Wouldn’t applying ED be the ultimate form of demonstrated interest? In other words, do I need to keep demonstrating interest if planning to apply ED?
Which college are you asking for? The same actions, investigations, research, etc. that show demonstrated interest also help the candidate answer the “why us” question more effectively. Colleges want to see the match, the fit, and be able to understand what you are going to contribute to their campus and community. If your application can’t articulate those answers well, ED won’t be any kind of a boost at all.
It may depend on the college – in any event it wouldn’t hurt to do simple things that demonstrate interest like sign up for the mailing list and do a virtual tour/information session so the college knows you made a thoughtful decision to apply ED.
Thank you for the replies. We were thinking Cornell Engineering. My question arose from the fact that is very time consuming and tiring to schedule and then sit thru all the virtual tours, and then specific ones for specific majors, etc. It seemed that if we knew our choice for ED1 and ED11 we could stop and just apply!
Not to sneak in, but if a college states they do NOT track Demonstrated Interest on their CDS but has ED as an option, does it still matter?
I was shocked when D21 attended a Virtual session for a college that clearly states they do not consider demonstrated interest. However, after the session was over she received an email from them staying “We noticed she missed the session but if this was in error, please respond to this email so we can mark you as attended”
Hummm…
@EGHopeful, I don’t believe it when schools say they don’t track demonstrated interest. D21 had two schools that “don’t” track interest tell her the same thing over the years…to make sure she signed in or did something so they could mark her as attending. Note that I am paranoid by nature, though.
Cornell does not consider demonstrated interest. They don’t want to ding students who live far away and can’t afford a visit.
That said, students need to well articulate why Cornell in their essays and show that they understand how they will be assets to the campus community.
IMO it’s worth the time to do virtual sessions for your ED choice.
Agree with the post above that an hour or two sitting through a virtual session is an important part of an ED application to a selective school, regardless of whether or not demonstrated interest is considered.
Cornell may not formally consider demonstrated interest but you are not applying to Cornell generally – you are applying to one of their undergraduate colleges.
I think an ED applicant that wants to put its best foot forward has to demonstrate some level of investigation, research, understanding, and yes, demonstrated interest in the Cornell college you have selected to apply to.
If you are going to apply ED…you should want to do virtual tours of the Univ & major as you have to make sure you really want to go there.
When we toured Reed in person last year the AO made a point of saying that, for Reed, ED is the ultimate expression of interest. Which chagrined me a bit, since we had just travelled there out of state for their admissions fair/day.
ED is generally the strongest possible way to show interest as far as the college is concerned.
But a student applying ED really should make sure that it is a clear no-regrets first choice that is affordable. Whether this involves doing things like visiting that also show additional interest to the college depends on the student.
A student for whom the college is a clear no-regrets first choice should have no trouble writing a good “why [this college]?” essay from a content point of view.
I believe that is true (ED ultimate expression of interest), but that doesn’t mean Reed looks kindly on stealth apps (apps where the student has had no prior contact with the school).
For what it is worth; Cornell’s common data set put “level of applicants interest” in the “not considered” column.
A number of schools say this, and of course it’s true, because it is the only way you can show them that you absolutely have them as first choice and will commit to going.
…That said, I think it will be difficult to write a decent “why us” essay without actually having shown any real interest in the traditional sense - even for those who usually for financial reasons or currently for Covid reasons cannot physically travel there.