<p>@griffen: I’ve heard this on a UChicago thread somewhere or other–if the Early Decision or Early Action pool is extremely competitive (supposedly more so than Regular Decision), would you suggest/ recommend applying Regular Decision?</p>
<p>^UChicago is not an exception, all highly selective schools with EA are only going to select the most outstanding candidates, ones that they would accept in ANY pool, during the early round. </p>
<p>Think about it, why would they select a student who is qualified but not exceptional? That candidate is simply deferred to the RD round so that they can be considered with that larger pool. The purpose of EA is to select the outstanding applicants who will likely be accepted RD to other highly selective colleges. This gives the school extra time to woo them and hopefully win the cross-admit war.</p>
<p>Here is what Y says, UChicago is no different:</p>
<p>[Early</a> admit rate rises slightly | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/dec/15/early-admit-rate-rises-slightly/]Early”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/dec/15/early-admit-rate-rises-slightly/)</p>
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<p>I applied ED to Carleton in part because an admissions officer had answered flat out “yes” when I asked her if it was easier to be admitted applying ED.</p>
<p>^ You are comparing apples to oranges. There is no way to compare the EA strategies that U Chicago/Yale use with any ED program including the one at Carleton. The latter drives up yield numbers, drops down acceptance numbers, and brings in more full-pay students who are unable to compare financial aid offers. The EA programs just gives those universities more time to “show the love” to those accepted candidates who may just call it a day and choose not to fill out more applications.</p>