<p>i initially thought reach...but there has been some ppl in my school who have done the opposite of that</p>
<p>Apply early to reach, but apply ea or rolling to safety/match. ED means that you are locked in, only do it if you really want to go there.</p>
<p>reach for the stars! dont settle</p>
<p>Reach.
I wasted a ridiculous amount of money applying to safeties.</p>
<p>apply ed to the school you like the most, regardless of it being a reach or safety. don't just apply ed to a reach simply because it is prestigious - it may not be the best school for you.</p>
<p>and you don't have to apply ed anywhere. I recommend only doing it if you have a clear favorite because a lot of people change during senior year and may fall in love with another school.</p>
<p>Getting into a safety early relieves a lot of stress that comes with the process, because if you get stressed you can remind yourself that you're going to college even if you get rejections from the rest of the schools you apply to.</p>
<p>Reaches aren't as important to apply to early unless you apply EA or ED.</p>
<p>And I second applying to your favorite school ED regardless of safety or reach.</p>
<p>Apply early to your first choice school- it's as simple as that.
This way, you're still bound to get into your safety and at least one of your match schools during regular decision.</p>
<p>Apply to a reach and a safety EA.</p>
<p>Apply to lots of reaches RD.</p>
<p>Depends upon how confident you are about your app in October-November. Do not apply to a reach school if you feel your essays can still be improved. My daughter kept finding typos and errors and improving her essays as she was submitting her apps. So starting with her #1 reach did not make sense. You may also need time for an extra SAT test. Finally, I think it's really tough to get a rejection early. Having no rejections and then getting an acceptance from a safety helped my daughter through Jan-Feb.</p>
<p>Have few reaches/matches/safeties. If you are rejected from one reach, most likely you'll be rejected from another reach.</p>
<p>Apply to non-binding EA reaches, 1 binding ED or SCEA school (if it is your first choice), and RD the rest. In any event send everything in early (time wise).</p>
<p>Do NOT send everything in early. I'll elaborate on this at the end.</p>
<p>I would advise:</p>
<p>1) Apply to your state university and secure admission early here. You will usually get very good financial aid, and the decisions are usually rolling. Sending in your application in October or November is best, since state universities usually have a priority deadline at December 1 for scholarships.</p>
<p>2) Apply EA if you want, but avoid applying to your TOP choice.</p>
<p>Now for the reasoning I promised in my first line as to why NOT to apply early. Simply put, almost no one is completely ready for their application to be sent out so early. In my own experience, if I compared my SCEA application to my RD apps, my RD apps were more comprehensive, the essays were more compelling and refined, and I did NOT forget to add some things that I forgot to include in my EA application.</p>
<p>My EA application was crap. It wasn't that bad, actually, but I still trashed my essays when RD came around.</p>
<p>The best early application experience would be like a practice round for you. You learn from that and correct yourself for your Top Choice's application in the RD round.</p>
<p>**** However, note that this approach may not be applicable in the case of schools like Cornell, where the ED acceptance rate is much much higher than RD. In that case, you should apply ED and risk not having the best application you can make.</p>
<p>**** Also note: Applying early to your top choice and getting accepted can save you a lot of money. In truth, this is the BEST case scenario (of course). Everything I said up there will help you towards your achieving the second-best case scenario (and maybe the best case if you score in RD) because if you get your top choice decision and get rejected instead.... well, you won't be happy knowing you didn't present yourself in the best light you could have.</p>
<p>I kinda agree. My SCEA app was crap.</p>
<p>Apply to safeties first if they are rolling admissions. I made the mistake of waiting until I was finished with all my reaches. After applying to my safety in November, I was waitlisted. Luckilly I accepted at some of my reaches. Ideally, write your essays in the summer, and get all your applications submitted by Sept. 30th.</p>
<p>Here's a suggestion: EA to safeties (non-binding), ED to the one dream school</p>
<p>This boils down to the question of whether to try to "game" the system or simply pursue your preferences. Obviously, the ideal would be to apply early to your first choice with a complete, well-prepared application, get in early, and then not have to apply anywhere else. But there may be "gaming" reasons not to do this, such as if your first choice is an extreme long-shot for you, you may not want to wast an early app on it, especially if it is ED or SCEA.</p>
<p>And take caution - some ED schools (Brown, as an example) do not allow for application to any EA schools, just schools with rolling admissions.</p>
<p>The idea, with respect to your applications is to get started early (end of junior year)...Common Applications come out in June/July. If you plan ahead and stay on task, SCEA and ED schools, as well as EA colleges are ALL doable. That has been my experience, along with many of my friends and peers--who did get in to their top choices via ED, SCEA, and EA. Some friends could not decide, so they applied RD.</p>
<p>By the way, when I applied I sent in all my applications at the same time, before the first early deadline.</p>
<p>I agree with Tetrisfan.</p>
<p>I think that past posters have warned against applying anywhere ED if financial is a major concern. If your reach school is an expensive private school (which it is in most cases), you must pay whatever they do not give you in aid. This poses a problem when your need is quite high, but you get little to no aid from the school. You will be stuck with paying the rest since you signed an ED contract.</p>
<p>Rolling and EA schools are a good idea though, just so you can relax come springtime.</p>