Shocking truth about ED!?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>My best friend's uncle works in Penn admissions and I told him last night I wanted to apply ED. He suggested not to:</p>

<p>He told me that Penn tries to give off the impression that ED confers an advantage but in reality when he looks at applicants, he judges them the same way he does the regular pool, except with a stronger applicant base. Therefore, it hurts you because you're being compared to stronger kids. He also told me that he has had to defer/reject a bunch of qualified kids because of the reserved slots he has to give to recruited athletes and legacies. Basically, the stats are deceptive!</p>

<p>So now I am considering just applying RD. Is there any corroborating evidence for this?</p>

2

<p>I highly doubt there are “reserved” spots for legacies. As a legacy myself, I was told that the only way that legacy plays to an advantage is that I can show how much I know about the school compared to the average applicant. From anecdotes from family, I was informed, I should be able to articulate clearly why penn is a match for me. That is the only advantage. This makes sense because ED is for applicants that know penn is their #1 choice. The better one can demonstrate this, the better one’s chances are.</p>

3

<p>indeed - i know children of legacies who gave substantial amounts consistently - and the kids were pretty smart - but they didn’t get in</p>

4

<p>Your friend’s uncle may be correct, but a notable incident in the ED timeline at Penn was Lee Stetson’s blithe confession that ED indeed lent a boost to applicants.</p>

<p>That was several years ago (at least 9 or 10, I think), so that may have changed - but it seems unlikely. Penn’s admissions strategy remains simple - take roughly 45% of the class ED (which usually amounts to around a 29% admit rate) and the other 55% RD (~10% acceptance rate). This allows Penn to maintain a high yield AND high SAT scores.</p>

<p>Now, your words have some truth to them. It would make sense for Penn to admit only the choicest applicants during the ED round, when admission is binding. Are you sure about this uncle connection?</p>

5

<p>I also know someone who applied ED to Engineering last year and both her parents worked there. And she didn’t get in. I’m not sure your conclusion is quite correct.</p>

6

<p>regardless of whether or not any of these factors play into a final decision… </p>

<p>applying early decision is a binding agreement so wouldn’t it show my loyalty to the school??</p>

<p>(I still plan on doing ED for that reason)</p>

7

<p>The point of ED in the first place is not to get an admissions boost, but rather to find out if you got into your first choice school a couple months earlier, so I don’t see why this is such a big deal.</p>

8

<p>I agree with Combine (Half Life 2 reference?)</p>

<p><em>somewhat</em> instant gratification is better than waiting til April of next year</p>

9

<p>It’s not my opinion, it’s my friend’s uncle’s who works at Penn…</p>