<p>I am just curious, will EA and Ed have influences on your admission? </p>
<p>In many cases, it does, although the magnitude of influence varies by school, and most schools do not give enough information to tell how big the magnitude of influence is. ED and EA admission rates are typically higher, but it is often the case that the ED and EA applicant pools are stronger, so it is hard to tell how much of a boost it is.</p>
<p>ED should be a boost at schools that consider “level of applicant’s interest”, since ED is the strongest expression of interest that there is. If a school offers both EA and SCEA, then SCEA expresses a stronger level of interest than EA.</p>
<p>Because ED is binding, it is only appropriate if the school is your clear first choice, and you can decide whether to matriculate without comparing the financial aid offer with that of other schools.</p>
<p>It’s never a detriment to your admission, and it’s likely a plus, but how much is anyone’s guess - and it certainly varies by school. It’s also fair to say that if you are a regular academic admit, ED does not boost your chances with lower than normal stats - you’ll be rejected just like RD. You don’t need stellar stats to be admitted ED, but I’d suggest being at least in the 25-75 range if you wish to have a realistic chance. (It worked for for my daughter for ED2.)</p>
<p>If your school offers Naviance, use it to get a better picture of what kind of students are accepted from your school, but again realize that any outliers are often not normal academic admits, in most cases they are athletes.</p>
<p>Bottom line, definitely use EA if available, it’s great to set an early floor for some schools, whether serious considerations or safeties. Same for rolling admissions. ED is not to be trifled with, if you get in, you’re locked in, and no, you can’t play games with it, but it’s great to be done well before March, if you can pick your school and you don’t have a problem not comparing offers.</p>
<p>“I am just curious, will EA and Ed have influences on your admission?”</p>
<p>For ED yes, obviously.
EA, it depends. Some top schools, like MIT, Stanford and also I’d say Yale, don’t care much whether you apply early or regular.
However, Harvard has an EA acceptance rate of 21%, and a RD acceptance rate of 3%. Think about that.</p>
<p>Bottom line: if you can apply EA, go EA, but pick a school which cares about EA.</p>
<p>Thank you all! 
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