Worth additional discussion but on the UMD thread so as not to hijack this one.
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To apply EA to not, hereâre my suggestions (assuming applicants are ready to submit early):
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Thereâs no reason not to apply EA to the publics, except in the rare cases where the applicant wants to apply ED to one of the few public Us that offer it (e.g. UVA).
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Some privates offer no discernable advantage to EA applicants unless they are hooked or are in the clearly sought-after categories. MIT, Stanford, and Georgetown are probably in that group.
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The Harvard lawsuit showed that thereâs a clear advantage to apply early to Harvard, with or without hooks. Yale and Princeton are likely similar, but perhaps to different degrees.
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Itâs unclear whether thereâs an advantage to apply early to Caltech with its newly announced REA program. It stated publicly that it would reserve most slots for the regular round (similar to MIT). Since Caltech doesnât consider any hooks, it probably means that it will only accept the strongest applicants in its early round.
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Donât bother to apply EA to any private that also offers ED, unless the applicant has a super strong hook and manages to convince the AOs that s/he almost certainly will enroll if admitted.
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Really? How long does it take to write an essay and apply? Couple of hours? $250 - $500/hr sure beats flipping burgers. Thatâs the logic I used with my daughter who picked up $5k the summer before freshman year for spending money.
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Very cogent analysis. Of course applying it in real life is four dimensional chess - applying REA to Harvard for example may slightly increase your chance at Harvard but you give up your ED card which would have significantly increased your chances at other highly selective schools. My older d got into Georgetown EA and they said over and over again to the kids that this was harder than getting in RD.
Great summary!
The only thing Iâd add is: although Georgetown doesnât say it explicitly, their EA is in fact restricted - you cannot apply ED to another school. Therefore this higher level of commitment to GTown (although not binding) probably gives some boost vs RD.
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Agreed.
We are in state with a high stats kid, and I do not consider UMD a safety anymore.
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This is what Iâm going to tell my D23 too! Iâm holding off on the scholarship pressure until she gets done with her apps and then itâs full speed!
D23 is applying EA wherever possible mainly for peace of mind and in case it makes a difference. Also so she has the time to visit a school she gets accepted to, wants to attend and hasnât yet seen. Only 2 of her schools - UVM and University of Denver - have ED and since they are not elite it doesnât seem to give any clear advantage.
We are chasing merit so it will be better to compare offers if she gets any.
One of the reason that ED, SCEA ad REA shouldnât exist. The colleges all insincerely say it should only be used when a student has a clear first choice/dream school and not to play the odds, yet they then stack the deck with ever increasingly odds that if you donât play you are substantially hurt in the RD round. Any college claiming it should only be used for a students dream school that then has a materially higher admission rate than RD is ethically bankrupt. At least just have the integrity to admit/own that you are creating a system that encourages and advantages kids to apply early and potentially preference their second, third or fifth choice.
Some students are open to the 4D admissions gaming calculus and some are poor candidates for it. We had a risk adverse kid who was comfortable using a fairly strong odds ED to a college she liked but wasnât a dream school. And we have another who would âalways wonderâ if he would have gotten into X if he hadnât locked himself up who we will not encourage to use ED strategically (beyond making him aware that the stats and strategy exists). My oldest definitely had friends at his highly selective college who nonetheless were bitter they had applied ED when peers at their HS with similar profiles got into HYPS. Itâs too bad students are forced to make this trade off.
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Youâre absolutely right that it becomes a much more complicated decision when ED/ED2 are included in the mix. Looking from the point of view of the option theory in finance/economics, unrestricted EA is basically a free and highly valuable option given to an admit. REA/SCEA places limits on that option, making it less valuable. ED essentially takes away that option from an admit completely. Is giving up a highly valuable option worth the boost in the likelihood of admissions? The answer clearly depends on the student. For the strongest applicants whoâre more likely to be admitted, or for the applicants who are unsure about the school, or for applicants who need to compare financial aid (including merit aid) packages, or for applicants who donât want to give up their shots at what they consider to be the best schools that donât offer ED, or for applicants who simply want to preserve the option to decide later, ED wouldnât be worth it.
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No ED here; we canât afford possibly âwinning.â
He is applying early everywhere he can, just because most are publics and the merit aid sometimes runs out. Also, early acceptances are great, and my kid will still have a full plate this year with 3 APs, plus a demanding EC.
As for scholarships - he will apply for a couple of likelies through my work. All of his schools allow stacking (a major reason theyâre on the list).
Schools that donât allow stacking generally are of no use to us, because they also are more along the lines of meeting financial need, which doesnât help us enough, and then theyâd take away my work scholarships, so why bother.
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No ED (or REA) applications here, both because weâre chasing merit and all the reasons @citivas gave on the questionableâto put it very mildlyâethics of the way colleges promote all of the various ED and ED-like options.
EA, on the other hand, yep, taking that option where itâs available.
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Wow, I had not thought about the issue of whether stacking is allowed.
Do you find that info in the common data set or elsewhere?
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I individually email every college. I donât trust the websites for this - itâs too big an amount to leave to chance
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My son is doing EA where he can. It will make for a less stressful senior year to have some nice back up acceptances in hand by December or January.
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School doesnt start till Sept 1st. But 1st football game is next week already. And they just released the spring musical selection. Admittedly Im a bit bummed as its Newsies. I really wanted Mamma Mia or Little Mermaid. Oh well. Hoping he gets a decent part anyways.
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Hi- Can you explain what stacking means? Thanks!
Say your kid gets need-based financial aid from the college. Then your kid goes to, like, the Kiwanis and gets a scholarship from them. An âoutside scholarship.â
Many colleges will reduce their aid to you because you now have more money to pay for college, so your âneedâ is reduced.
At many colleges, they are vague about what they call their aid to you. So even if you think youâre getting it for âmerit,â they will reduce that aid if you bring in an outside scholarship. Even though they supposedly gave you merit aid and it shouldnât have anything to do with âneed.â
Displacement is what the policy is called - when the school displaces its aid to you because you brought money to the table. Their argument is that you have a need number and if you win an outside scholarship, your need is reduced, and they can, dollar for dollar, reduce their aid to you, because you have less âneedâ now.
The policy is now banned in some places. Maryland public schools cannot do this anymore, e.g., thanks to a state law that was passed. I think a similar law was just passed in PA.
Stacking is when the school allows you to bring in outside aid - scholarships, grants, whatever - and does not reduce the money it gives you.
Generally speaking, meets-need schools, the selective, mostly private ones, practice displacement. And generally speaking, public schools allow stacking.
Itâs not an absolute, though, and policies change all the time, so I like to get it in writing.
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Thank you!
And for the schools that practice displacement many allow some exceptions like a âtechnologyâ waiver so you if you use that $2000 scholarship to buy a laptop then they wonât count it. Youâll have to comb through the policies of the school or give the FA office a call.
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