<p>Hey, despite high ED acceptance rates as opposed to RD rates, I was always under an impression that usually 'hooked' individuals from athletes, legacies, under-rep. minorities, wealhty donaters, nationally/internationally recognized students get admission into ED. If so, what percentage of the say a college that accepts 3000 people ED out of 6000 applicants come from 'hooked' categories. I feel that leaves little room for the non-hooked student yet still great, passionate, candidate.</p>
<p>some schools fill close to half of their class in the ED round. Out of this maybe 40% would be hooked applicants.</p>
<p>So using your scenario if a school accepts 3000 students during ED, maybe 1200 would be major hool applicants (legacies, developmental admits, athletes maybe not as many URMs because they do know that they will have choice in the process and many need to compare offers).</p>
<p>ED is generally where the stronger candidates are admitted to lock them in. But an entire ED will not be made up of "hooked" individuals. There is room for "normal" but still outstanding candidates.</p>
<p>I wasn't an athlete or a legacy........I have many friends who weren't athletes or legacies. When I say legacy I am meaning at the school applied to. I chose to take my own path.....not use my legacy status.</p>
<p>You should apply ED because it is your school of choice and not count of it getting you a big edge. ED won't overcome poor grades, or a low test score. It might get you the french horn position in the band that they were looking for, before all the other applications come flying in.</p>
<p>David218 - you are right. Nonhooked applicants get in all the time - all my kids did - but statistically speaking, those higher admit rates are preceisely because of locking in who they want. This is a dirty little secret that people don't want to admit. Yes, the OVERALL rates are higher for ED, but when you actually break them down, the unhooked kid probably doesn't have any better odds than he has in RD. </p>
<p>I got this straight from an Ivy admissions dean, off the record.</p>
<p>For most schools, I believe the percentage of "hooked" admissions is pretty low. There just are not that many kids whose parents are celebrities or wealthy donors. Just having a parent who is an alumnus may not be that helpful. The largest category with a hook is the recruited athelete. Some of these do not do EA. They hold out for the best offers.</p>
<p>nedad THANK YOU! You have no idea, that really puts my mind at ease becasue I've sort of been regretting not applying early for a while but the only reason I wanted to was becuse of the potential boost, so now I'm happy about my decision</p>