<p>I read somewhere on Columbia's website that the acceptance rate for ED applicants is much higher than that of RD applicants (something like 23% to 8%)! Is that true? I'm freaking out right now...</p>
<p>yeah the acceptance rate for RD is much lower</p>
<p>yes it's true, but rumor has it that the 8% is more because loads of underqualified ppl apply regular just for the heck of it. at least this is what you'll hear here.</p>
<p>No, OfEternity, that's not right. Plenty of unqualified people apply both ED and RD. The main reason schools use ED is because it helps their yield rates.</p>
<p>if you're underqualified, why would you apply RD? you would apply ED to increase your chances.</p>
<p>one would apply RD if they were a bit more confident of getting in.</p>
<p>Unqualified people apply RD either because they don't know about the benefits of ED or use the ED opportunity to apply to a school that they're more likely to get into. It makes more sense to apply to a total reach school RD.</p>
<p>colleges say that ED applicant pools are stronger than RD ones... although my Princeton deferral letter told me to "expect an equally strong RD pool" so I get mixed messages. I'd like to believe the former, however</p>
<p>when i went to a columbia info session, the admissions officer said that columbia is much more selective rd because they fill almost half their freshman class with ed applicants (with more ppl applying rd, it doesnt leave much room for them) ..i'd say both the ed and rd pool are high caliber applicants because i'm pretty sure columbia's applicants are self-selecting in general.</p>
<p>Many New Yorkers will apply to Columbia for the heck of it, knowing they have little chance of getting in. It's the same where I live, students that pretty much know they won't get in will still apply to UCLA and Berkeley just because its UCLA and Berkeley and California.</p>
<p>kat- i believe columbia is the former, as for princeton, their applicant pool is very self-selective. if you look at their admission stats, the avg SAT score for applicants, admitees and matriculants are almost identical. I guess less people just "throw" an application to princeton. however this could also be because columbia is in NY and NY has a much bigger population. like smokey said, alot of new yorkers would just toss an app to columbia.</p>
<p>yeah, that is true. I don't know personally of any underqualified applicants applying to Princeton, but I do know some people who are applying to Columbia "for the heck of it." I guess I'll see come April!</p>
<p>"colleges say that ED applicant pools are stronger than RD ones... although my Princeton deferral letter told me to "expect an equally strong RD pool" so I get mixed messages. I'd like to believe the former, however"</p>
<p>I wouldn't believe a single thing in a rejection/deferral letter. They say that they enjoyed reading your application even if they didn't, etc.</p>
<p>The thing about stronger applicants being more likely to apply RD is totally wrong. If you are dying to go to a school, enough that you will bind yourself to it via ED, then you are probably a pretty good fit. ED actually gets stronger applicants at schools like Columbia, because they're great students who love the college, and therefore the ED applicant pool is more self-selective. If you didn't think your app was strong, you wouldn't want to apply early, because it would be more closely examined.</p>
<p>yeah, I love how in the letters they're always like "we really look forward to reading your app again, etc." Any idiot knows that adcoms are less than thrilled about reading mountains of apps. I wish they wouldn't even bother lying</p>