It will be interesting to see if ED acceptance rates at schools continue to be higher than RD rates.
Yes, they should. Applicants are committing to a school and giving up other options when applying ED. In return they expect an advantage. If ED didnāt provide a boost there would be no benefit in applying ED.
My daughter also got one from Hope. I canāt wait to see what the financials look like.
It seems like RD acceptance rates will have to be much lower. It looks like Williams admitted almost half of the freshman class through ED. If they admit another 300, or even 400 RD, they would have to have an awfully small pool of applicants for the admit rates to be even close to similar.
I really donāt like ED. I have to just not let it bother me because thereās nothing I can do about it. But, for so many people (like my family!) who, even if they really love a school, need to weigh the costs of schools, ED just isnāt feasible. It feels like another way that the ultra wealthy, or the people who are willing to risk it financially even if theyāre not ultra wealthy, have an advantage.
Are you willing to pay whatever it takes to go to a school? Great, do you have a 25 or 50% chance of going to an āeliteā school if you have good stats. Do you have good stats but canāt make that financial commitment without more info? OK, you can have a 2% chanceā¦ 
Please do a review of the University of Dallas after your visit! 
Will do! We leave tomorrow.
Williams admits more than 300 or 400. Last year they admitted around 1050 RD, which was lower than usual. Itās still highly rejective in RD, but keep in mind that a large percentage of ED admits are athletes, legacies, URM, FGLI, and other institutional priorities, e.g., geographic diversity, outstanding musicians. College admits 8.5 percent of applicants to Class of 2026 ā The Williams Record
Same here. My daughter went to their Scholarās Day last week and really loved the school.
Iāll give a comparison in February. There are older threads here with detailed visit info about these schools as well, those have been insightful for our search. We are just beginning the college search process with D24.
ETA: I can give some impressions of Whitman, which we visited in October. We are from the Seattle area, so it was about a 5 hour drive with construction traffic on 1-90. We stayed overnight in Walla Walla on a Thursday night, and toured campus on a Friday.
Really beautiful campus that reminded me so much of SLACs on the east coast (I am from NY, went to Wesleyan, have lived in several states in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, and now have lived in Seattle area for 26 years). Lots of trees, green space, mountains in distance, stream (with ducks, as mentioned) and a variety of ātypesā of students. My D24 thought the students looked ācoolā which I assumed to be a plus. Sheās a smart indie-type kid, sporty and outdoorsy but also into music and art, LGBT, good grades but not interested in the highly rejective schools (and honestly not competitive enough for them anyway; her older sister is at a highly rejective elite university so sheās seen what it took for her sister to get there, and has chosen her own/different/less grind-y path. Is āgrind-yā a word? I digress). She likes rural areas and is not interested in being in a big city.
Our tour guide was a interesting, smart young woman, chem major and rock climber, transfer student. She mentioned small class sizes, studentsā close relationships with each other and profs, doing research in her department, and volunteer work teaching climbing to special needs kids from the community. She made a point that a car is not needed on campus, everything is close by and easy to bike/walk to from anywhere on campus, and there are college-run shuttles to airport as well as to Seattle and Portland before longer breaks.
If itās a strong contender for my D24 (fingers crossed), we will go back next fall so she can sit in on a class/have coffee with a student as is offered when you sign up for a campus visit; she was a little nervous to take the plunge on that as newly minted junior. Overall, Whitman was very cozy and friendly and seems to pride itself finding a balance of great academics with a kind community and light-hearted, less-intense vibe than some other places weāve toured.
We were also pleasantly surprised by Walla Walla itself, very cute with bakeries, cafes, shops, restaurants and a real sense of history, which can sometimes be hard to find here in the northwest as old buildings often get torn down to make way for new ones (D24 likes older architecture and the town passed her inspection, lol). We had a couple of great meals at local restaurants during our brief visit and the town was bustling.
Whew! I realize this is a long trip report, but also that I might forget if I wait until our Feb trip to Lewis and Clark and Willamette to compare notes. I hope itās helpful.
Got two more college visits lined up for next week when DD is picked up from BS for winter break. Two late possible adds. Lehigh and Lafayette. Anxiously awaiting next weekās REA as well. If itās a no sheās got her work cut out to get 7 more apps out over break.
My son and I loved Whitman. Very friendly and accepting student body in an adorable walkable town. Campus has a little stream, (Ducks!) and is green and lovely. They do a lot of things rightā¦ they hire RAs in Jan for a year, so the freshmen get an experienced RA right from the start. The food was good and the professors amazing. The mock classes were the best we experienced.
Didnāt like how hard it can be to get to campus, and this can apparently really be an issue in bad weather when the adorable town airport closes. The meal plan involves an amount in a spending account, and then students just use it for every item. The food was very good, but I know my son would have spent time looking at the number on the cash register and not picking out food because of that. Not very diverse, although they are trying.
Whitman is lovely, and would be a very comfortable place to be.
We visited Whitman in April; absolutely loved it. Did the financial pre-read (a great system!) and they came back with a number that enabled us to apply ED without worry of it being unaffordable if heās accepted. Crossing fingers now for the āMid Decemberā decisionā¦
Iām crossing my fingers so hard for you. My d20 is at Whitman and loves it.
Iāve been to Whitman and L&C. Whitman is lovely, kind of your typical nice liberal arts school, great outdoor scene, progressive. Walla Walla is lovely. If you drink wine, itās extra lovely:) A really nice town to go to college in, a little remote and a little hard to get to, but very nice.
L&C is a very pretty campus and the area right around L&C is nice. But. I live in the Portland area and I wouldnāt want my kids to go to college here right now. Iām happy to elaborate, send me a message if you like.
Iāve heard nice things about Willamette as well, but I havenāt been there.
I live in the PNW and can corroborate this entire post! For PNW LACās we also really like University of Puget Sound and the surrounding area.
Thanks for the detailed description! It would be great if you (and others) would post impressions from college visits in this thread, too: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/t/colleges-your-child-crossed-off-the-list-after-visiting-schools-that-moved-up-on-the-list-why
Oops, will do! 
I like the Lafayette add says biased alumnus. Lehigh and Lafayette although often lumped together and of course only about 8 miles apart as the crow flies are very different schools with different vibes. A lot depends on what she wants to study, size of school sheās looking for etc. Iāll be interested to hear what she thinks of them after her visit.
I will be interested too, as dad is taking her not me. The only real opinion sheās expressed is that she doesnāt want to go to school in the south and she doesnāt want a huge school. So there goes the great Bama merit. Her college counselor had these on her initial recommendation list but Iād looked and ruled them out for two reasons- 1.) no dance programs 2.) too expensive even with Lafayette having a tuition exchange scholarship. But when she removed Bama and another southern school I looked at them again. Both have a few really good scholarships, long shots though. And both have dance clubs (she doesnāt want to major or minor). And both have gorgeous campuses according to photos, and are not too far from home.