<p>I had a conversation with a top education counselor in Delhi. He sent 11 kids to Ivy schools last year. </p>
<p>Me: I am thinking of applying early. I am conf....
C: DON'T apply early.
Me: But...
C: DON'T
Me:Is there a reason?
C: Yes. ED is far more competitive and far more difficult than regular decision.
Me: That can't be right. Colleges clearly mention that enthusiasm for the college is considered a plus. Moreover, colleges like Cornell fill 1/3rd of their entire class with ED applicants.
C: Yes, but not only is that selected pool of applicants more competitive but it is also mostly filled with domestic students.
Me: How can you be so sure?
C: I have talked with many adcom members. Only last year Penn came here for a intro seminar. Their representative, and many other colleges' representatives have told me about this. That is why I encourage all my students to apply RD. Last year 15 students of mine applied ED despite my disapproval and got rejected. These were good applicants who had good chances in RD.
Me: So are the colleges lying to us, when they say ED admissions if not easier are equal to RD admissions?
C: Colleges want the best out of every country. Say Cornell takes 15 students from India. Now, if you apply ED they might reject/defer you unless you are exceptional since they want to have the full view of the entire applicant pool from India before they make any decision. They have very few seats and must make their decisions very carefully. That is why ED is not recommended for international students insofar as it is actually disadvantageous.</p>
<p>I do suspect that what itsmylife99 mentioned is horrifiyingly true. </p>
<p>I had planned to apply SCEA to Yale. However, when I was searching for threads and posts about whether it helps or not (I knew from the start that it wouldn’t, but still) I encountered multiple posts where they say that it IS actually disadvantageous.</p>
<p>Not ONLY to internationals, but domestic too. I’M NOT SURE, but I THINK the logic was that the ED/EA pool is primarily filled up with legacies, athletes, and developmental students. The rest are unhooked, extremely bright students, like International Academic Medalists, USAMO, Intel and of the likes. So there isn’t really room for the “in between” student. On the flipside, Yale adcoms say that if a student was rejected ED, he would have been rejected RD too. Same with getting accepted.</p>
<p>At the end of it, I don’t know whether to apply early or not.</p>
<p>By God, this won’t do. This sort of talk won’t do at all.</p>
<p>Say an applicant from India who is not exceptional applies ED and is deferred so that the college can have a full view of the applicants from the country, then how the bloody hell does it matter if he applies ED or RD?? To boot, he’ll be rejected more likely from the RD pool since the college does get a full view of more exceptional applicants. ED may not really increase his chances significantly, but its definitely not “disadvantageous”.</p>
<p>All in all, ED is most helpful for a student whose profile matches 90% with a college but still lacks something to convince the adcoms. An ED application (indicating interest in the college) might just give the nudge to the application to cover up the remaining 10%. </p>
<p>And as for what Yale said - well, its Yale we’re talking about. Only exceptional students can get in there, and exceptional students will be accepted either ED or RD.</p>
<p>Tbh,the legacy/athelete part is true.I would have applied ED with the athelete advantage if my sport had been NCAA.Colleges tend to accept the legacies/athletes/developmental students early because they want to know their atheletes by that time.The pool of applicants is also def more competetive,the higher acceptance rate is courtesy a smaller applicant pool.</p>
<p>Right; but what does this mean? Yale is altogether a different/special case. Since Harvard and Princeton don’t have ED/EA now, that potential EA/ED pool is redirected toward Yale. </p>
<p>But for lower/mid Ivy league schools like Cornell, is the pool of applicants really as competitive as that of Yale?
Cornell admitted 1277 applicants out of the 3442 that applied! The figure is overwhelming. </p>
<p>Any of you applied ED/EA? If yes, where? ^_^</p>
<p>Cornell does have more or less the same pool of applicants as Harvard/Yale. But, Cornell itself is aware that many of its exceptional applicants would rather go to Harvard/Yale. Hence, during ED, it tries its best to retain the most of its exceptional students, instead of deferring them and giving them a shot at HYP.</p>
<p>@itsmylife99 - Yes. We really don’t know. All we can do is speculate. And that’s what is so horrible about the US admission process. India is so simple and certain. *sigh *</p>
<p>Applying to Cornell ED is a good idea for Indians. In the early stages of the application process there is a greater possibility of applicants receiving funds from the Tata scholarship. </p>
<p>Country-specific/limited scholarships tend to run out as the admissions process progresses.</p>
<p>Which college in Cornell? How are your apps and essays going? Done with your CSS profile and everything including all the documentation regarding finances?.. If you are applying for aid.
I was too thinking of applying to COE Cornell ED. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to complete everything in 2 weeks. I don’t want to jeopardize my chance of getting in due to an ill-prepared application.</p>
<p>Generally, Engineering candidates are more strongly considered for the scholarship so you have that working in your favour. However, the competition from India for COE is pretty intense too so keep that in mind as well. As for how much time you need, well only you can determine that. My friend at HMC wrote up his entire Common App in one night (and still received a full-ride) while some others I know agonized over their essays for months. It’s always good to be individualistic and bring your voice out in essays but that can take time depending on who’s doing the writing. </p>
<p>Cornell has one required essay in the supplement which shouldn’t take too much time. Brainstorm ideas and connect them to the rest of your app and you should have a decent enough essay. Just remember: if you’re applying for the scholarship, really try to perfect those essays. It will come down to them during decision time. Full-pay candidates from your country will have it much easier so you must convince Cornell that you’re better than them to have a shot at the scholarship.</p>
<p>@itsmylife99 - I’m applying to COE, Cornell. My app is more or less ready. Right now, I’m working on my essays.</p>
<p>Oh and why not just try to complete the app (only 10 days remaining actually). Its not huge or something, and the Cornell supplement is quite small. If you’re sending everything online, I would say its possible to complete the app on Oct 30th itself.</p>
<p>@PrincetonDreams - do you know how much scholarship is given to Indians via the Tata scholarship?? 25%?? 50%?? 100%??</p>