If there is any increase in yield for EA applications, can’t that in large part be explained by students who are together enough to apply EA are also probably pretty enthusiastic about the schools they’ve chosen to apply EA? This isn’t a blind lottery.
I know CC is a pretty closed environment and there are many many students/families on this board who apply to more than 15 schools, but while there are a relatively small number of students applying to large numbers of schools, there are many students who still apply to fewer than 6, many who apply to only 1-3 schools.
From our highly rated public school, S24 has friends (with competitive stats/applications) who have applied to their #1 school which also happens to have EA/rolling admission. Several students already have heard from Iowa State and University of Iowa and have happily put down their deposits. No post acceptance wooing required.
To be fair, you’re right, they could be going to events other than invited student days. Reasons for other people’s kids’ visits are likely getting mixed together. It may be that they are mostly doing ‘Let’s go to a ball game and see what campus is like on the weekend’ visits. I volunteered with the mom of a senior last year and I know that they were gone at least 3 weekends during the spring semester, not all in April - I think just visits to compare and maybe a scholarship interview weekend?
But, I do know some local seniors who have had a lot of interaction with their colleges once they have an idea of where they might be going - in-town meet-and-greets for nearby schools, campus visits for all sorts of things to get a feel for what it’s like. Not everybody does these things, but kids have a lot more weekends to visit if they get their acceptance by December instead of in March.
Yes though that assumes that kids pull ‘later date’ EA applications after receiving an ED admit. I know of kids who have not, if only out of curiosity to see whether they’d have gotten into those other schools. Obviously that’s uncool, but it’s a thing.
It’s a shame too bc some schools do seem to use W/L as a soft rejection, especially for legacies. IMO they’re doing these kids an enormous disservice in the hopes of (somewhat) placating the parent alum who probably not coincidentally writes checks to the school from time to time. I’m sure the AOs would say “no, really, there’s a chance!” but I’m not swayed in some cases.
My S24 has an REA school and his only public is rolling and not EA. He also has a rolling international school, but all that means no other EA for him.
Anecdotally–I agree most people who can apply EA multiple places tend to do that, and in fact our high school’s software specifically recommends that for any EA schools on their list as long as there is not an REA school.
But also anecdotally–some people still add colleges to their list (or make final yes/no application decisions from a longer maybe list) after the EA deadlines. Again not really relevant, but we still have a couple more college visits scheduled for Thanksgiving break, which is fine because he couldn’t apply to them early anyway. But I think out in the wider world, variations on that can lead to schools that could have been EA being RD instead, because they were not firmly on the list as of their EA deadline.
Yes, absolutely, sometimes EA is de facto ED for some kids, meaning if they get in EA they will shut everything else down and go. Not because they are required to, just because it makes sense for them.
And I also agree this is probably way more common than you would think based on the conversations in certain online circles. Not least because of the cases you mentioned, where a good in state option is the kid’s top choice (likely very reasonably), and they have EA.
So finally, I agree in cases like that it is really just a mutual convenience thing–we want you, you want us, let’s wrap this up.
I actually don’t get mad about much colleges do in admissions, but this, along with deferrals that are also soft rejections, are an exception. Totally agree with your analysis–now you are messing with these kids in ways that might well be harmful, and that is very much not cool with me.
Mass deferral of non-admitted EA/ED applicants to RD is likely to be a mirage for most of the deferred applicants. Only a few of them are likely to be truly on the borderline where they have a chance of RD admission, while the rest are just given false hope. Colleges like Stanford that reject the obvious (to the college) rejects in the early round are actually doing those applicants a favor by letting them know early to move on (as well as letting the few deferred ones know that they truly are on the borderline).
Even if there is no advantage for admission chance when applying EA (or early rolling), there is still an advantage to the student because getting a decision from the college early provides information:
An early admission with affordability becomes a safety. This could allow dropping applications to other schools that the student would not choose over that school.
An early rejection could be a warning that the student overreached with the application list and may have to modify what schools are considered reach/match/likely/safety.
Perhaps I wouldn’t be so resentful if Early Action application plans were to universally return results before RD deadlines such that the benefits you list would occur. The late returning “EA” plans should come up with a different name that’s not “Early.” That might make it easier to sort through the Application Requirements spreadsheet in Common App to find some actual early returning options.
A lot of schools do provide EA results in December. The schools that have moved their EA decision dates to mid/late Jan over the last decade are typically popular public schools (Michigan, GT, UIUC, Purdue, UMD, Wisconsin, etc) that know they’re being used as backups by many students who have applied ED to more elite schools. They wait until mid Jan or later because the ED accepted students will have withdrawn by then, and they don’t have to bother accepting them.
Georgia Tech actually has two EA plans, one for in state and one for OOS. The IS applicants (who have a high yield rate) get their decision in December, shortly before Christmas. OOS applicants only hear back in late January.
Northeastern offers ED and EA, but they only notify their ED applicants by December. EA applicants have to wait four more weeks, but they’ll use that time to nudge top applicants to switch to ED2.
So the release date has everything to do with meeting the school’s needs, not the applicants’.
I went back and looked at the spreadsheet from S23 applications (Deadlines and Notifications). There are definitely schools he had received an EA decision from before the RD deadline of some of the other schools. Certainly not consistent but someone who might have been getting EA rejections should be able to find alternate RD dates to submit to if necessary (though they might be limited).
For those of you who use TikTok, check out the account called Ivy League Roadmap. This is one of the advisors that is speaking out against early admissions. Here is a quote from one of his videos.
The BIGGEST TRAP of college Admissions will tell you to apply early to college because it gives you a better chance of getting in. This is a LIE. Especially at Ivy League and other elite colleges applying early has no advantage at all, the competition pool is stronger and you’re much more likely to waste your best chance at a good first impression and get deferred.
He goes on to answer many comments saying RD is generally better. Now I have no idea who this guy is but he seems credible. And as I said above, I am seeing this concept floated by other college admission commentators. Take it or leave it, I guess!
The problem is that not everyone does this. I know of kids who have not, just to see whether they’d get into U Mich, the UCs, wherever. Stinks, but it’s a thing.
Lots of opportunity to have EA decisions by RD deadlines. Maybe we can start a list of schools with early action rounds (not restricted/single choice plan, not rolling) that release admissions decisions before RD deadlines, call it Jan 1. Here’s what I have:
I’ll leave it. Remember, there are very low entry barriers to calling oneself a college counselor…it looks like this guy is a test prepper (that’s different than a college counselor). It doesn’t look like this person belongs to any professional orgs, or has any counseling educational credentials. Until he produces data to support his claims, I wouldn’t give him the time of day. He’s just trying to drum up test prep business.
Not yet, but since they split EA in 2021, they’ve released EA1 decisions in the 3rd week of December and EA2 at the end of Jan. So I don’t expect it to be different this year.
Good idea to create a separate thread listing schools with unrestricted EA that provide decisions by Dec 31.
Perhaps they should switch to terminology that the California State Universities use. Nominally, they only have RD with a priority deadline of 11/30 for the next fall term, but some campuses (or some majors at some campuses) may allow later applications if there is still space available afterward. That results in students and counselors having 11/30 as the application deadline in their minds.