<p>Hi, this is my first post on CC, so I'm kinda nervous, lol.</p>
<p>But, is it better to apply early if I...</p>
<p>have a 4.0 GPA
am #6 out of ~800 kids
have not taken the major classes, like physics
am still trying to accomplish something in my EC's</p>
<p>than risk having a lower GPA/rank later when I apply regularly?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You should not apply early if you feel your application can be improved by another semester of high schools course rigor/grades/EC accomplishments.</p>
<p>Welcome to College Confidential. Only some of the posters bite and it’s rarely fatal.</p>
<p>I dont get it. The time difference is only two months, or 1.5 as you have to finish writing everything quickly. Do you think 1.5 months of extra classes is going to help you drastically? If yes, apply RD. But also remember that ED increases your admission odds, as acceptance rate is higher. However, ED is done mostly by the strongest applicants.
What you have to judge is whether 2 months is gonna make your app much better or not.
Anyways, you can apply ED to one place only, so, it doesn’t matter that much I guess.</p>
<p>As stated above, two months isn’t going to make a difference. Apply ED to the one school you want and, if you get in, your life will be much easier for the rest of senior year. If you don’t, nothing changes except that you have one less school to apply to in January.</p>
<p>That two months makes the difference as to whether the school has your first semester grades as it makes decisions in March vs. basing the decision on your grades through the end of Junior year.</p>
<p>OP has a 4.0, YaleGradandDad. Why would her first semester senior year grades make a difference?</p>
<p>I was talking more in general to the comment that the 1.5 months difference in application deadlines makes no difference since that is the difference between showing that semester of senior year coursework. The OP says he has not taken the major classes so perhaps that may matter if applying into a specific major but no, I was not thinking that 7 semesters of 4.0 GPA mattered compared with 6 semesters of 4.0.</p>
<p>Oh I understand. I am really thinking of applying to a school that may have the highest acceptance rate of early applicants to try to get accepted early and feel more secure during regular admissions. </p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>If there are schools that you are interested in that offer EA, by all means apply EA. At a lot of schools, the EA acceptance rate is higher than the RD acceptance rate. The lack of first semester senior grades shouldn’t stop you - the colleges will see on your application what classes you are enrolled in for senior year. I doubt that some accomplishments in ECs would come close to making a bigger difference than the difference in acceptance rates. In my opinion, the only reason to NOT apply EA, when offered, is if senior year grades are expected to be significantly higher than earlier years and/or standardized test scores are low and expected to be improved by retaking after the EA deadline. These categories do not seem to apply to you.</p>
<p>[Colleges</a> Where Applying Early Action Helps - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/applying/applying-101/articles/2009/09/30/colleges-where-applying-early-action-helps]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/applying/applying-101/articles/2009/09/30/colleges-where-applying-early-action-helps)</p>
<p>ED requires more thought, because of the binding nature. But if you have a favorite school, which you would be able to afford if you attend it, I don’t see any reason based on what you’ve said to not apply ED.</p>