@mamaedefamilia - my D16 used SCEA and it was wonderful to have in her back pocket as she waited to hear from other schools. I may have to look up which schools have SCEA now.
I wonder if ED will ever backfire. I know the biggest reason schools have ED is to increase yield but I think they also like it because they get kids who want to be there and that leads to a happy student body and fewer transfers. As ED gets to be a bigger percentage of acceptances, though, kids now use it to game the system and it may not always be their first love. I know kids who applied ED to schools because they thought it was their only chance at a reach school even though they thought their visit was just ok. In some cases, those kids end up at those schools and then maybe they donât love it. Having kids decide early senior year where they want to go to college sounds great but doesnât work for lots of kids regardless of their familyâs financial situation.
Who knows, maybe transfers will increase for the ED groupâŠor, at the very least, the school might not be getting the gung-ho student they thought they were getting if the student gets to campus and doesnât love it.
Add us to the ED haters group. S21 early on said he would never apply ED to any school since he wants choices and we need to compare financials so ED is not for us.
My D20 EDâd and she couldnât be more happy to be done and meeting other people going next year. I donât know if itâll work for S21, but definitely not haters here.
D21 doesnât want ED but is talking about EA. Is that better?
On the topic of EDâŠmy S23 twins are higher stat than S21 and may be targeting more selective schools, but $$$$ is going to be the deciding factor for us!!! Weâre going to be chasing merit aid with the twins.
It depends on many factors, and those are unique to each family/student.
ED can work for some families, if the NPC shows that the school would be affordable and it is a clear first choice.
Many ED acceptance rates are higher (even after stripping out athletes/legacies/URMs, etc) than the RD round, which can be an advantage. The RD round has become brutally competitive at many schools, even at those a step (or two) down from the most selective. This has made it difficult to predict RD admissions chances.
EA can be a great option, whether the student applies ED somewhere, or not. One has to check the rules if applying elsewhere ED, but applying EA can result in an early acceptance that takes tons of pressure off the studentâŠthey know they will be going to college, regardless of what happens going forward. Rolling admissions is similar, and again, a great way to get an early acceptance in hand.
Agree that ED is definitely not in our cards either. I have no idea if my daughter will want to ED, but our family decision will be ânoâ. The aid packages are just too risky for me to feel comfortable with ED.
Edited to add: I know you can turn down an offer if the aid doesnât work for you, but your whole perspective changes when your child gets into that school. It would be so hard for me to say no even if we discussed a budget beforehand. Best not to open a can of worms you canât close.
For us, itâs more about having to agree to pay full price up front if D applies anywhere ED. We are full pay for S19 so wouldnât limit D21 but she has expressed concern about spending so much. She knows itâs not a whole ball of fun for us to pay full price and that money could be used in other ways for our family or for her. Whenever a school comes up that could cost less, the first thing she says is âand that one would be less expensive, right?â
Being frugal is just built into our kids at this point. Not a bad thing.
I agree with @Mwfan1921 that EA can be a good thing and Iâll add one more reason. If a student is accepted in EA, especially to a more selective school, then you can feel confident that the application âworkedâ. S19 applied to only one school EA - Dickinson. Got in and got maximum merit. It made us feel good about his chances at the other schools he was still waiting to hear from even though itâs not considered selective.
Also, some schools admit RD kids early if they are in their top group of RD applicants. William and Mary sends out post cards in early Feb ahead of mid-March RD decisions and Grinnell also accepts a bunch of RD kids in Feb. Itâs not a common practice but that also made us feel good about his app.
Michigan EA is also a way kids test the water a bit. Itâs a difficult acceptance in EA but you can be sure itâs a strong app if itâs a yes in Dec. And then I think they start accepting those EA deferred kids as rolling admits starting in Jan.
My friend lives in Manhattan and her kids go to a super fancy prep school. They are pretty much required to submit an ED application b/c thatâs what gets the admits the school wants to tout. Her kid completed 3 ED applications b/c she was conflicted and then had to decide which one to submit the day of the ED deadline. What stress!
ED is a tool that benefits those who can afford to choose a college w/o financial considerations. And it pushes kids into making decisions they sometimes are ready to make.
I wish more selective colleges did what the Ivies does with SCEA. They should form a consortium with peers â say top LACS is one and Duke, Vandy, Northwestern, etc. is another. A student can pick one college per consortium for EA, but can apply in more than one consortium. RD would still be an option, of course. This way colleges know you are really interested in them over their peers in the consortium but itâs not binding. There - problem solved. Youâre welcome! 
I have a friend whose kids have all successfully used ED to elite schools. Her thing is - they have to decide in May anyway, so why canât they just decide in November? She makes sure the kids visit the schools they are considering for ED during junior year, even spending the night if they can or at least getting into class and having lunch with a student, and they deep dive on researching each school. She feels like they then have enough information to pick a school early.
This, of course, only illustrates the fact that having the money to do these visits and pay full price gives students an advantage in ED. But at least her kids are applying eyes wide open and not just applying somewhere because they think the school is a reach and ED is their only shot.
One of S19âs friends applied ED to Duke and, when S19 asked him why it was his favorite, he said he thought it was pretty. The family had done the basic tour and that was it. Didnât talk to any students, didnât sit in on class, none of it. He didnât get in even with high stats. I wasnât surprised. Even in ED, schools still want kids who want to be there and can sometimes sniff out those who donât know the school well.
My daughter fully plans to apply EA to any school that offers it.
It seems to be part of her high schoolâs college application culture (while ED is not - it clearly happens, but the counselors are not promoting it).
At back to school night in October, the parent sessions for juniors focused on the counseling department, Naviance, etc, and I remember them saying that the bulk of the senior classâs applications were complete or would be by the 15th.
@3kids2dogs by mid-October!! OMG. Thatâs our counseling departmentâs dream come true. I think they have way too much to do in December when all of the kids are trying to finish up RD apps and holiday break is looming. S19 did finish all apps but one before 11/1 even though all but one was RD and I highly suggest kids do as much as possible in the summer and early fall. (Not rocket science, I know. Most parents at least know this even if kids donât want to do it.)
@homerdog - yes, exactly, getting in EA/SCEA is a confirmation that the application worked. My D16âs SCEA application got her in, but I still made her apply to six other schools, b/c we were chasing $. She got likely letters from Smith and Williams in February â which definitely backs up your statement about hearing early in the RD round.
Frankly, I kinda wish that the Common/Coalition applications didnât exist. I think kids would think long and hard about applying to 20 schools if they actually had to complete 20 applications.
I have mixed feelings on ED. I appreciate that it could get the decision over early so the kids can relax about it but it does definitely bias admissions toward more affluent famiilies. As it is, my kids could only ED to our in-state schools where Iâd feel confident we can pay the bill. But I expect them to EA wherever possible.
I also agree the common app has made it too easy to apply to lots of schools you donât necessarily feel strongly about. That makes admissions so much harder for both the students and the schools. One of S21âs top contenders is Virginia Tech and they have a pretty high admit rate (68%) considering the profile of applicants (median GPA over 4.0, high SATs) but Iâm sure a lot of that is because they do not participate in the Common App. You have to go to the trouble to also fill out the Coalition so that cuts down on random, letâs just see, applications.
On the one hand, ED forces the decision to be moved up only by six months. On the other hand, thereâs that old saying about how a year is like 7 years to a dogâŠ
Some interesting news for those of us from Pennsylvania. Kutztown has announced guaranteed merit aid. As far as I know itâs the first PASSHE school to do so, and itâs a decent amount. $7000/year is the highest award taking annual COA to $15,000. Unfortunately, trying to convince our son to take a look at it will be a tough ask because their Physics department website is absolutely terrible. No faculty list, no information on class requirements, facilities, research opportunities, etc. Almost nothing at all except, yeah, we have Physics and uh, you can get a job. As a PASSHE grad Iâm a huge proponent of our state system, but, wow, is Kutztown making it difficult to promote.
From the schoolâs perspective, I think ED is designed to help them fill all the slots they hope to (athletes, URMâs, socioeconomic diversity etc.). But, many of those applicants will already know what they are getting into financially, because they have been urged by the school to go ED (this is at least true for athletes getting a financial pre-read). So how different is the RD acceptance rate, really, for kids who are not âhookedâ? Is it harder to get in, and do they really offer more merit at RD?
My D19 applied to 4 schools EA, and it was awesome! She had merit at all to compare and was decided and done before the holidays. I donât think we will be so lucky with D21. ED is likely in our future.