<p>DS is intent on applying ED to a "good fit"/"match" school. Deep down, I know that this is the right move but I feel that we will never know if he could have been accepted to a more highly selective college. Anybody else in this position?</p>
<p>If that's her favorite school, then it's the right move.</p>
<p>It's a good strategy. Match schools aren't guaranteed acceptances - they're more like 50% acceptance rates. If this is the school he prefers, why not use the ED preference to boost his visibility?</p>
<p>As for the other regret, how will you feel if he goes to a "stretch" school and is overwhelmed? How would you feel if he applied to his favorite school RD, and wasn't accepted? There are all kinds of opportunities in life, and taking one means denying others. Having a happy student who fits comfortably at his school is the ultimate goal, not some big name window decal.</p>
<p>What matters is whether the student will regret the decision. I think we parents have to take a back seat here. It's not about our feelings.</p>
<p>
[quote]
we will never know if he could have been accepted to a more highly selective college
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You will never know what it would be like if he had been a girl either. And you love him as he is</p>
<p>If he is intent and you know deep down his plan is good, I'd say support it and don't look back. The satisfaction of having it settled and decreasing stress way outbalances the transient thrill of feeling selective/selected. None of it matters by the next September, especially to them.</p>
<p>Last night I went to the first college info night for our third child. At his school over two thirds of the kids have been applying early with about two thirds of them ending the process with an acceptance from one of those schools. The counselor mentioned that in the last couple of years there has been a shift from using ED to get the statistical edge in getting into a school that is a reach school to using it just to get the whole danged process done with. As a result the ED acceptance rates at this school have gone up since instead of applying ED to schools with less than a 30% accept rate, kids are focusing more on their matches. This has been partly in response, the counselor feels, to some kids who got burned by applying to a lottery ticket ED, not getting accepted and then getting waitlisted or rejected from a "match" school where kids who had applied ED with similar profiles were accepted. Although in terms of strategy, it is a safe thing to do, the counselor discussed his feelings about the whole thing. He is a parent of a junior, who is, in fact, a friend of my son, so this year this gc is going through the process as a parent as well as a professional. He said that even with previous classes, as with the current senior class, he has had twinges of doubt. The purpose of ED is to let a college know that you consider it your first choice. In his opinion, schools like HPY had no business even having any type of restrictive early plan because those schools are always someone's first choice, and you don't get tears "settling" for Princeton over Yale. ED is valuable for those schools who are having a particularly had time figuring out who really is interested in the school , and who just threw it in as another common app these days when the number of schools kids are applying to have gone way up, and some kids are racking up acceptances like trophies. For a kid just on the cusp of admissions, or a good candidate but indistinguishable from the bulk of the candidates that could possibly be waitlisted simply by statistics--you can only accept so many, ED is the distinction, the hook. And that can make a world of difference. But some students and families are using ED out of fear and to salve the anxiety, and somehow, that just doesn't hit him right. I feel the same way. To be 17, 18 years and to be so afraid that you won't make a little stretch, take a little risk of rejection bothers me. Now he (and I) is not talking about a kid who really want to go to Dickinson College. Has visited it., likes it and isn't wi****lly looking at Haverford, where,yes, he is an academic match but due to the acceptance stats there, it is a reach.<br>
I guess the whole problem with strategizing is that it ends up in not giving it a try to something you might really want at such a young age, when the risk really isn't that great.<br>
Not saying the OP's D is in that boat. If it is just the parent who is wishing for more of a stretch and the child is really happy with the choice fine. But if it is a fear ridden thing....well, this just isn't so important that this fear should exits.<br>
Just bringing up some feelings I got when the subject was brought up last night.</p>
<p>Smiles, I think your son has an excellent plan-with a clear favorite choice which is a good academic match for him.</p>
<p>Another poster mentioned that your son could be overwhelmed attending a more selective college. That is unlikely to be the case but he might be an average Joe in such an environment.</p>
<p>Our son, now a junior, is attending a strong match(Rensselaer) and the academic results have far exceed our expectations and he is enjoying himself nicely on the social front too. I won't get into the entire littany of benefits coming his way but can say they range from his $100,000 merit scholarships to being one of about 8 students in his department to be invited by a professor to be an undergraduate research assistant at $15/hr which will give him a headstart on his undergrad research/sr thesis requirement.</p>
<p>I have been a college instructor/prof for many years and I can tell you that we love teaching and mentoring the outstanding students which come to us each year. I have found that the academic environment for them is such that they often become the confident scholars who are eager to tackle independent study and undergrad research opportunities. And in turn we are just as eager to nurture them.</p>
<p>Because your son seems confident of his choice, be thankful for that and give him all your support. Those seeds of doubt can sometimes yeild bitter fruit.</p>
<p>What makes it "more selective"? The fact that they reject more applicants? The MOST selective school for your son is the one he selects as being the best fit.</p>
<p>Look at it from your students' perspective, and forget that other nonsense. All that reach/match/safety rigormarole was created for students who DON'T know where they want to go to school.</p>
<p>I agree with originaloog that if he has really found a school he feels comfortable with, then ED makes sense. So many threads talk about the mania associated with admissions, that if there is a way to step off of that treadmill, it makes sense to me. I also believe that any given student would be happy and successful at a variety of colleges. I'm not sure it is worth the hand-wringing to find the "best" college -- one that is good enough works for me.</p>
<p>Agree as well. That's what ED was for in the first place -- it's a chance to tell one particular school that it's the top choice, and one of the few ways that a student can absolutely convey that message (regardless of selectivity). The fact that most people now use it as a strategy is unfortunate.</p>
<p>I agree with the previous posters. Count yourself and your son among the lucky ones -- he's found "his" school, he's likely to be accepted, and if that comes about he gets to circumvent all the April madness that comes with RD from elite schools.</p>
<p>Another vote to go ahead and apply ED if this is where your son most wants to be. Two years ago my son applied and got in ED to a school he was likely to get into. He had a clear first choice and had no interest in taking a shot at the more selective schools on this list. He's a very happy sophomore there now.</p>