<p>So my situation is that next year I may want to go ED to Northwestern University. However, from what I am hearing, ED actually hurts people's chances at my school because NU is so reluctant to defer. Out of the 5-7 or so kids that apply ED to NU each year, one has been accepted for the past two years. However, from last year, a total of 21 student were admitted out of 42 who applied, so that means that over half of the RD applicants were accepted. I don't want to apply RD and then have the bitter taste of "what-if (I applied ED)" in my mouth if I don't get in, but I also don't want to be screwed because they chose one other kid and didn't even defer me to the RD pool. What should I do? I am leaning toward just not gaming the system and going where I theoretically have a higher shot at acceptance (ED). The reason may just be that under-qualified students go ED because they need every boost they can get, but in the end it doesn't prove to be enough.</p>
<p>buuuuuuuuuump</p>
<p>Yeah, I suspect that the kids who got rejected were underqualified to begin with. If your stats are on par, your best bet is to apply ED.</p>
<p>Think about the prospective samples involved. The sort of kid who will ED to NU either 1) LOVES NU 2) Likes NU a lot and doesn’t think they’ll get in anyplace “better”</p>
<p>e.g. If you think you can get into Yale, and you want to go to Yale at all, you won’t apply ED to NU.</p>
<p>Thus the most qualified kids in your school more often than not will NOT be included in the ED pool (this is all in generalities and only true within a limited pool). So the RD pool will, on average, be better qualified than the ED pool from the frame of reference of a particular school’s applicants to NU. Since the TOTAL number of people applying ED to NU may well be selected more broadly, and needs to be looked at from the frame of reference of ALL APPLICANTS, it may well be more selective than the RD pool while still being a lower standard from within a particular school.</p>
<p>TL;DR version: No, you’re doing stats wrong. Apply ED if you’re certain you want to go to NU.</p>
<p>Whether to apply ED or RD sounds like a perfect question for your Guidance Counsellor.</p>
<p>Well, ik I wanna go, and my stats are decently good.I found out today that two got in ED as opposed to one, and these answers have confirmed my thought process, so i’ll go ED.</p>