<p>I was very sure until recently that I wanted to apply to Bowdoin early decision. I visited this summer and it felt like and amazing fit as soon as I was on campus. My stats are good (GPA 4.9 weighted, 4.0 unweighted, 31 ACT), my extracurriculars are good (nothing spectacular but I am very devoted to all of them), and my essays are looking great. I thought I would boost my chances for Bowdoin by applying ED, and since it felt like such a good fit it was sort of a no brainer. Now I am getting very unsure, and I am afraid to make that kind of commitment. Although Bowdoin feels like an amazing fit socially, another one of my top schools, Smith, is now seeming like a much better academic fit for me. That is not to say Bowdoin doesn't have as good academics (on the contrary), but Smith has certain programs that Bowdoin doesn't offer that really interest me, and there are many things I love about the school. I'm really second guessing my decision to ED to Bowdoin. Is it a bad idea for me to apply early decision?</p>
<p>If you’re not 100% sure, don’t apply ED. Have you visited Smith? </p>
<p>I’m going to be a freshman at Bowdoin in 2 weeks, let me know if you have questions</p>
<p>@collegebound752 I did a month long summer program at Smith after my sophomore year, so I have a very good idea of the campus and school. I really love Northampton, and the campus is beautiful. I’m going to try to do an overnight in the fall to get a better idea of the student body and classes, but that might be difficult because I live so far away. Out of curiosity, did you apply to Bowdoin ED?</p>
<p>See if Smith has a fly-in program. No harm in applying to the fly in at Bowdoin also. No, I applied RD.</p>
<p>A little early to worry about this. Take your time. You don’t have to ED at Bowdoin.</p>
<p>You haven’t mentioned your family’s ability to pay for either school. Have you run the net price calculators and had The Talk with your parents?</p>
<p>I agree, you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to make an early decision decision. Most likely you would be accepted to Smith during the RD round, so that gives you some breathing space.</p>
<p>Although both are terrific schools, Bowdoin and Smith seem very different to me culturally, not just in the all-women’s aspect of Smith, but also in the type of students who are attracted to each. What other schools are you considering? Which have you visited?</p>
<p>Money, as noted, could be a major determining factor too.</p>
<p>Do not apply ED if you are not certain that the school is your top choice regardless of other schools’ decisions.</p>
<p>“Now I am getting very unsure, and I am afraid to make that kind of commitment.” Then I would say definitely do NOT apply ED to Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Your first visit to Bowdoin was a “should I apply” visit. It was during the summer. You couldn’t possibly have gotten enough information to apply ED. You didn’t “experience” the place. You didn’t meet enough students. </p>
<p>If it turns out that Bowdoin is indeed your first choice, and you can afford it, the probability of you getting in would increase substantially from applying ED. So how do we solve this problem? </p>
<p>If you want to pursue ED, you need to do a more critical “due diligence” visit to both Smith and Bowdoin, assuming that these are clearly your top two choices, while school is in session before Nov 1. Stay overnight, make appointments with professors, get your all of your questions answered. You have to take the attitude that you have already been admitted and have to decide. </p>
<p>My D goes to her ED school. She did these more critical visits to two different schools in the fall of senior year just to make sure that she was sure. These visits were critical. There was no second guessing. </p>
<p>I can’t disagree with CRD, but by the same token, my D did her ED schools without visiting the schools while in session and she’s at her ED2 school right now, perfectly happy from what I can tell. After narrowing it down to two schools, she basically had two top picks, and would have been happy at either. We offered to have her fly out to both before applying, but she said it would just confuse her even more, so she went with the summer visit impressions. She made one her ED1 school by noting which one she would most regret not taking a stab at should she be accepted by the ED1 school. As it turned out, that school (Bowdoin, BTW) deferred her, so she was able to move on to #1A with no regrets, which then did accept her, and she hasn’t looked back since.</p>
<p>In OPs case, I’m getting the sense that OP would regret not having a shot at Smith, so either Smith should be the ED1 school or she should do both RD and see what happens. </p>
<p>I have to agree with ClassicRockerDad. Those visits while school is in session really ARE critical in getting a real feel for the school. I am a strong believer that “fit” is every bit as important as academic programs. I really think that OP should try her very, very hardest to visit both before November. Bowdoin to Smith is 3.5 hours. You could fly into Boston, rent a car, drive to one, stay overnight and sit in on a class, then repeat at the other school. It is DEFINITELY worth missing 1-2 days of high school.</p>
<p>The simple solution to this is not to apply early decision. You’re a competitive candidate already, so the boost you’d get from applying ED is likely to be minimal.</p>
<p>@juliet I respectfully disagree. </p>
<p>Admisison rate for Bowdoin overall was 15%, but 26% for ED. Overall 13.5% for women. </p>
<p>It’s almost a factor of 2 boost in chance of admission. Bowdoin takes almost 1/2 of it’s class from ED. </p>
<p>If she’s down to these 2 schools, much can be gained by being sure enough to pull the trigger on ED. </p>
<p>^ That’s assuming that the ED applicants are basically the same as the RD applicants. You cannot assume that. It seems more likely that the ED pool overall is stronger, with applicants who are comfortable applying early without waiting for fall grades or activities to boost their prospects.</p>
<p>@FCCDAD, there may be some of that, but I don’t think it explains the whole thing or even a large part of it. The fact is, small schools really want to educate students that really want to go there. I think that given the commitment a student is making, the school is willing to use a slightly lower standard. I also think that they WANT you to know that they do that to encourage ED. ED is a very very good enrollment management tool for small schools that can’t afford a large variance in their yield. </p>
<p>Perhaps not the whole thing, but you certainly can’t say applying early makes your application “almost a factor of 2 boost” to gain an admission offer. You might be able to say that those who actually did apply ED are almost twice as likely (as a group, or on average) to get an admission offer as those who waited to apply RD, but that’s not the same thing at all as saying those are the chances for a particular application.</p>
<p>Agreed that they probably have a less stringent standard when they can rely on the binding commitment. But they are really looking at two different pools of applicants. You just can’t just take the admission rates and compare them directly, any more than (for example) you could say that It’s clearly harder to get into Washington and Lee (18.2% admission rate) than Harvey Mudd (21.0% admission rate). You just cannot assume the applicants are the same, which would be necessary for that comparison.</p>
<p>My D visited her top two choices in the fall of her senior year for a day each (shadowed a student) and it made it very clear to her where to apply ED. Don’t apply ED unless you have a clear first choice.</p>
<p>If the standards are lower for ED, it is not by a significant margin. However, the competition is lower because fewer students apply ED.</p>
<p>Colleges like ED because it fills their classes early and gets a total commitment. In other words, it saves them time and effort. With RD, the schools have to deal with many more students and then have to create a waitlist, plus many other complications. Colleges definitely like ED, and it probably gives them more benefit than it does the students.</p>
<p>It is questionable how much it actually increases the students’ chances of getting accepted. Yes, there is some advantage, but not as simple as the ratio of ED to RD.</p>
<p>The only reason to apply ED is if you are sure that it is the ideal school and that you can afford it. Otherwise avoid like plague.</p>
<p>@FCCDAD There’s no doubt that applying ED will give you a rather substantial boost, even if you are an already competitive applicant. Here are several articles that touch on that idea:
From a Dartmouth admissions officer:
“It’s much easier to be admitted during Early even though most schools tell you it’s just as competitive, it’s simply not true. That’s standard administrative rhetoric, but it is much more difficult to be admitted during regular. We’ve already admitted 30 to 35 percent of the class Early. When you first start reading apps you might think one is great, but reading the same app later after 600 others then that kid no longer seems as stellar.”
Another article:
“Many people don’t know that early-decision applicants get an edge when applying to college. What even fewer know is just how big that edge is. It’s enormous. Applying early admission can often double or even triple your child’s chances of getting into a top school. It is the single most effective admissions strategy there is for most students—and the most underutilized.”</p>
<p>"Its tempting to chalk up the success gap separating regular and ED applicants to something other than the actual act of applying early decision. Do kids who apply early have significantly better qualifications?</p>
<p>Hardly. In fact, it is often just the opposite. Certain segments of the early-decision applicant pool often have lower grade-point averages and SAT scores than the regular applicants. This is particularly true among college athletes. Because the Ivy League and Division III schools are prohibited from offering athletic scholarships, the tactic favored by coaches at these schools is to build their teams by “encouraging” student-athletes to apply early decision. (Only five of the Ivies—Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Penn—use ED.)"</p>
<p>"But the observations of people like Mike Muska, my co-author of Getting In!, and the longtime Dean of College Relations at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep are instructive. “The early decision round is more forgiving than the regular round. They won’t admit a candidate who is not in the ballpark. But they will enlarge the sweet spot. Is it a 20 percent variability? Absolutely. 30 percent? Maybe.”</p>
<p>Here are the articles:
<a href=“Secrets of Dartmouth Admissions Office”>Secrets of Dartmouth Admissions Office;
<a href=“Applying Early Decision to College: Best Admission Strategy There Is”>http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/02/applying-early-decision-to-college-best-admission-strategy-there-is.html</a></p>