<p>I have read lots of threads about students who ask "should I apply ED here or here to improve my chances". Most of the responses to these posts (and mine too) are to only apply ED to the school that is with out a doubt your first choice. ED is supposed to be to the school that you would want to go to above all others etc, etc, etc. </p>
<p>So let's say that you like your top 3 schools fairly equally and cannot decide which one to go to. You would love to go to one of the three rather than none of them. No matter what you can only choose to go to one and financial aid and scholarships are out of the question for this scenerio. All three schools only offer ED. We all see that applying ED will raise your chances of getting into a school because it shows interest and the school locks you up.</p>
<p>The Big Question:
Is it worth it in this situation to apply ED to the one school which you have the best chance of getting into so you know that you can go to one?
OR
Is it worth it to apply RD to all three and along with not knowing if you will be admitted to any by December, also faceing a lowerchance of getting into all of them?</p>
<p>I want your opinion of what to do in this situation and NOT the normal "ED is only for your first choice" stuff because in the real world, a bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush.</p>
<p>I guess what I'm asking is, is the "what if" factor really important and will a student regret applying to school X ED and not applying to schools Y and Z or do you think that in the long run, it makes no difference</p>
<p>I want your opinion on what you would do and not that ED should be reserved for the first choice.</p>
<p>There are actually two reasons to choose ED: (a) there is one college that is definitely your top choice; OR (b) you have several choices and of those you really don't care which one you end up with. You appear to be a person in the second category, so you may want to consider ED to one, which gives you somewhat of a better chance of being admitted to that one. </p>
<p>As to regret, why consider it. If you apply ED and get rejected, you can still apply to the others RD. If you apply RD to all and get rejected by all, you will regret not applying ED to one. In the "long run" life is too short to fret about such things.</p>
<p>If you're talking top colleges, ED doesn't really help unlesses you're hooked. For mid level colleges it does because they have big yield concerns.</p>
<p>I know it sounds strange but make a pro/con list of all the schools. That can help you decide which one you like best. Also if you find yourself wanting to put more pro's on a list just to make it seem better than the other two that says something in itself. If you are applying ED to one of them, just make sure you are content with the fact that you might be giving up the other two schools.</p>
<p>i dont have this issue. i was just reading threads and lots of people seem to use ED to improve their chances and was wondering what you (the reader) would do that in this situation because it is pretty common. I personally know what im doing ED, EA, and RD (for the most part).</p>