<p>I know the typical answer for this question is "no", however, I can't help but feel that I am hurting myself by not applying ED? I've been counting ON applying ED since I first learned about it junior year, but now as a senior I've grown unsure.</p>
<p>As I've narrowed my college list down, five schools have consistently been my top choices:</p>
<p>Princeton
Williams
Stanford
WashU
Dartmouth</p>
<p>As for which school I'd be happiest at, I have no idea. I don't honestly think I can answer this question without having actually attended. I think I'd honestly love going to any of the five. I'm an undecided major, at this point leaning towards science (particularly biology or environmental) but that changes every day and I dont have a particularly strong direction.<br>
I've had a decisive favorite, first Williams, then Stanford, but my feelings keep wavering towards which school would be best for me.</p>
<p>Which school can I get into, is more of the question. I'm average, as far as qualified applicants to these schools go. Challenging course load, fairly high GPA, 2300+ SAT, decent ECs. Its going to take a good deal of luck for me to get into any of the five (and at this point I feel like I'd take whichever one I can get...). But...</p>
<p>I feel like I am putting myself at a disadvantage by not applying ED to a school. Should I be feeling this way?
Do you have any suggestions for me, for this situation? Would it be best to, say, apply to a non-binding early decision at one of the choices (like Stanford's) so that I have an early answer, but can still weigh the options? But then would I be missing out if I didn't get that extra little nudge, no matter how small it is, at Williams? But then if I don't get into either of those to begin with, is it even worth applying to Princeton at that point because I probably wont be getting in?</p>
<p>....I hope that made sense. I'm feeling very confused myself at the moment :| Any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>Hey Ellie7! It’s fine. I have the same feelings as you do each day, but I have been decisive on my decision to ED a school for a while now :]. It’s all about your true wants in a school, which I myself can’t answer for you. However, to answer your question of pure admissions advantage, I would say that ED DEFINITELY helps you at WashU if that is where you really want to go. If I’m not mistaken, WashU is one of the colleges that lovesss ED applicants. ED would give you a little less of a boost, but a boost nonetheless, at Dartmouth as well. As for Stanford, the SCEA may actually hurt your chances since it is so competitive. Good luck!</p>
<p>You sound like you’re a very sensible young person! And while the decision to apply ED is much simpler when your heart is set on one school, it is far more mature to realize they’re all wonderful schools and you really could thrive at any of them.</p>
<p>It depends on your personality type, I think, how you’ll approach this question. From reading your brief post, I suspect you’d rather wait, apply RD and then make a concrete decision later when you see what your options are. I’m more of the type to focus down on one thing early and concentrate my efforts there to hopefully make it happen… and my son is too, so he ended up applying ED to a similarly selective school as the ones you’re considering.</p>
<p>My guess is that ED could help you at WashU, Williams, and possibly Dartmouth. Only binding ED programs will potentially give you a boost (some argue it really isn’t much of a boost after you factor out legacies and athletes that tend to apply ED), but I certainly see students get better results with ED apps fairly regularly. That’s totally anecdotal though, so not necessarily useful information.</p>
<p>If you feel at all uncomfortable with an ED app, though, I don’t think you should do it. You may regret it later if you get an acceptance and are not 100% about the school.</p>
<p>Maybe I worded it badly. I meant to more make the point that it will not help your chances at all, and is not worth any admissions boost. Therefore, it is better to apply RD after maybe using november and december to retake tests, work on ec’s more, etc.</p>
<p>What does this mean? If you’re not top 5%, all of these schools will be tough. </p>
<p>By far, the ED will give you the most benefit at WashU, which is the safety for kids who are good candidates at Stanford and Dartmouth. Williams would be next and of course Princeton has no early option.</p>
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<p>The numbers are deceptive until you factor in all of the hooked who these schools take in the early round. While not a disadvantage, it’s not an advantage to apply early at many top schools.</p>
<p>^ Regarding what hmom5 said about applying early. Is there no boost for the unhooked applicant to apply SCEA to Stanford (i.e. demonstrated interest, though I realize Stanford doesn’t have a problem with its yield)? Is there any possibility that the unhooked could, in fact, be hurt by applying and competing with such a heavily qualified pool – or would most of them get deferred to RD so that applying SCEA wouldn’t have mattered anyway?</p>
<p>Each college has a set percentage of the class they’re are going to fill ED/EA. Once they accept the athletes, legacies, staff and development kids there is not a lot of space. So Dartmouth then accepts those they are afraid they’ll lose in the RD round to HYPS–very high stats kids. And WashU takes the kids they could lose to Dartmouth/Brown etc. </p>
<p>The mistake kids make is in thinking they will get into top college with lower stats ED. This is not the case, after the hooked and the top students the schools want to nab, the others are deferred or rejected.</p>