<p>Hey, it's sort of crunch time for me right now because I really want to apply somewhere early and hopefully get all of this over with, but I'm having a little trouble deciding whther to apply early, and where to apply (between 3 schools). I keep hearing that the ED stats are misleading, and that it is acutally a much more competitive applicant pool and actually harder to get in ED. I need the extra edge (I have good scores, grades, ecs and all, but still) at the schools I'm thinking of, so I'm wondering if people think ED would be a detriment or a help?</p>
<p>Only apply ED if you have a school that you would definitely attend over the others. It is binding, after all.</p>
<p>ED is really more beneficial to hooked students overall but namely athletes as this is the population that ED was orginially designed for as coaches want their potenital players committed. After athletes, the ED admissions tends to favor legacy and developmental admits (because they want to keep the gravy flowing).</p>
<p>developmental? what does that mean?</p>
<p>Wow_98
Hopefully quiltguru won't mind me quoting him.
</p>
<p>Large donors........Whales, Daddy Big Bux....those who fund the endowment.</p>
<p>Just speaking on likelihood of admission...does one have a better chance early or regular. I'm talking about somone who is non Urm, non legacy, non super rich kid, no recruited athlete...</p>
<p>You need to check the specific schools you are applying to. Look at the data sets and see for yourself what the numbers are.</p>
<p>I mean the rates are misleading. Like I think columbia ED was 20% and RD was 8% (quoting from someone else so i can't be sure). But that ED not onl includes those with uber stats, but athletes, URMs, legacies, so I can't say whether the difference between RD and ED is exaggerated or not.</p>
<p>There is a banner thread about this very issue.....competeting against kids from same class.....you might want to check it out.</p>
<p>Is competing with my HS classmates for admission a myth? Started in College Admissions by ava_ator on 09-08-2005</p>
<p>Well I know for a fact that the acceptance rates are a faira mount higher, but of course it doesnt say what percent of those are urm, legacy, athlets, or geniuses</p>
<p>I can see the motivation for athletes and legacies (especially those with lower academic statistics) to apply ED, but I don't think it's necessarily a common strategy for URMs or admissions superstars. They don't need the ED boost. </p>
<p>In my opinion, ED can provide a leg up to the borderline admit even if s/he's non-URM, non-athlete, non-legacy, non-genius, especially at schools that value commitment. It's difficult to quantify or to prove, however.</p>
<p>I add the usual disclaimer: Don't use ED as a strategy. Use it only if you're 100% use this is the school for you. The financial aid offer you receive -- need or merit based -- MAY be acceptable or then again it may not. Don't go ED unless you can take that educated risk.</p>
<p>UPenn openly admits that they give ED students an edge because applying ED shows their commitment to the school</p>
<p>Here are last year's ED/RA admission rates for a number of schools. Stats indicate it can make a difference at a number of schools. Many assert the stats really don't tell you anything:</p>
<p>Princeton 32/10
Penn 34/18
Duke 36/23
Columbia 30/11
Dartmouth 30/17
Cornell 44/24
Northwestern 50/28
Johns Hopkins 59/28
Brown 29/15
Vanderbilt 48/37
Emory 60/37
Carnegie Melon 53/41
Williams 38/17
Amherst 39/19
Swarthmore 45/24
Wellesley 61/36
Carleton 41/27
Pomona 31/19
Haverford 44/28
Middlebury 38/24
Davidson 45/25
Bowdoin 30/24
Claremont McKenna 29/21
Rice 30/17 (Rice also has EA with a 28% admission rate)
Tufts 45/26</p>
<p>It's all about the spin...</p>
<p>Of couse if you look at percentages then yes, a higher percentage of students seem to be accepted ED (because there is a smaller pool of applicants to choose from) </p>
<p>However, if you look at the raw numbers, the small percentage of students accepted RD is reflected by the fact that overwhelming more students apply RD than ED (in some cases only 20 to 30% of the total applications come in through ED). </p>
<p>So even if a school takes 50% of its class ED and the other half RD, the ED percentage will always be higher</p>
<p>I would also warn students against applying ED if their main motivation is to get the process over with. When that "deferred" decision comes, it can be a big blow to confidence and may make it difficult to put in the energy required to complete the rest of your applications.</p>
<p>Yes I think ED is overrated as a strategy for someone with borderline stats who thinks they will use ED as an edge for say, Columbia.</p>
<p>ED offers advantage at Penn, they openly state that fact, but probably not to persons in the lower half of the pool who don't have any other hooks. I think ED gave my daughter some advantage at Dartmouth - statwise she was at or just above their 75th percentile, she had geographic diversity, and her overall package may have been attractive, ie, she didn't have a 1600 SAT and 3 800 SATIIs, but she also had no "holes" in her academic record - high GPA, solid courseload, top 5% of class, no SATII under 700, a few 5s on APs, etc - a kid like that I suspect will get a boost at Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Penn, may be Cornell, also at AWS and other LACs, probably not at HYPS, if they are going to accept you, they will accept you, they are looking at other things.
If you are interested in the mid to lower half of the top 25, or any LACs outside, say the top 5, and finances are not an issue, AND your stats put you in the upper half of the school's pool, you may well get a boost from ED - look at it from the college's viewpoint. They have a student who won't lower their stats, who wants to come to their school, and who is willing to pay what ever they have to - for many schools without the luxury of picking and choosing or the huge endowment of H or Y, it is a win-win.</p>
<p>One problem is that who will get a boost is probably a moving target, as the stats and accomplishments of each entering class become greater and greater, deciding who will be desireable based primarily on academics becomes harder - like you ED school the best, but take care of the others too. Godd luck</p>
<p>The book The Early Admissions Game shows very convincingly that early applicants are no more "qualified" or competitive than regular decision applicants, and that the odds of admission are significantly higher if one applies EA or ED, sometimes 2-3 times higher.</p>