<p>While I know that the pool of applicants is stronger during EA, should someone apply regardless if they are passionate? My main concern is that if I have a 30 ACT, will I even stand a chance in the deliberations against the 35s an 36s. Or would this be an instance where the school would invoke its "Defer" option. UChicago is the school I'm talking about, by the way. </p>
<p>(I posted here because I feel this is more of an admissions question, as opposed to an actual "Chance Me")</p>
<p>As I recall, UChicago EA is unrestricted, so you could apply to other EA schools as well. Don’t forget, there’s also a Deny option for EA, so if the first half of sr year is going to strengthen your application (mid year grades, awards, etc.), then you might consider waiting for RD.</p>
<p>I’ve received a few awards and bumped my ACT up. It’s hard to get a feel for whether or not I should apply EA because there aren’t many statistics about EA applicants’ scores and such, but I know that UChicago is my top school.</p>
<p>When it comes to EA, should I (or anyone in my score range) even try? Or should we wait for RD? And does this unspoken rule that Early Action is for the best only apply to every school that offers it, or just major schools like UChicago?</p>
<p>If your GPA is within the middle 50, then why not? I’m pretty sure your ACT is in that range (correct me if I’m wrong), and applying EA will probably help you manage your time better.</p>
<p>If your GPA and ACT are at or above admission average, then go for EA. Otherwise, you better improve them before applying RD.</p>
<p>I don’t see a reason why you shouldn’t apply EA if UChicago’s your first choice. I mean, after all, EA only gives you what, a two month prior deadline to RD? Chances are, your GPA is locked in, your scores are set, and the extra awards you win aren’t going to make much of a difference. I mean, you can continue to submit stuff if something significant happens - I’m sure they’ll consider it. </p>
<p>Now, I’m not going to delve into the statistics in EA versus RD admissions. I was in a prolonged discussion with another poster on the subject on another thread. I will, however, outline two (perceived) advantages to applying EA IF the college is your first choice. First, the college knows that you are interested. One of the reasons colleges love EA is because it lets them know that the kids they admit via EA are very likely to matriculate. This boosts their yields and colleges love yield.</p>
<p>Second, and this is more of an advantage for you, if you get an “admit” decision in December, you won’t have to worry any more for the last half of the year and you can just enjoy yourself. For me, I applied EA because I knew that if I got in in December, I could focus on track and not have to miss meets and practices doing college interviews and that stuff (alas, I did not get in EA and ultimately did not go to the college which I applied EA to - but that’s irrelevant). Because if it’s your first choice, you probably won’t apply to any other colleges after an “admit” decision anyway, so it leaves you stress-free. If it’s not your first choice and you wouldn’t necessarily go if admitted, then EA may not be for you. The stress would still be there after decisions and you would have to go through the process again during RD for the other colleges. </p>
<p>Finally, keep in mind that if you are a qualified applicant, they will not deny your application. The applications they deny are those from people who are absolutely unqualified. That is, even if they applied RD, there is very little to no chance that they would be admitted. So better deny now than having to go through all the stuff again later. So, if you were qualified in the first place, you should not be scared about a “reject” decision.</p>