<p>I've noticed most ED colleges say they'll notify applicants of their decision "around December 15." Some say the decisions get <em>mailed</em> on that date, which means notification could come even later. </p>
<p>Most colleges don't require RD apps until Dec. 31/Jan. 1, so there's a bit of time to switch gears if the ED decision is a "no." But there are schools that seem to squeeze this time frame a bit, e.g. Middlebury requires their RD pre-application (with nonrefundable application fee) to be postmarked December 15.</p>
<p>Do ED decisions in fact tend to come before December 15? -- Or when timing is tight, do applicants just have to grit their teeth and pay (possibly) unnecessary application fees, to cover themselves, in case they're not accepted ED?</p>
<p>Yep, grit your teeth. :) The ED decisions can come early on time or late. It is often possible to get the results by phone if they are really late.</p>
<p>Pray the RDs are common app schools so your kid does not have to write a dozen potentially unnecessary essays :eek:</p>
<p>Agree with SBmom.
Harvard stuck to its posted date of notification of Dec. 15, which was also the deadline for applying to Stanford (preferred date Dec. 1). S sent in his Stanford app. He tried to withdraw it several times after he heard from Harvard, to no effect. He was admitted to Stanford RD.</p>
<p>So far, all the schools in question ARE common app schools -- a few short extra essays for school-specific supplements, but nothing major. And extra application fees (though annoying) are nothing compared to four years of college (lol).</p>
<p>The strategy is to have your RD apps completed, packaged and ready to be mailed in case the ED response is unfavorable. Of course, this is hard for many students to grasp and some roll the dice and pray for an ED admission without completing other apps. </p>
<p>Penn announced ED results on Dec 10 in 2004, though originally planned for Dec 15.</p>
<p>I think S understands the concept of having everything else ready. He can even pre-address envelopes for the teachers doing recs (As long as they don't mention a specific college in the rec, copies should work for all schools).</p>
<p>But there are other elements of the app that have to come from other sources that won't turn on a dime, e.g. transcripts from guidance, AP and SAT reports, filing CSS profile. For a January 1 deadline -- how much lead time would you allow for these?</p>
<p>--Transcript/school profile, Teachers'recs: requests should be made well in advance to the appropriate GC and teachers. For RD, my S's teachers demanded that requests be made before Thanksgiving, to prevent them from being swamped. Requests should include addressed and stamped envelopes; forms should include all the information that the student can fill out himself or herself. Teachers and GC should be to hold onto these materials until the student lets them know the outcome of the EA/ED application and whether s/he wants to proceed with RD applications. My S had expected to apply to five colleges RD. One went out early because of the RD deadline of Dec. 15. For the others, he told his teachers and GC right away not to proceed with the RD recs, etc... (and thanked them for writing the other two recs) This, of course, was based on his decision to accept the EA admission offer.
--AP reports are not required by colleges until some time in July (which is when AP scores for tests taken the previous May are released). Applicants are only required to record their scores on the app; when the actual scores come in from the CB, colleges will use them for placement and credit.
--SAT scores: Applicants ordinarily may take the SAT as late as January for a RD deadline of Jan. 1; January scores should be rushed to the colleges. Applicants need to place a rush request to the CB by phone and pay a fee.
CSS profile: Other posters will be able to answer this.</p>
<p>I would recommend to send the SAT scores ahead of time to all the schools your son is potentially applying to. If ED does not work out, it will be much more expensive to rush scores to all the RD schools (and some do not accept rushed scores).</p>
<p>Hmmm. Do you have your child submit the Part I of the application to the RD schools at the same time as the ED school so a "file" is opened for them? I was going to encourage my daughter to go ahead and have teachers send recommendation and GC letters to her RD schools even though she is applying EA...so as to give the teachers all of the school forms/envelopes/etc at once when she asks. I even thought of encouraging to go ahead and submit some of the RD apps early just to get them out of the way...and to get her focus OFF the ED school while she's waiting for a decision. Is this not a good idea?</p>
<p>quiltguru
It's a very good idea if you don't mind paying all those extra application fees. If she gets in ED, she will have to cancel all the RD apps.</p>
<p>The fee is submitted at the same time as the application (which must be filled by the applicant); so it can be held off until after the EA/ED notification. Recs, transcripts, etc... can be sent in advance. However, it makes as much sense to me to give all forms to teachers and GCs at the same time but ask them to hold off on sending some until after Dec. 15. Many, in fact, do not start working on the recs until after that time anyway. </p>
<p>I believe in sending as few individual pieces out as possible to minimize the risk of opening different files for the same applicant. </p>
<p>Regarding sending out SAT scores: IF a student is going to retake the SAT in January AND the college accepts rush scores, there is no point in sending out scores earlier as well, unless it is to the 4 colleges that are free. The Jan. rush scores will include all previous scores, both for the SAT and SAT-IIs.</p>
<p>D applied ED but submitted whatever RD apps had deadlines prior to December 15 (she actually received her packet on the 10th). She also sent in the common apps for all other schools but had the supplements (and app fees) ready to go when the deadlines hit. You can send the common app without sending the fee.</p>
<p>When I used the term "packaged", that's what I meant (teacher recs, transcripts, etc). </p>
<p>Does your son's school have a good college guidance program? If so, they probably have a plan for all of this. My son's HS required that all seniors hand in 6 addressed enelopes for each school to whichthey were going to apply RD, into which the school would place transcripts, recommendations, etc. At least 1 roll of stamps was also required. This had to be done by Nov 15 (and earlier for Stanford). The HS wanted 6 weeks to pull the details together and then held the prepared packages until hearing the ED outcome. </p>
<p>However, teachers writing recs asked to be notified of the student's wish by Oct 15.</p>
<p>If your guidance program isn't too "together", I would allow even more time and follow-up on a few occasions. </p>
<p>You'll have to feel out the SAT strategy as you go. As nngmm said, send the scores before the ED decision and save on the rush fees-but, I would never name more than the 4 free schools prior to taking the SAT so that you can suppress the score/results if need be (if this is the last time taking it and the score has declined)</p>