<p>I have a question for all of those that got either deferred or rejected ED. if you find out mid-december, and most RD apps are due by Jan. 1, how on earth did you finish all those apps???!! Do you just be precautionary and do them beforehand, or do you just suck it up and do them all in like 15-20 days??</p>
<p>thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Well I didn't apply ED anywhere, but from what I've heard it seems that most at least began some kind of precautionary preparation.</p>
<p>Son applied ED and it was a big reach school so the likelihood of his having to do more applications was pretty high. Over Thanksgiving weekend he put in some effort, but the truth is, his heart just wasnt in it as he was still in love with ED school. THen the big rejection arrived.</p>
<p>We allowed him one week to mourn the loss and then he pretty much took over. Let's just say that Christmas was a blip in his college application process. I don't recommend it but I do believe his common essay improved (whereas had he done them all back in October/Sept it would not have) and he had a greater depth and appreciation of the process itself. </p>
<p>Who knows what works as long as you get 'em done. But admittedly, it was a crazy and not fun week or so.</p>
<p>My son applied ED last year. He was accepted, but prior to that he had done a lot to make applying to more schools in the RD round easier in case it didn't work out with ED school. He had already had his teacher recs sent, his SAT scores, transcripts. And his Common App was done for the ED school, of course, so it would have just been a matter of sending it electronically to the other schools on his list. He would have had to do a little scrambing to get supplemental essays for a few places and so forth, but it would have been manageable. He wasn't really counting on getting into the ED school... not that he thought it was unlikely --he had no idea-- but just to err on the side of caution, he did cover his bases in terms of being close-to-ready to fire off other applications.</p>
<p>thankfully i had started a bit. but mostly, i sucked it up and took care of it.</p>
<p>i took christmas off though...it only comes once a year! :)</p>
<p>I was accepted, but I finished almost all of my apps prior to the decision date so I'd be prepared for any outcome.</p>
<p>As with many things in life, the answer to this question lies in who you are and how you tend to operate best (or, at least, most realistically). I've had advisees who have finished ALL applications by Thanksgiving, and then gone on to get good news from ED schools. (Some even insist on submitting the applications before they get their ED news, which is a huge waste of money, unless the colleges are Rolling Admissions schools, and then it can make sense to jump into the queue ASAP. Those who send in applications before they receive their ED verdict not only sacrifice the application fees but also must then withdraw from all the RD colleges, which is a pain, albeit a minor one.)</p>
<p>More commonly, of course, I know students who set up an "application mill" at home over the holiday break and churn out a dozen or more essays in ten days. </p>
<p>Sometimes, too, there are the optimists (and procrastinators) who get bad news via ED but are in hot water when family plans preclude the application-mill approach. A Club Med vacation or a week at Grandma's with no internet connection will not be conducive to meeting those January 1 deadlines! So planning ahead is critical.</p>