@ucbalumnus Yes. Agreed. I guess those kids didn’t have absolute safeties. But, I also know it’s because colleges are worried about their yields now. Certain schools are known for having much lower RD rates and that’s because they can find enough kids in their ED round who are great students who will commit. The same student in the RD round may not be admitted since he may have other choices and hasn’t shown commitment through ED.
So, our son may LOVE a school and it would be his absolute first choice and he may be in the top 10% of kids in the RD round and still may not get in if the school isn’t somehow convinced that he will accept. I know kids with very strong stats (all As, 35 ACT) who were turned down at schools where the average accepted ACT is a 31. The only thing that makes any sense is that the schools thought they would go somewhere else.