Is there are a list somewhere of the colleges with the highest percentages of ED/EA as part of their freshman class? For instance, Bowdoin’s 2016 freshman class is 47% ED/EA admissions, which seems, wow, high. But maybe it’s not. Is there a ranking of schools with the highest percent of ED/EA? This would be valuable in that if you were applying to places like Bowdoin, it probably behooves you to apply ED more even than at similar schools.
Check out this thread: go through a number of the pages posted - lots of info!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1841185-college-admissions-statistics-class-of-2020-early-decision-early-action-acceptance-rates.html#latest
There is some tremendous work in that thread, spearheaded by @spayurpets. Reposting final results in case people don’t want to wade through the whole thread like I did. 
All numbers for 2015-2016.
Early Admissions as % of Total Target Class (estimate)
60% and above
University of North Carolina EA 175% (4000)
Georgia Tech EA 158% (2800)
University of Virginia EA 142% (3675)
University of Georgia EA 141% (5300)
Boston College EA 117% (2300)
Notre Dame EA 80% (2010)
Princeton SCEA 60% (1308)
50% to 59%
MIT EA 58% (1120)
Yale SCEA 58% (1360)
Bowdoin ED1/ED2 57% (500)
Georgetown EA 56% (1580)
Harvard SCEA 55% (1675)
Middlebury ED1/ED2 55% (685)
Northwestern ED 55% (1925)
Penn ED 55% (2445)
Tufts ED1/ED2 50% (1325)
Vanderbilt ED1/ED2 50% (1600)
40% to 49%
Duke ED 48% (1705)
Scripps ED1/ED2 46% (245)
Williams ED 45% (550)
Johns Hopkins ED 45% (1300)
Pitzer ED1/ED2 44% (265)
Brown ED 43% (1550)
Pomona ED1/ED2 43% (415)
Dartmouth ED 42% (1175)
Cornell ED 41% (3275)
Stanford REA 41% (1800)
Davidson ED 40% (415)
30% to 39%
Amherst ED1/ED2 38% (472)
Wesleyan ED1/ED2 38%
Smith ED1/ED2 36%
Harvey Mudd ED1/ED2 35% (200)
George Washington ED 33% (2474)
Boston University ED1/ED2 30% (3500)
Just know that percentage numbers can be deceiving. For a smaller school that has recruited athletes apply ED, more than half the spots could go to them. At schools that require legacies to apply ED to get the benefit of that status, there’s another chunk of the applicants. And remember that most students who apply ED are not ones who want to waste that chance – they are often, as a group, more qualified than the RD applicants as a pool.
There are schools, however, which are often “in the mix” for a certain type of student, and at those, ED really does change your chances simply because they won’t accept you if they think that you’re unlikely to accept them. Tufts is often cited as such a school. Conn College has that reputation as well.
It’s important to look at each school to know how much of an advantage ED offers, if any.
Also, if you are deferred in the ED round to RD, you may have an edge there because they know you are seriousabut attending. And if you end up on a WL, you may be more likely to get the call that a space has opened up because they know you really want to be there. But all of this only matters if it’s really your first choice.
@gardenstategal where did you hear that the ed pool is more qualified than rd? i’ve heard the opposite. students who know they’re not quite up to par for a school are more likely to apply ed and increase their chances
Most AOs will tell you that applicants won’t waste an ED application on a school that’s never going to take them, but they might send in a “why not?” application RD. If you’re qualified and it’s your first choice, it’s a great idea. If you’re not, quite the opposite.
I’ve heard there’s two schools of thought. One is as @gardenstategal says. But sometimes I know people use them as Hail Mary attempts to get into schools that are reaches. Although in general, @gardenstategal is right: the applicant pool is supposedly strong for ED. They just happen to let more in because Yield.
oh ok thanks