<p>Did anyone else get an invitation to convert a RD application to ED? Kenyon is DEFINITELY my daughter's first choice... NO QUESTION.... but she has an incredible offer from another school ($25,000/ year.) Sure that Kenyon's package won't be as good, but applying ED and not knowing how much it costs is a bit daunting. Thoughts?</p>
<p>This is unusual. Is there a scholarship for which she qualifies that is only available to ED applicants? I am familiar with Kenyon and believe that this college has a greater percentage of females than males, and that, combined with an SAT score of 1300/1600 confuses the matter further as Kenyon's mid-range SAT scores extend beyond 1400/1600. You may want to consider calling Kenyon to ask why this offer was extended to your daughter, and then explain her financial situation merit award from another school. I am aware of situations in which ED applications were withdrawn prior to decision due to merit awards from rolling admissions schools. Without knowing more, I would not recommend jeopardizing a $25,000 a year merit award to a school which your daughter selected to enhance (?) her chances at her first choice school. Kenyon and Ohio Wesleyan are different in several respects; the most troubling aspect with respect to Ohio Wesleyan is the loss of 20% of each freshman class, while Kenyon's retention rate is reported to USNews as 93%-- only a 7% loss each year.</p>
<p>Everyone received that invitation to convert her application to Early Decision. However, they clearly state in the e-mail that it is simply because so many students have called to ask, not because they want to promote it.
I would not convert her application unless Kenyon is a stretch school for her. You don't want her to be admitted and then you be hard-pressed to pay for it. There's a slight advantage by applying Early Decision, in addition to hearing sooner, but I don't think that it is worth it in your case.</p>
<p>If you are an outstanding student, I wouldn't be too worried about the retention rate at Ohio Wesleyan. The problem of low retention rate was more pronounced in the nineties and early 2000s when a higher percent of applicants was admitted than should have been admitted. As a result, a lot of students were going to OWU and finding it quite difficult to sustain the challenges of the academic curriculum and drop out or lose their scholarship due to a poor GPA and drop out. Normally, this kind of thing would be caught in the admissions process elsewhere, but at Ohio Wesleyan the philosophy was slightly different. It has been changing in the last few years with slightly more than 50% of RD applicants getting admitted and as a consequence of much much better screening the retention rate after the first year for 2006 and 2007 was the highest the school has seen in the past 15 years.</p>