<p>Anybody else dreading the crush of school-specific essays and supplements over winter break if the Early Decision application doesn't pan out later this month?</p>
<p>Oh, I thought you were referring to depression after being rejected. My friend's son visited lots of great schools, but then ended up applying ED to his parents' alma mater. The thing is, his big sister is there now, so if he doesn't get in, I don't think he'll be real happy to see her when she gets home.</p>
<p>Yes, I worry about that too!</p>
<p>Anyone who applied ED to a school with a low acceptance rate should not hold off on other applications until the ED decision day. D knew her chances were slim, so she perfected her other apps when she was still in the "let's get this sucker in" mode. The holidays were just fine.</p>
<p>Yes, and it wasn't fun, although he also had an acceptance toone of his safety schools, so he knew he'd go somewhere. Still it meant he had to get supplementary material to the two deferrals and take a look at the other applications and see if they could be improved.</p>
<p>Last year in mid December, S got deferred to the regular applicant pool at UChicago and also accepted at the school he ultimately decided to attend. </p>
<p>He was crushed for days and days about UChicago. He eventually got waitlisted. We had hoped by the end of December the college selection process would've been completed for us, but it was just more waiting until April. </p>
<p>So glad that is all behind us now!</p>
<p>I was horrified at this time last year. DS put so much effort into the ED application that he was burned out and did nothing on any other application. The gods were on our side and he got in but the thought of him rushing through other applications while depressed about the ED school made it very stressful for us.</p>
<p>We went through this last year when she was deferred. Things got a little intense sometimes but no yelling or tears. The unexpected benefit was that by Jan 1st, her writing was much improved. Nothing like cranking out an essay a day to improve skills! She actually wrote some the best writing that I had seen out of her.</p>
<p>dreading, dreading, dreading, dreading, dreading.................</p>
<p>I have been wondering whether it would be a good idea to forego the early round entirely. I know if my junior does apply early next year it will be to a super-selective reach school and the odds of deferral will be very high. But as long as she hasn't heard from that school I am afraid she will procrastinate getting those other applications ready, secretly hoping that the early acceptance comes through.</p>
<p>Yes, deferral/rejection is cause for dread in and of itself.</p>
<p>Missypie, same situation: S #1 is a student at school that S #2 has applied ED. But S #1 will be home for winter break by the time ED decisions come out. C'mon legacy boost!</p>
<p>Vicarious, I wondered the same last year but it can work out well if the ED school is a realistic reach. With DS2 there was great scattergram evidence that he was a strong candidate and his getting in early prevented the angst from going on for months.</p>
<p>My high school registrar has really early deadlines for applications; we have to submit them at least ten school days before the college deadline in order for the registrar to get the proper forms sent out. Almost all of mine are due at school on December 8th, but it's not a big deal. I'm applying to six schools, one of them ED. I already have half the apps in and two more completed. Only one essay has yet to be written, and that's because I'm visiting the college this weekend. So I hope my holidays will be relaxing and stress-free...and hopefully I'll get my acceptance letter for Christmas.</p>
<p>Vicarious--the other good thing about EA is if yours chooses a school that uses the Common App, then you've got that under your belt for the others that also use it and just need the supplements done. Plus there is such a dread of the whole process that getting at least one done "early" (which for my DS means the day it's due) is a bit of a lift. Also, if she's a procrastinator, she'll probably find other reasons to delay getting them done anyway (speaking from experience), so it's even better to set this sort of artificial deadline up for yourselves. Good luck.</p>
<p>My own children did not apply ED. They put in for one EA school but with the intent of applying to all of their schools anyway, just hoping to hear from one on the earlier side. </p>
<p>For students with whom I work, if they do apply ED, they still do ALL of their apps on the same fall "time line" as someone who did not apply RD. I would never want to do all those apps and all those essays between Dec. 15 and Jan. 1 or in a certain frame of mind. So, they do all the apps anyway. I have had kids get in ED and they never say, "oh, why did I do all that work for the other apps!" Nobody has complained. We make no assumptions that the ED school will come through. In some cases, if they have one or two apps that are not yet done by Dec. 15 (the final one or two of the entire list), then they got out of that one but only because of the timing and not because the app was put off until the ED decision came through.</p>
<p>While I have no first hand experience with it, I can imagine that if someone did no apps and waited until the ED decision came and it was a denial or deferral, that they might be saying, "I wish I had done most of my apps by now!"</p>
<p>It is a very bad idea to leave those apps to the time between 12/15 and 1/1. If you haven't got your teacher recs and GC recs for those apps done get them done tomorrow.
The GCs and teachers will be off during the holidays. Our school basically tells you if you don't get your stuff to the GC or teacher by 12/1 you are out of luck.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Also, if she's a procrastinator, she'll probably find other reasons to delay getting them done anyway (speaking from experience), so it's even better to set this sort of artificial deadline up for yourselves.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Nice point. Actually I am going to encourage her to apply in October to a rolling admissions (relative safety) school. Hopefully it helps her get the ball 'rolling'. Her early school will be an EA reach, and she will most likely get deferred. If she gets accepted she will probably still apply to a short list of schools that she might prefer. If she gets rejected outright, it will be a pretty strong wake-up call, and we will scramble to add some more safeties/matches.</p>
<p>We went through it five years ago with D1: rejected in SCEA. Striking out the first time up at the plate immediately convinced her she wasn't going to get in <em>anywhere</em>. Fortunately, the RD round was very kind to her, and she ended up with many fine choices. But it sure made for long, cold, bleak winter in the meantime.</p>
<p>D2 is applying now, and we learned to include a rolling-admission safety school along with the EA school, so should the EA not work out she'll have at least some success in hand during the long winter wait.</p>
<p>Vicarious--that was exactly my idea, too--do the RD early. It was instead done the last day possible, 11/1. But still, it's better than not doing it because that acceptance (hopefully) should arrive about when the probable EA uber-reach rejection to help balance out. Meanwhile, he will get the RDs done over the month. Quite a process!</p>
<p>The one thing that makes our holiday a bit brighter is that our son has a scholarship to Alabama, and we plan to visit during the break. All along he has been submitting applications here and there -- although he is awaiting a Dec. 15 EA decision at one of his top schools. He also might hear from another safety school before the end of the month. Everyone at school (or so it seems) is chatting about EA/ED. I know the kids, so I'm hoping some kids will have a very pleasant holiday with the outcome they desire.</p>