<p>Does it honestly make that much of a difference? From what I've read, ED can give an applicant a boost equal to that of an SAT score 100 points higher. I am thinking of applying ED to either Columbia, Northwestern, or Amherst. What are the downsides to applying ED besides having to go to that school?
Just to help a little, I have a 2070 SAT(1390/1600), 3.8-ish GPA, and lots of volunteer hours(close to 300 with children with autism).</p>
<p>ED and EA seem to be very idiosyncratic to each school. Various schools have various twists. Yale's EA acceptance rate is twice their regular admission rate, but they claim that the standards are the same and that it's the qualitative difference in the two pools that accounts for the higher rate. Georgetown's EA acceptance rate in Arts & Sciences is actually lower than its RD rate. I think they use EA to try to capture top level candidates who might also be considering HYP in the regular phase. One downside to EA/ED might be financial aid. Once a school has a binding commitment from you to attend, what incentive would they have to be generous or even competitive with aid other than loans?</p>
<p>Here is a column from Princeton Review that might help</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, the article is great. Do you think I have a chance at getting into Northwestern or Columbia ED? According to the article I have no shot of any EA acceptance, but that doesn't concern me much.</p>
<p>You have very little chance of getting into those schools ED. It should concern you very much that you are throwing away the ED advantage. You would be better off at applying ED to a school you have a good chance of getting into.</p>
<p>oldfort, isn't the whole point of ED though to get into a school that you may not normally get into? I'm in the 40th percentile range for tehse schools I believe, so its not like I'm a horrific candidate, but ED could make me a viable candidate I thought. Correct me if I'm wrong. Also, if I have a very good chance of getting in RD, why apply ED? I won't be able to compare financial aid offers.</p>
<p>northwestern - possibly
columbia - wouldnt count on it</p>
<p>Columbia is not much more selective than Northwestern, especially when comparing ED.</p>
<p>ed is for ur absolue favorite school where ur convinced that u want to go</p>
<p>kk19131: true, since columbia ED admission rate is somewhere close to 26%, but i'd say the applicant pool is sitll more competitive than NU's. Early or not, I don't see him gettin in CU with 2070 unless he's truly shining in other areas</p>
<p>OP - ED works well for legacies at HYPSC (use it or lose it), but almost nothing for regular applicants. Whereas, applying to schools like Cornell, Duke and many LACs, if you are borderline (not below), gives you a real leg up. It all has to do with yield rate of each school. Cornell's yield rate is much lower than Columbia, therefore if you apply ED at Cornell then you are more likely to get accepted if you are borderline. </p>
<p>If you are a regular applicant with no special hooks, then you need to be at the top range of those schools because lower range is reserved for some URM, atheletes (don't get crazy on me in accusing me of saying all URM and atheletes have lower grades, because I am not), or anyone with special circumstance.</p>
<p>More importantly, booklet is right, you should apply to your favorite school ED, but your favorite school shouldn't be your reach.</p>
<p>Alright, so now I have a bit more of an understanding of how ED works. Now the question is, whats schools do I have a good shot at ED? From what I've read, Tulane seems to be a near lock for me ED, but I was hoping for a school a little better than that. I don't want to get all crazy with defining the type of school that I want, just tell me schools that are in my range please. Thanks for all your help.</p>
<p>The schools that give the biggest ED boost are the ones with the biggest difference between ED and RD acceptance rates and the ones which accept a large proportion of their class ED. Columbia is an outstanding school that fits this profile.</p>
<p>As long as your stats are reasonable, you might as well apply ED for your first choice since you have to go if accepted.</p>
<p>Northwestern is by far the easiest ED admit amongst these options, although I have no idea how the same person could enjoy Amherst and Columbia. They are very different schools.</p>
<p>slipper1234, its very possible that I coud like both Columbia and Amherst. Amherst has more of the small feel to it that I realy want, but Columbia is right in the middle of the best city in the world. Both have stellar academics too.</p>
<p>From your user name, I would have guessed that Notre Dame would be among your top choices. As a Michigan football fan, I am glad that you are not considering that second tier football school :) Go Blue!</p>
<p>What I've seen happen to students at my school is that getting into schools ED was what they said "the stupidest thing they ever did" mainly because if you seriously don't commit the right amount of time to that application since you had to turn it in much earlier and this ED school was your "dream" school and you get deferred then you can basically wave goodbye. It's your risk. But I know a guy similar with your stats at my school but a higher GPA and decent stats that applied to NW ED and get rejected. Hopefully I don't sound negative cause heck every college applicant is different and colleges are so weird these days lmao. Good luck!!</p>
<p>usc2011, thanks for the advice. And Russ456, I know my name sounds like I am a ND fan, but it's actually a name I used for E-Mail, AIM, etc. since 6th grade when it was an inside joke with my firends about a teacher of mine. I didn't realize then that it sounded like I was a huge ND fan.</p>
<p>"Many counselors advise against it: Applying early may actually hurt your chances of getting in to the school you've selected. Because only top students are encouraged to apply early, it stands to reason the pool of early admission applicants exceed the competition during the regular application cycle."</p>
<p>Is that true? Because if I apply at a top school but I'm not one of the top students then I should wait for regular decision?</p>
<p>I don't think that's true. For certain schools, there is truth to that, but most schools have much higher acceptance rates for ED than RD(see Tulane, over 30% higher acceptance rate than RD).</p>