I’ve been debating about applying ED. On one hand, I’m curious as to find out what other schools I get accepted to. My SAT scores increased quite a bit so some of my reach schools have now become match, and even safety schools. On the other hand, ED applicants SUPPOSEDLY have a bigger chance of getting accepted. I’m almost positive that I want to apply ED to the school, but at the same time, there’s just that feeling about whether or not I should try for other schools.
I’m looking at the Claremont colleges, but I also loved USC when I visited. I do realize that the Claremont colleges and USC are opposites when it comes to school size and each one has its own advantages, but it’s those features that make it so hard to choose.
I know colleges say that they don’t consider ED any different from regular admission, but is it really that way?
<p>I was actually thinking about applying ED to one of the schools that I applied to this year. However, I didn't for only one reason, and that was money concerns. I think the main difference between ED and RD is that if you're accepted ED, you have to withdraw all other acceptances, and go to that school the next year. The school that I was considering doing this for says that there isn't really a difference in how difficult it is to get accepted ED vs. RD, but this might be different for different schools. I'm not sure.</p>
<p>You ultimately have to decide but some points:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>ED is probably best for two types of students: those who are absolutely certain of their first choice and those who really don't care to which college they go out of a choice of several. Anything in between (like "I am not sure which ones I really like yet") means you should consider avoiding it.</p></li>
<li><p>Colleges often say that applying ED is not a real advantage over regular. However, admission figures for a college's ED over RD show that such disclaimers on the advantage of ED should be treated as: "If you believe that, there is a bridge in New York I can sell to you." Colleges release their 50% range figures, test scores/class rank, for all admittees but uniformily refuse to provide such info for ED only -- you might assume their is a reason for that refusal.</p></li>
<li><p>If you need financial aid, it may be very important to you to see packages offerred by different colleges so you can choose the best; that option is taken away by applying ED.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Drusba's points 1 and 3 are right on the money.
I think the best answer to "does ED help?" is that "It depends". If a student is well below the mean, I don't think it helps at a highly competitive school. If a student is between the 50th and 75th percentile, or right at the 75th, I think it can help at schools like Swat, Davidson, Vandy, maybe WUSTL (Don't know as much about them), particularly if the student is otherwise a good fit. The Ivies, ?who knows?, except maybe Penn which is upfront about wanting kids who want them. HYPS will be a crapshoot whenever one applies, Brown, Dartmouth, etc are mysteries.
As for examining the statistics, remember that the smaller the sample (ED vs whole class), the bigger the impact of anyone who has stats outside the mean - so if you assume there are going to be some recruited/tipped athletes and legacies with stats below the mean in the ED pool, then there has to be a high scorer to offset each one. Also there is no applicant pool police to force the schools to be entirely honest - they can leave any low scoring group when they release any stats except maybe the uniform data set (maybe they are honest about those).</p>
<p>IN the Nov 19 edition of Dartmouth ONline, there's an article about the ED pool, it gives the average SATs(which I assume are fairly accurate, at least this year's numbers without the RDs, after all those apps haven't been processed yet) 686V and 699M, which aren't too far off from the overall accepted students. For whatever that's worth.</p>
<p>I guess what I'm saying is that finances and fit should way outrank any increased admit chance. DD looked into this carefully because she very much wanted to be through with admissions by Christmas, and she was balancing 4 schools that were all attractive to her. Her overall chances of admission varied slightly at each of the 4, and the impact, if any, of ED was different at each of the 4. She looked at stats for a long time, we discussed this at length, and finally decided it probably helps, but to what extent and where is impossible to determine.</p>
<p>Read the Early Admission Game by Avery, Fairbanks and Zeckhauser. They did an extensive statistical analysis on the topic and found that there is little statisical difference between the EA or ED pool and the RD pool yet the acceptance rate is much higher. They liken early admission to an approximate 100 point SAT advantage (in others word a 1400 scorer in RD would have the odds of acceptance of a 1500 in EA). There only restriction on scope was not to disclose data by school, only by group (e.g., Ivy League).</p>
<p>1.) Do you have a clear favorite. If no, than don't even consider it. Perhaps Early Action would be better to gain an advantage.</p>
<p>2.) Are you in a middle income family. If your parents make a ton of money, than you should go for it. If you are guaranteed to get significant financial aid because they don't, they go for it. If you are in the middle, don't do it unless it is your first choice. YOU CAN get out of binding ED if they don't offer enough money, but than if no where else offers more, you can't go to that school regardless.</p>
<p>do a lot of research. a LOT. do overnight stays, ask people who are there stuff, etc... that will ultimately influence your decisions. and if you decide you like one a lot more... go for it.</p>
<p>well, that is, if financial aid isn't going to be a huge problem</p>