<p>How much of a disadvantage is a typical (3.8+, 2250+, 2x750+) unhooked applicant that applies to Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, MIT, Tufts, CMU, etc. if he or she applies in the regular decisions round instead of the early round. I know MIT and Brown don't provide any boost, but isn't the early round more competitive, in addition to having recruited athletes and legacy admits that boost the acceptance rate. Instead of applying early, it's better to make sure academic profile is as strong as possible, rather than having a supposed boost for applying early?</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>Student has 3.7 GPA, SAT of 2120, should he or she apply early, or instead wait for the RD round, raise score to 2250+, raise GPA by bit, more time for essays, and perhaps some extracurricular achievements?</p>
<p>TLDR; If you're an unhooked applicant, then it will not make that much of a difference if you apply early or not.</p>
<p>ED provides a boost that ranges from slight to significant. It won’t make up for poor grades or weaker test scores, but it does provide a higher admit rate if you’re just another BWRK in the applicant pool. </p>
<p>Whether you should apply ED depends on a number of factors. I would not recommend applying ED if any of the following are true:
[ul][<em>]You are heavily reliant on financial aid and will need to compare financial aid offers.
[</em>]You are conflicted about a top choice.
[*]You have not visited your top choice.[/ul]</p>
<p>I’d 2nd warblers points and I suspect you’ve already done a fair amount of homework about ED given your comments about Brown and MIT.</p>
<p>Speaking to Northwestern specifically, the new president has changed the early decision process over the past 2-3 years, dramatically increasing ED’ers as a percentage of the total class from the 20s -> ~ 40%. The NU admissions office states openly that entry via ED will be a measurably easier path given their dedication to increasing the number of admits for whom NU is a #1 choice.</p>
<p>Yeah, for schools like Penn and NU, I can see how ED gives a nice boost, but I guess I’ll go RD so I can send a more polished app. Cranking out something within the next three weeks, possible, but not as good as it could be. If I’m not EDing, I’m sure there are other ways of showing commitment/interest in the schools through essays.</p>
<p>As a general rule – if a school is your number one choice and you can afford to go there based on expected financial aid, you shouldn’t be hurt if you apply ED. There may be a few schools where you could be disadvantaged – and if one of these is your first choice – well then don’t apply.</p>
<p>If the school is not your first choice – then don’t apply ED period.</p>
<p>Alright, so I don’t have any specific first choice, I’d just like to be able to attend one of my reach schools, and since financial aid is a concern, then RD it is.</p>
<p>But you should at least apply EA to some schools. You have nothing to lose by doing so, and an early acceptance could give you a good fallback school in case you don’t make it RD to one of your top choices.</p>