<p>I've been browsing the RD results thread and have seen the amazing statistics of those who were waitlisted. I just wonder. If those applicants applied ED, do you think they would have been accepted right away?</p>
<p>Maybe. This is assuming that the only reason that WashU would waitlist someone is that they think that they will want to go somewhere else, which I highly doubt is true.</p>
<p>Well, applying ED shows interests and boosts anyone’s chances, not just these hypothetical wait listed students.</p>
<p>I think it is true that WUSTL wait listed some of these highly qualified students because they were likely to enroll somewhere else. With that said, we cannot assume that every 2300 applicant would have been accepted ED. There are many factors other than standardized testing. When we see a 2400 wait listed on the results thread, we automatically assume Tuft’s Syndrome, but in reality we are only seeing a very small part of the overall application. There could be many other reasons for the decisions.</p>
<p>My guess is that a good percentage of the waitlisted applicants would have been accepted had they applied ED. There is typically an admissions advantage for ED, for “in range” applicants, e.g. ED applicants with 2200+ SAT will be likelier to be accepted, but it won’t do much for the <1800 SAT applicant. Clearly, waitlisted candidates have “in range” stats, and hence would likely benefit from ED.</p>
<p>WashU seems to care about having students who love being there, and applying ED is a great sign of love.</p>
<p>Perhaps some enterprising person could do an analysis of the RD and ED accepted students thread… Although even that would be not too informative, because of the self-selecting nature of who posts their stats on CC.</p>
<p>I’d say the biggest benefit of ED is for strong candidates that really want to go to Wash U, but will likely be waitlisted (Looking at stats for 5-6 years now, I feel I have a pretty good notion of who will get in and who will get waitlisted). As for actual statistics, there’s nothing of course, but those of us that are seniors/graduate students that check in from time to time on CC can usually figure out trends.</p>