<p>A few of you asked some questions: no we are not eligible for financial aid, however, a few of the schools we are looking at offer merit scholarships, and that is something we would be very interested in. Our college counselor says that we shouldn’t even apply to the top Ivies, but the best LACs and the second tier Ivies are worth a shot. Our “target” schools are ones like Colby. The question is really do we go for ED at a place like Middlebury, when we might get in RD at Williams or Amherst. Remember my S has not “fallen in love” with anywhere (I certainly have though!). I think where we’re currently ending up is going EA at some place ridiculous like Stanford or Princeton just for “practice” and then do a large blanket of schools. He absolutely loved his safety school when we visited, so we’re set on that.</p>
<p>Things are constantly changing in the college admissions process, bear in mind. There was a huge uptick in ED apps some 15 or so years ago. I remember it seemed like everyone was looking for an ED school, and many strategizing how to to get into the "best school on their list, using ED as a tool. This was at a college prep school, where the kids do tend to go to the selective colleges. </p>
<p>This trend has continued even as the colleges have made this process more complex with restrictive EA, ED2 and all kinds of weird (to me) things so that one has to read the rules for each school having any early program V-E-R-Y carefully so as to not to go astray of them. I can’t keep track anymore, and it doesn’t matter because the rules change. I saw one school with EA, ED1 and ED2…sheesh. How to even begin looking at numbers and chances for all of that even if the school would give them to you. </p>
<p>It really depends upon the school as to whether ED is even beneficial, and the admissions officers are not always correct in their statements. They often say what they want the situation to be, and what they strive for it to be, not the way it has evolved. When you are looking at the smaller colleges, the LACs, their dynamics in admissions are quite different from the bigger schools. Yes, because they take fewer students, their special admits give the process a whole other slant. If they have devoted alums, those are precious seats being so allocated. If they have an active sports program with lots of teams and want to be competitive, they are going to require bodies, ones that have swum back and forth in a pool at least 2 hours a day for years and can do so fast, and some that are football material. If the nearby highschools load up with their best students all applying ED there, it’s going to add some pressure in there. They have a lot of ground to cover with a wish list and few spots.</p>
<p>So at such schools, when there are now ever so many kids who are at the edge of acceptance there, where ED used to be the thing that would tip them in, I’m noticing a lot of such kids deferred. The ones with the ultra top test scores, will be snatched up—why risk them in the pool with the biggies for RD when you know they are also HPY material Get’em while you can, and lock them in. But those kids for whom this is the best school they’ll likely get accepted to if an acceptance is forthcoming, it’s no longer an advantage to the college to take the kid ED and give up a spot they want to try for better. I’ve seen few ED accepts in the last few years in this category. Demonstrated interest, which ED is the ultimate form, is not enough in such cases </p>
<p>Many schools have merit scholarship deadline the same as EA deadline. I am not sure if that is the case for some ED school too if they offer merit aid. As most of the top private ED schools do not offer merit aid, the NPC is usually pretty accurate.</p>
<p>With the increasing number of applications per student, I think the most selective colleges will continue to rely more and more on early applicants to build their classes. If you want to attend one of the most selective colleges in the country, you should probably at least consider applying early.</p>
<p>From my daughter’s perspective, she felt she needed to wrap up her applications to about six safety and target schools and prepare one highly specific, early application to her top choice reach school. Had she not been accepted to her top choice early, she had earmarked the two week holiday break to apply to at least two more (but as many as six, time allowing) reach schools that she really liked. </p>
<p>The focus of our college search evolved in to finding our daughter target and safety schools, not reach schools. We felt she already had her one reach school to make an early run at. Why bother touring a bunch more reach/lottery schools? </p>
<p>Just to note: her reach school was not an academic reach. just a most selective school that is a reach for all applicants. I would not advice that anyone waste their one early decision opportunity on an academic reach.</p>
<p>My D took a slightly different approach. She identified a safety but did not apply early for that. She applied to 1 reach SCEA and 5 low match to high match EA/rolling. We did not consider any ED for 2 reasons. Her top choice does not have ED and we do rely on financial aid. After admitted from most of the EA schools, she did not bother to apply to the safety but tried another reach school RD as they have pretty good financial aid. At the end, we compared the schools and financial aid pacakges to make decision based on the programs and cost. If you choose the ED path, you would not be able to do that. </p>
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<p>You’re talking about a group of top-five LACs. Is there really all that much of a difference at this level? I can see nitpicking or agonizing over this sort of decision if you’re talking about a top 20 or 30 school and a top 5 school, but if he’s not a suitable candidate for Williams or Amherst (or Bowdoin or Pomona, etc.), then he’s probably not a suitable candidate for Middlebury (or any top 5-10 LAC). At this level, the word crapshoot is used for a reason. </p>
<p>Most important, do not ED a school for its reputation or ranking. Make sure if the school is a good fit for you. If you have any doubt why you ED to a certain school, you should not ED to it at all. ED only to your top choice school or you may regret.</p>
<p>Arcadia, you are right. There isn’t anyone that can really make much discernment when you are dealing with schools that are so alike. But what might be is that the student has an “in” of sorts like legacy at Middlebury, but not at Williams, Amherst et al, but prefers them. So ED plus legacy boosts the odds for Middlebury for a student who is not in the running for all of those schools and could well get into an and all RD, but then, might not. You can see the dilemma here. </p>
<p>My friend’s DD felt that way about Barnard where she was legacy, but it was not her top choice. To her shock, she was deferred even with the ED and legacy cards. </p>
<p>From what I’m reading about OP’s son, unless he really locking in on something by Nov. 15, I’m not seeing ED as the way to go - he’s simply too undecided.</p>
<p>I also agree with the sentiment that if no school is a real favorite, not doing ED at Middlebury over the option of getting in at Williams or Amherst is cutting it a little fine. A solid ED admission at Middlebury is clearly worth far more than the mere chance of an RD admission at Amherst or Williams - from a straight academic standpoint, there is no difference between them, and that is doubly so if there is no preference. </p>
<p>I’m starting to think there is a little too much emphasis on prestige here over fit. You know what type of school you want, I think summer and fall ought to be spent discovering exactly which schools are at the top of the list - if only for the reason that if you aren’t passionate about any of them, that may well show up in your essays - and anything less than enthusiasm for a small school can be deadly in the admission process. Ivy and elite LAC essays need to be tailored to each school, not generic. Perhaps by downloading either this year’s or next year’s essay prompts for each of the schools, touring them, then trying to write to the prompt, a winner will emerge.</p>
<p>I can’t tell how much visiting you have done. Some parents have the philosophy of applying to a lot of schools, then waiting to visit once acceptances are in. I can tell you that is a VERY stressful way to spend the month of April in senior year. If you can afford to visit ahead of time (where you haven’t) so he can decide before applying whether the fit is really there is a good idea. Then go back for accepted student visits at top 2-3 choices once he is in, as 24 hours on campus is very revealing.</p>
<p>I think the reason for after admission visit of reach schools may be for a cost reason. One may be accepted only by a couple of reach schools while applying to more than a handful. Nevertheless, it will be risky if not to visit the potential ED schools before application.</p>
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<p>Really, I’m not seeing the point of applying to a school with a super-low acceptance rate just for “practice”. If you’re applying somewhere, why not take your best shot? So many students are rejected from schools like S & P that being rejected during the SCEA round tells a student nothing about the quality of their application. </p>
<p>In some cases, being rejected or waitlisted from an EA or rolling admit school will tell a student that there’s a problem, be it that they’re aiming too high or that there’s an issue with their application package. There’s enough time for a student to recalibrate their sights and adjust their list for RD. But that’s not the case with SCEA. There’s rejection, and then there’s maybe 2-4 weeks to rework the essays for any RD schools. With the rare exceptions like the one student poster above, nothing much changes during that interval. </p>
<p>One thing worth considering is scheduling a first interview at a school which you’re not heavily invested in attending. If that first interview goes south, no harm no foul. </p>
<p>RPianoDad, you use a lot of plural pronouns, e.g. “Our college counselor says that we shouldn’t even apply to the top Ivies”. The process does sweep up the entire family (and how!), but in the end it’s the student’s process–their choices, their application, their list. Our checkbook 
but otherwise not “ours” at all.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the helpful posts. We have visited all of these schools, and my S seems rather ambivalent about them, except there were some definite do not likes, particularly one school with an atrociously ugly arts center, and another school which was much too crunchy for him. Believe me, it makes us very happy when he says he doesn’t like a place. It is 100% totally his choice, but we’re trying to provide helpful guidance. He does not have a favorite (except his safety school) and has said several times he does not want to do ED anywhere. Senior year is going to be fun… I like the idea of applying to a broad reach of schools and then narrowing it down after the acceptances come in. </p>
<p>@RPianoDad If the student does not want to do ED anywhere, trust his instinct. He probably cannot make up his mind yet. Work on the school list and apply EA whenever possible and RD for others. At the end, he only needs to decide among the admitted ones.</p>
<p>Even in cases where its reasonable to apply ED (clear favorite, financially feasible) there may be intangible downsides. For my son, once he applied ED he lost all momentum and motivation to finish his apps to the other schools on his list. When he received his rejection letter on 12/15, that left a very dispirited boy two weeks over Christmas break to re-focus his energy on his remaining apps. He also missed a recital deadline that he otherwise would have been aware of had he not remained wholly focused on his ED school. Some schools dropped off the list because of this. So if you go the ED route I suggest advising your son to work on his remaining apps as though he won’t be admitted ED.</p>
<p>That’s why we said that we weren’t “signing” the parent agreement for ED until we saw that all other apps were completed. Especially for D2, after we learned that D1 had faked us out on completing her RD applications. </p>
<p>If one think ED is the only application he needs to submit, he really needs to wake up from his dream (or nightmare). ;)</p>
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<p>If his safety is his favorite school, then perhaps he needs to apply only to that one school? (Assuming that it is a 100% certain admission 100% certain affordable school, not a false “safety” with an opaque holistic admissions process that give hard-to-explain results.)</p>
<p>If he does not want to apply ED, then he should not apply ED. However, applying non-binding EA or early rolling can help put some schools in the safety bag early if he gets admitted, or give an early reality check if he gets early rejections from schools where he expects admission.</p>
<p>Don’t come complaining back to us when your son is grinding through 20 applications for colleges he was only marginally enthused about and you are slogging through the FA paperwork. Why do you think the picture of what college your son would prefer to attend will be clearer if he has a dozen acceptances in hand? Will it be easier to figure out what is most important to him to narrow it down in the one month you will have to decide? I feel like your biggest problem is that your kid sounds apathetic toward digging in and making decisions about how to narrow the list down. It feels like the path of least resistance to put in 20 apps and see how they shake out, but it is a lot of work and just kicks the can down the road of determining what matters most to him.</p>
<p>So we should do like 1 safety, 5 targets and 5 reaches? I think we do that plus the 4 freebies (no supplement - of the freebies, 1 is a safety, 2 are targets and 1 is a reach) gives us 15 schools. I agree that 20 is too much. One of the reaches we do EA. After the EA says no/deferred, I make him do the 10 other supplements over the long Turkey Day weekend. Everything is submitted by 12/1.</p>