<p>My kids were never ever asked their level of interest, except at the one interview where my son was asked why he hadn’t applied SCEA. They applied EA where they could, but neither kid was interested in committing to a school in October. But I don’t doubt some schools care - I know a GC told us about a kid who was waitlisted at a school she hadn’t visited and the school thought she didn’t seem interested enough.</p>
<h2>"And “intimidation”? Give me a break, is there an adcom somewhere with a gun to someone’s head?</h2>
<p>I stand by what I said. A lot may not change about the school in five or six months, but the decision a 17 or 18 year old makes may undergo a seachange as he becomes wiser. Anyone wish they hadn’t gotten married at 17 or 18 to “the one”. A lot changes in five or six months for a teenager. The powerless, anxious, somewhat naive, and easily manipulated are intimidated by the whole ED process. It is more like offering to marry the most attractive person in a crowd based on superficial knowledge of that person, without waiting to see who might be interested in proposing to you and getting to know people better.</p>
<p>But no one has to do it (apply ED). As with anything, you evaluate the benefits of ED versus the disadvantages and decide. Frankly, in my kids’ college search, there was not a single downside of ED at all. I recognize that I’m fortunate regarding not needing to compare financial aid offers. They had well thought out lists with reaches, matches and safety, had visited most every school, had a realistic view of the possibility of getting in their top choices. They were prepared for “defeat” and had their other apps ready to go. I think you’re putting your values onto others. We valued closure, not the “do I like x better than y? Today I like z best of all!” indecisiveness that I saw from people who changed their minds fifteen ways til Sunday between April 15 and May 1.</p>
<p>There simply wasn’t any more information that could be had – theses schools were what they were. I reject the “superficial vs getting to know better” part of your analogy. The schools they “married” were chosen thoughtfully, not superficially.</p>
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<p>This is a good point for students who are looking at unusual colleges or programs.</p>
<p>But for students with more conventional aspirations, choosing a college is more like renting an apartment than choosing a spouse. They don’t need to find “the one,” they just need to end up with one that meets their needs – and a lot of choices would meet their needs. Regrets seem unlikely because there’s not much to regret. </p>
<p>I think a student who applied ED to Columbia, with its very distinctive Core Curriculum, might feel “trapped” – committed to a program that he now has second thoughts about. But would a student feel “trapped” by being committed to Brown or Northwestern, the two schools mentioned in the original post? It doesn’t seem likely to me.</p>
<p>What have people’s experiences been with ED? If your student was accepted ED, did he or she regret it later? </p>
<p>I only have a sample of one. (My other kid did not apply ED.) My kid who applied ED was pleased with her choice (Cornell) and pleased to get the admissions process over with. Her only regret was not being part of the April drama about which colleges her classmates were going to choose.</p>
<p>D2 was trying to decide which of 2 schools to ED/EA. She visited one school 3 times before she made the decision, and that school (mom’s choice) was the one she took off the list. I can’t speak for other students, but D2 chose her ED school very carefully. Now a year later, she is loving the school.</p>
<p>There is a fantastic “process” of applying and decision making for these kids–iconic, developmental milestone that I hate to see truncated by the new strategic frenzy over ED. Used to be most kids used it only because they loved the school and they would know early. On a separate note, the reality Marian raises, that many schools fit the bill, is hard to communicate without it sounding like bland parental reassurance. This is the beauty of CC, my daughter can read some of these posts for herself, and I am sure it will help her. Again, thank you!</p>
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<h1>1 applied ED and did not look back. #2 could not find a first choice above all else and went RD.</h1>
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<p>How is that any different from the “five or six months” that occur from May 1 to Orientation? Yes, it’s a phase shift, but so what? If a kid and family do their HW up front…I can honestly say that my kids learned almost zero new college information between Nov 1 (ED app) and late March that would have made any difference in the decisions.</p>
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<p>…perhaps ought to rethink going away to college. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The other thing about college vs marriage…college is for four years, not hopefully the rest of your life. Plus…if it doesn’t work out for one reason or another, the student can transfer.</p>
<p>My DD applied to her top choices EA…and one rolling. She had three acceptances by Christmas. She had all the financial aid estimates by February. She was actually thrilled NOT to be part of the last minute application drama around Christmas, and the waiting for acceptances drama in April. </p>
<p>But…she still did not commit to a school until April 30. Her two top choices were close in her mind. And it didn’t help her that choice 2 offered her a huge merit aid package. </p>
<p>But at the end of the process, the school that was number one in September remained number one at the end of April. Some kids are just like that!</p>
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<p>I can categorically, emphatically state that this is not true. I know from firsthand knowledge that Brown does NOT take say – gee, this kid’s getting into Harvard let’s not accept her. </p>
<p>First, with acceptance rates in the single digits, Harvard and Stanford are not safeties for anyone. Brown can’t assume that Harvard will accept anyone, so turning down a topnotch kid for that reason is shooting their own foot.</p>
<p>I’ve known students like Mathmom’s son) who made their first-choice clear and still got into Brown. I have other reasons and examples, but I won’t go into them. </p>
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<p>My daughter never regretted her ED decision. What she did realize was the emphasis on finding the “dream” “perfect” school was ridiculous. She’ll tell you that while she loved going to Brown, there are other schools she would have been happy at too.</p>
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<p>Do you work in Admissions, fireandrain? </p>
<p>(If not, then you are just speculating like the rest of us.)</p>
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That depends on the college.</p>
<p>My kids applied SCEA, got in, and then withdrew all the other applications. They have no regrets, other than curiosity.</p>
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Whoa, applying ED is a sign of “low self-esteem”? If it were, wouldn’t schools eventually catch on and stop admitting a third of their class that way - after all, that only ensures that a third of your alumni are going to be hot messes?</p>
<p>Contrary to your belief, most kids who apply ED are either very well-adjusted youngsters who will bloom where they are planted, or they found a school that really sings to their soul.</p>
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<p>Huh? </p>
<p>In the cases I’ve known, it’s simply a sign of (1) wanting to take advantage of the boost in admissions chances that ED brings at many schools, (2) taking maximum advantage of a legacy preference, and/or (3) wanting to get all the fuss over with by December. Self-esteem or the lack thereof has nothing to do with it.</p>
<p>^ and/or they’re kids who did their college search work early. Mine had finished his college visits well before the ED deadline. He investigated a couple of dozen schools, visited a dozen and applied to one, although he had his RD apps prepped and ready to go in case ED didn’t work out. He visited his ED school 3 times over the course of his junior and senior years. So far he’s loving it.</p>
<p>I think the existence of ED has pros and cons. For students, it provides certainty, but it also means that a student may apply to a school that’s not his top choice for strategic reasons–and have to go there, without knowing if he’d have gotten into his preferred choice. I’ve known kids who did this. It’s hardly a tragedy if you are forced to go to Brown, but it is a sacrifice of choice for strategic reasons. I also think it’s possible that schools could be using ED to get a higher percentage of full-pays. Whether that’s really bad or not is debatable. I think most of the advantages of ED are for the college–which is why I very much prefer SCEA, which I think evens the advantages out more.</p>
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<p>Is the OP’s kid thinking of applying ED to Brown or Northwestern for strategic reasons, thereby giving up all chance of admission to more selective schools? Or are these the student’s true two top choices?</p>
<p>In the two cases I know where the kids weren’t eventually happy with their ED decisions one transferred after her freshman year but said she didn’t regret going ED and thought the result would have been the same had she waited to pull the trigger until April; she just didn’t really know what she wanted until she got to college. The other was a girl who was rejected from her first choice ED1, a school to which everyone thought she’d be admitted, then panicked and applied to a lower ranked school ED2. After RD decisions came out and she saw classmates with much lower scores and grades accepting offers from her school she regretted not waiting to see her RD options.</p>
<p>Overall, however, my sense is that the vast majority of kids are happy with their ED choices. Some because it was the only school they really wanted to attend, some because it was a stretch school and for whatever reason (athletic recruiting, legacy bump, high ED acceptance rate, etc.) they felt it offered better odds than RD, and some because they didn’t have a strong preference it was just so nice not to have to fill out a million applications!</p>
<p>Most kids are happy with their ED choice once they get there, even if they preferred another school initially. I just think it’s too bad that a rational strategic choice may mean sacrificing any chance at the preferred school. It’s not clear if this is OP’s problem–but it sounds like she’d prefer to apply to both Brown and Northwestern, and going ED with either one will eliminate that option.</p>
<p>I don’t get it. If ED hadn’t existed, our search process, visiting of schools, etc. would have been exactly the same. We just got earlier answers, that’s all. </p>
<p>I don’t see why you’d be any more “regretful” about an ED choice, than if ED didn’t exist, you got into several schools RD and chose one. One can always have regrets over choices, but ED doesn’t exacerbate that.</p>
<p>I should probably post this somewhere else, but for those who have used ACAP, when is the right time to contact them for best effect? (And no, I didn’t know about this before today.)</p>