<h2>“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.”</h2>
<p>Well, best wishes and I hope it all worked out. This was about he, not we. Does an ED applicant have the opportunity to spend an overnight at the schools under consideration? My son spent an overnight or two at all schools to which he was admitted before he made his decision. How about recruiting events for accepted students? In fact, I sent him across the country, solo, for this purpose. Drop in the bucket compared to my potential financial outlay. A wise man knows that he does not know everything, but strives to know enough. It was not about us knowing enough, it was about him knowing enough, and not being unnecessarily shackled. I remember sitting for standardized tests and seeing some others finish and leave before time was up. They just “wanted it over and done with”. Perhaps early decision was the way to go for them. I have seen marriages last fewer than four years. I reject ED.</p>
<p>For those not knowledgeable about the real purpose of ED, I have witnessed first-hand what happens at schools whose “yield” from regular decision declines, perhaps due to a poor value proposition versus the competition or a scandal. What happens is that these schools simply increase the number of early decision admits, and decrease the number of regular decision admits. The early decision acceptances are a “gimmee”; they know exactly who they are getting, in terms of race and revenue. At the same time, these schools can increase their yield by this manipulation. Future applicants then feel pressured to apply ED, as ED yield is higher than RD yield.</p>
<p>We all know how to do arithmetic and got your point the first five or six times. But many people here disagree with it. That doesn’t make them inferior to you but rather families with different desires and values. Give it a rest.</p>
I think this is the worst way to decide if a school is a good fit. My kids are fairly average, outgoing, social, and smart people. Would they ever volunteer to host some random stranger in their room? Not likely. Schools have a fairly small pool of students they could to host prospects, so the chance of matching them up based on academic interest or EC is not very likely. My older daughter was taken to a choir practice then left alone in the host’s dorm to fend for herself. Our younger one just didn’t even bother. We found the best way to get the vibe was to sit at a cafeteria or student union to watch how students interact with each other.</p>
<p>
Have you ever thought they were so well prepared that they were able to finish early?</p>
<p>The second-worst way is on the basis of recruiting events for admitted students.</p>
<p>Current students love the days when those events are held. The food is so much better in the dining halls on those days, and a remarkable amount of the clutter from whatever construction is taking place on campus magically disappears. Sometimes, there are even unusually appealing guest speakers who just happen to be booked during that particular week. ;)</p>
<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>These are her top 2 choices. Would be thrilled with either one. Might feel more thrilled being admitted to NU as it is fresh, and unfettered by being past parental stomping grounds. Is definitely not using it strategically. Thanks again am impressed with all the expertise and intelligent thinking…</p>
<p>My two Ds both applied ED, both got in, both are very happy at their schools–but both were very familiar with their schools, since each was a legacy (different schools). We were all very happy to get the process over with early. </p>
<p>As far as the benefit of legacy goes, I think that it really is a feather–and not much of one at that, sometimes. D2 applied to Dartmouth; three kids of friends of the same year applied as well, one got in, 2 didn’t (parents pretty unhappy about it, too). D2 stats were irreproachable, so I don’t feel she got a legacy boost. Given the number of alum kids applying, especially at Dartmouth where school sentiment is very high, the percentage of acceptances is actually lower than you’d think; I think they might be harder on alum kids than on regular applicants, because they don’t want the percentage of legacies to be too high. </p>
<p>However, I do think that one loses the benefit, if there is one, of applying as a legacy if one doesn’t apply ED. I just am not sure how much it matters; I certainly wouldn’t base the choice of ED school on the chance of legacy tip.</p>
<p>If the ED applicant doesn’t feel he has enough basis to know whether he really loves the school or not and wants to pledge his troth, then the solution is for him to not apply ED. Problem solved.</p>
<p>Personally, the idea of waiting til April 15 to hear where they got in, and then scurry around the country spending a fortune in trying to visit a bunch of schools on short notice, sounds like one of Dante’s circles of hell to me. Even if my kids hadn’t gone ED, there’s no reason they couldn’t or wouldn’t have had their preferred order in hand ready to go so that when acceptances came in, they could immediately decide. I mean, it’s just not all that hard to rank order things.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with a college where a good chunk of students came and said - you’re my first choice, I love ya, will you love me back? I think it adds to the student camaraderie, spirit, whatever you want to call it. </p>
<p>If a particular student doesn’t really love a school and applies ED grudgingly when his heart is elsewhere – well, that’s on him as far as I’m concerned.</p>
<p>I don’t know how influential it was being a legacy a few years back, but with so many applicants competing in a general college environment, it really all comes down to the individual student’s academics and extracurriculars. I’m pretty sure that it does tip the scales if a legacy was compared amongst evenly-matched applicants.</p>
<p>It is a feather on the scale. It doesn’t tip the scale. And the proof of that is that the most selective colleges that have released their legacy acceptance rates (and no, I’m not interested in hunting them down) are still rejecting the vast majority of legacies. It’s no guarantee of anything, and having had a double legacy son go through the process, you don’t count any chickens til they are hatched.</p>
<p>yes we visited every college in the entire nation.
she loved it and most importantly we put our big toe in Lake Michigan.
favorite schools are NU Brown and Rice. Rice seemed a little far from home to her.</p>
<p>my guess is that she will apply early to NU and we will tell her what she may be losing in that decison and it will sting for us not to be able to give her that little legacy feather, but we will have to weather it. and she will be fine.</p>
<p>I’m not so sure she’s losing anything. As I mentioned upthread, NU’s higher acceptance rate may offset the legacy preference she would have had at Brown.</p>
<p>bear79: ultimately, she’s only going to go to one college. I don’t know if she would be “losing” much by applying and being accepted to Northwestern; in fact, most of her peers would all but commit murder to trade places with someone who got an ED acceptance to Northwestern.</p>
<p>Now, if you think that it’s a bad fit for her, that’s one thing. If you really are emotionally invested in seeing your daughter go to her parents’ college, that’s also something to consider. However, if you don’t have your name on a building out at Brown, don’t kid yourself that it’s going to make much difference - or, in most cases, any difference.</p>
<p>Well, let me just note that there are some advantages to going to your parents’ college (assuming it’s a good fit), even if it doesn’t make that much difference in admissions. The main advantage is that it can be a fun thing for everybody. It’s something to share.</p>
<p>legacy admits have more that a “feather on the scale” when it comes to admissions. An article concerning Dartmouth said the legacy admit rate is 2 to 2.5 times the non legacy admit rate. At Brown and Harvard the legacy admit rate is close to 30% compared to less than 10% for non legacy. At Princeton the legacy admit rate is more than 30%. That is certainly more than a feather. At Yale, the legacy admit rate is just shy of 20%. So, legacy students have a significant advantage over non-legacy students.</p>