<p>My daughter really loves Elon, but her SATs are 1190 (out of 1600). She has unweighted gpa of 3.8 and top 10%, with 4 APs after senior year. Is ED the only real option? Is it much easier to get in ED? Does Elon ever grant interviews? We are going next month and they said only tour and admissions info session. She would have a better shot if she had an interview.</p>
<p>I don't know the difference between ED and EA/RD, but I think only the admissions office would be able to tell you accurately from year to year. Elon does not do interviews at all for admissions (technically), however you can always strike up a conversation with the admissions officer that covers your region. I would recommend doing this after contacting this individual through e-mail and maybe a phone call a few times as well. Also, you can meet with a professor in a field she plans or may be interested in studying. This will be another opportunity to have a faculty member that already knows your name and face. I think that with a discrepancy between GPA and SAT grades, your D's essay, extracurriculars, and recommendations (not required, but I would suggest them anyway) will be all that more important. Your goal at this point should be to give the admissions office an excuse to accept your D if she is borderline. I believe my strong work experiences and recommendations were the reasons I was admitted.</p>
<p>thanks, grantb, some good suggestions.</p>
<p>apply ED...it helped me a ton</p>
<p>Hi Candace -- I think if you really push them they will give you an "interview", but it's meaningless because they will make clear it won't affect the admissions decision. Based <em>just</em> on the numbers you listed I think ED will give you a significant advantage. And grantb's suggestions are outstanding. Elon won't come right out and admit it, but the numbers don't lie -- ED appears to have a big advantage. I know that based just on some numbers for people in the RD pool who were rejected or wait-listed, my S would have had a very difficult time RD. </p>
<p>A caveat as well -- Elon is historically stingy giving merit aid to ED.</p>
<p>Good luck Candace & D. You might underestimate the possibilities but ED is probably a safer option, and leave you with a more comfortable time for alternatives. I suspect ED does compromise the merit $ possibilities but that may not be the primary concern. Great GPA and the SAT's are ballpark so maybe an SAT retest (ouch) could help. Grantb is on the money with his other advice.</p>
<p>thanks for all the advice. I have passed it on to my daughter. Her best option might be to try the ACT. She is very reluctant to take the SATs again. She went down in Math on her second scores and up only 10 in CR. Can you take tests in October and have them in time for ED?</p>
<p>I think October is pushing it -- the ED deadline is Nov. 1 and the College Board website says that October scores won't be available until Nov. 15. The ACT might be the right choice -- my S is one of those kids who did a good bit better on the ACT. Elon also does something a little unusual -- they not only take the best combined SAT scores, they also mix and match ACT and SAT scores. Basically, they appear to convert the ACT Math to an SAT Math score, and the ACT English to an SAT CR score. So, if you do better on SAT Math than ACT Math, but also better on ACT English than SAT CR, you get the benefit of both tests.</p>
<p>I took the October SAT and sent it to Elon for ED...it was fine</p>
<p>Good to hear -- do you know when the SAT scores were received by Elon?</p>
<p>my counselor just called and told them the scores...no idea when they officially were recieved.</p>
<p>To build on what lderochi said... It's not just ED merit that Elon skimps on. Performance/Aacdemic based grants are extremely stringy-- the max being under $5k/year. Since tuition is going up an estimated 5-10% over the next few years, $5k helps, but it isnt much more than a drop in the bucket!</p>
<p>And yes, DEFINITELY apply ED, and if not ED, EA. OoA won't admit it, but both pools make up a huge percentage of the student body (over 30%). Since her GPA is strong, I think she'll be okay with an 1190 SAT as long as she has STRONG community involvement and leadership experience. If there are two extracurricular things you can do to please our Office of Admissions, it's having plenty of community service hours, and demonstrating sharp leadership skills in roles throughout high school. They'd rather see meaningful involvements with 3-4 clubs than a laundry list of activities with 20 that'd suggest your efforts were worn thin amongst the masses.</p>
<p>
[quote]
OoA won't admit it, but both pools make up a huge percentage of the student body (over 30%)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's far more than that -- According to US news,
[quote]
Proportion of freshman enrolled from early action and early decision: 66%
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</p>
<p>RD is becoming much more difficult for applicants who, looking strictly at the overall numbers, might consider Elon a target school.</p>
<p>66% seems really high to me, but it could be. In orientation, I was told it was well under 50%, but they could be wrong!</p>
<p>Nope, looks accurate. I double checked at the College Board site:</p>
<p>
[quote]
* Number of early decision applications received: 459
* Number admitted under early decision plan: 297
* Number enrolled under early decision plan: 290</p>
<pre><code>* Number of early action applications received: 4,121
* Number admitted under early action plan: 2,032
* Number enrolled under early action plan: 549
</code></pre>
<p>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So 839 out of 1283 freshmen were ED/EA. Wow. With than knowledge, you've just gotta apply at least EA.</p>
<p>Figures that my orientation leaders would be wrong. Seems to be a trend with them :P If you think about it though, it's not entirely surprising. There is no reason NOT to apply EA-- you get done sooner, you get an answer sooner, and if you get in, your not bound. I applied EA and it was the best thing I could have done without committing myself to any one place. </p>
<p>Then again, I'm transferring. So what do I know?! Hahaa</p>
<p>Well, we are back from our visit to Elon. What a fantastic school. Everyone was so nice and the campus is like a postcard. Our tour guide was an education major, so my daughter was able to ask her about her future major. The 4-1-4 semester plan was a great way to have a chance to travel or take one class. She will apply EA, but not ED. She also loves another school.</p>