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<p>I’m cynical enough to believe that indeed, that IS what they want. They want to be able to fill a good chunk of the class - 25% - 50% or thereabouts - with high-stat full-pays so they can have more leeway in offering admission to kids who will need FA at the regular round. I don’t know this to be true, but the skeptic in me says it’s very plausible, even if unspoken.</p>
<p>Why do schools have SCEA then, if there’s no even slight advantage to applying early? Yes, Princeton and Harvard now have it but there’s not much info out there regarding the rules of applying to state univ. early, as well.</p>
<p>If it’s really true that a student can actually pull out of an ED acceptance due to inability to pay, what’s the point of ED? It does seem that ED is designed to get higher income kids. While I wish we were in that category, I don’t fault schools for giving an edge to higher income students by offering ED. They are the ones the tow the line for kids like mine who will need a lot of aid so my kid had better have incredible stats to earn the right to get lots of f. aid, IMO.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, all. For now, I think no ED, probably one SCEA (even if there’s no advantage), and probably EA for the local UC school and everything else RD. I need to go through my son’s list with him to see if there are any EA schools on it. (Again, is there a list of EA selective colleges? Seems most on my son’s list are ED types) I would rather he get everything out of the way early since he’s a procrastinator.</p>
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<p>There are a couple of posters on this site who seem to have similar kids who have gone to University of Chicago. Have you considered it?</p>
<p>Be sure to check on the EA rules if he decides to apply to the SCEA school. A number of years ago, most of the SCEA schools allowed applications to rolling admissions schools. Most, but not all, of the rolling admissions schools are state schools. Perhaps you can find a couple of those. Will help the anxiety if the SCEA school doesn’t come through…</p>
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<p>If the student gets in, then the SCEA school becomes one heck of a safety. So that’s the advantage for the applicants. For the SCEA school, though I’ve never seen it documented with explicit yield statistics, I think that yield is indeed higher from the SCEA round. There’s a warm and fuzzy place in a student’s heart for the school that first showed them the love. It gives the school more time to sell themselves, more time to allow the student to think of themselves as a matriculating student at that school. Same deal with likely letters. Conversely, look at how students reacted when this year’s Amherst decisions ran late. Students were tired of waiting. They were ready to fall, hard, for a school that already loved them, rather than wait around for a late suitor. </p>
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<p>There’s been a great deal of discussion in the past about this here on CC. The language about being able to withdraw due to inability to pay is written into the Common App ED supplement. I’ve read stories here on CC where applicants looking for ED were very happy with the packages offered during ED. And I’ve read stories here about people given miserable packages. The best odds are with schools that guarantee to meet full need, but of course it’s the school that determines that need–so it’s up to the parents to find out as much as possible about the school’s methods for determining need. </p>
<p>The saddest stories I read are about families who sign up for ED without really knowing what this means. The student falls in love with a school, applies ED, is accepted, and gets an FA package that looks great. The deposit is sent…and then a few months roll by, and suddenly the student’s high school classmates are getting great scholarship offers at the state flagship, or another private. The parents realize that those FA packages are a lot sweeter than what they got at the ED school. Doing homework before signing the ED agreement is incredibly important.</p>
<p>I think SCEA is arrogant on the part of a school. Either let’s declare our mutual love and call it a day in ED, or tell me early – but telling me early and not letting me apply anywhere else is just arrogant.</p>
<p>^ROFL. I don’t really disagree. Back when Harvard still has SCEA, my son’s interviewer asked him why he wasn’t applying early. My son replied with no hesitation, because it’s not my first choice. Amusingly it really turned the interview around as the interviewer spent the rest of the interview trying to sell Harvard instead of my son having to try to sell himself.</p>