school. UM looooves to see the interest. its a private school and they do look at that. make sure u show them ur interested!</p>

<p>Chances:
I believe ur daughter has an excellent shot. her SAts and gpa are right in the range of UM's applicant stats. they have a 40% acceptance rate which is low but the good news is their private and I guarantee u that they do a hollistic review.
id say ur daughter has about a 60% chance of getting in! good luck
btw, what other schools is ur daughter looking at? are they in Florida?</p>

<p>message me if u have any other questions.</p>

5

<p>I would encourage EA... Son did, was accepted, and ultimately choose the U. He did not do ED anywhere, because of financial concerns. Believe me, it is nice for the parents and the student when they start getting those earlier decisions.<br>
If you need any other help from a parents perspective just give me a shout as well.......</p>

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<p>yea 1tcm, is right, its def nice to get responses early. UM was actually the last response I got out of all the colleges I applied to and it really was a pain because UM was one of my top choices.
EA is fine with ur stats but it will be a tad bit harder than RD. at least u will know by jan.</p>

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<p>Here's the link.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/webex/Apply_earlynatudoc_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/webex/Apply_earlynatudoc_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>This info is from the collegeboard website for The University of Miami:
<a href="http://www3.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3634&profileId=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www3.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3634&profileId=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Percent applicants admitted: 40% </p>

<p>Number of early decision applications received: 907
Number admitted under early decision plan: 299 </p>

<p>Number of early action applications received: 6,201
Number admitted under early action plan: 3,536
Number enrolled under early action plan: 953 </p>

<hr>

<p>Using data from the Miami website, 20,000 total applications received and a freshman class of 2000, the following would apply:
<a href="http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,29532-1;36206-2,00.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,29532-1;36206-2,00.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Number of regular decision applications received: 12,892
Number admitted under regular decision: ??
Number enrolled under regular decision: 748</p>

<hr>

<p>Using the numbers above, percent of applicants admitted early decision is 33%, while percent admitted early action is 57%. The missing piece is the percentage admitted for regular decision, but it is well below 57%, since 40% is the overall acceptance percentage rate. Based on these numbers, it appears that early action is the best bet.</p>

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<p>According to your data the RD acceptance rate hovers around 30%......now I'm confused.....</p>

<p>which is more accurate usnews or collegeboard?</p>

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<p>SoCal- your USnews link groups EA and ED together as a 39% acceptance rate and RD (non early) as a 47% rate. This chart is not relevant for us since we are not applying ED.</p>

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<p>seiclan... has she ever considered the ACT instead of SAT? Son absolutely hated the SAT but did much better with the ACT. He didn't even submit SAT scores to Miami, since his ACT's were so much better. They accepted them no problem.....</p>

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<p>I'm with 1tcm and think EA is the way to go. I don't think there is any way it can hurt you. Students on the bubble during the EA round are deferred to RD. I also would not hesitate to discuss the options with the regional admission rep for your area. During a regional interview, S's rep encouraged him to apply EA if UM was among his top choices, which he did. Things change all the time and the best and most current info will come from UM. </p>

<p>Going with the CB numbers:
33% ED acceptances (907 apps, 299 accept)
57% EA acceptances (6201 apps, 3536 accept)
53% EA & ED combined (7108 apps, 3835 accept)</p>

<p>US News states:
46% Overall acceptances
39% ED acceptances
47% RD acceptances
?? EA acceptances, however it has to be significantly higher than RD to yield a 46% overall.</p>

<p>I don't think USNews factored in EA for the stats in SoCal's and Acarta's link. The figures are identical to the ones they list for ED only and RD. Notice also that the data on UM is incomplete in the chart as it does not list # of students admitted under "early" plans. I wouldn't base my decision on this one.</p>

<p>Are we all confused enough yet?? LOL</p>

<p>Based on all the sources I have ever seen, RD acceptance rates are somewhere between 40-47%, and ED somewhere between 33-39%. Overall acceptances are listed between 40-46% (UM itself lists the last 4 years' overall rates as 40, 46, 42, 44). EA has to clearly yield the highest rate of acceptances to make any of these numbers balance.</p>

<p>UM states:
Early Decision for well-qualified freshman applicants whose first choice is UM
Early Action for students seriously considering UM but also would like to keep their options open to hear from other schools</p>

<p>This to me indicates that ED is more selective (for well-qualified) but I do not get that same impression reading about EA. I would apply EA unless I felt my app would be significantly stronger with stats through Jan. 15th.</p>

<p>Seiclan-Even though UM no longer requires teacher recs, I believe they will look at them if submitted.</p>

<p>Good luck to all.</p>

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<p>THis year, at least on my app, they required 1 letter of reference from counselor.</p>

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<p>Thank you everyone for your help. She will apply EA. It really sounds like this is the most favorable round and she definitely would like to know her decision sooner rather than later. If she can get a favorable teacher recommendation (it has been a difficult year) then we will add it to her file. Otherwise, we will just send the counselor rec. that is required.
1tcm - She is not doing the ACT, she tried it once and bombed. It is not worth her time or aggravation to do it again. She will stick with her current SAT scores.</p>

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<p>Well, not to hijack your thread seiclan, but are more scholarships given out EA or RD?</p>

<p>And what exactly would qualify as "stellar" for The U?</p>

<p>For example, I have a 4.1 Weighted/3.75 or so UW, 1350 (CR+M), and some pretty good ECs/positions along with alot of community service in the church, not to mention I am black so I'm sure that helps. Would I be more likely to get scholarships EA though or RD? </p>

<p>Also anyone know where that "third most diverse" school came from?</p>

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<p>hyakku-The most $ is available in the early rounds, although qualified applicants will recieve scholarships in all rounds. Some kids have even reported having their ED and EA scholarships increased after all the RD decisions have been made. Class rank is a big part of scholarship consideration. With your stats, I don't see any reason not to go EA. Good luck.</p>