EA vs ED vs RD Correct me if I'm wrong!

Applying to College
1

<p>EA- Early admission decision which is binding, so you must go to that school despite not knowing your financial situation at the time.</p>

<p>ED- Early admissions decision that is non-binding, but does not really increase your chances at being accepted. I'm wondering if your chances at non-need merit aid is effected or the same as RD?</p>

<p>RD- Regular Decision. That sums it up.</p>

<p>So if I'm aiming for the highest chances for admission and non-need merit aid (which I do need), which would be the best option. I was thinking ED, but it has been said it doesn't make much of a difference from RD..</p>

2

<p>EA is nonbinding, ED is.</p>

3

<p>You’ve got everything right except switching ED and EA. ED will often increase your admissions chances, but then you’re stuck, as you said. EA is your best friend - do lots of that and you may find less need for RD in December.</p>

<p>EA = Early ACTION - the schools take action early on deciding about you.
ED = Early DECISION - you decide early.</p>

4

<p>ED doesn’t offer you much leverage with finaid since you won’t have any other schools’ packages to compare it to.</p>

<p>EA, however, will give you time to negotiate with the finaid office and still entertain other offers of acceptance/finaid, though the admissions boost is likely negligible.</p>

5

<p>Some EA plans, however, can be single choice. So you can ONLY apply to that school SCEA. Yale is an example of this.</p>

6

<p>A correction–you can back out of an ED commitment IF the school does not give you enough finaid for you to afford it. It’s the schools’ way of enabling kids on financial aid to apply to ED schools.</p>

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<p>It depends, really. For example, this year Chicago had a huge EA/RD differential–28% versus 11%, I think.</p>