Our S19 was accepted into a fairly highly ranked LAC top 25 USNW through ED1. His stats were very much in the middle range of the overall stats. I realize this whole process is subjective but is there a good way of quantifying how much early decision increases chances in getting in a specific school?
Look at the common data set, and compare admit rates via ED vs RD.
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At most every school that offers, ED has higher admit rates but as many point out, that is also in part due to athletes and other hooked folks. Yesterday on the CC, Middlebury was highlighted by some folks with a 45% rate vs. what they show on their website as 15.75% overall.
If you’re in the middle stat wise, I would expect to get in ED - because then they have your seat and revenue locked up.
It’s those students that are at the bottom or below - that’s where I think the question would be most relevant - did ED get them in.
But the answer to your question will lie in a school by school study - and they often will provide this info n their websites in addition to other sources.
Are you full pay?
I imagine that in the ED1 round, for a well-qualified but not knock-your-socks off or otherwise hooked applicant, that is the most relevant metric for a need aware college that needs to watch its FA budget (and possibly even for some need blind colleges, because they can tell which students will or won’t burden their budget heavily from other “tells” in the app, and they need to come out of the process with 50 percent full pay applicants regardless of need blind status).
According to CDS I have looked up, male applicants are in shorter supply at many LACs, so being a full pay male who’s qualified stats wise AND ED, seems likelier to me. What I am not sure of is, are men more likely to get in to a school that has a more even women-to-men ratio, like Bates, or to a school that leans heavily female like Vassar? It seems like a school like Vassar should be eager for qualified male applicants, but if another school has similar applicant ratio but more even student body, maybe that school admits a higher percentage of the male applicants.
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Thanks- This was pointed on another thread: the Early Decision stats are impacted by Athletes, Legacies and other special circumstance being grouped into the pools of Early Decision Stats. For example take a highly selective LAC like Colby in Maine. 38% ED vs 11% RD. Just doing some math, 550 kids per class maybe 275 admitted ED. The school has a couple of dozen athletic teams and hundreds of student athletes along with legacies and other students that get in for specific reasons. This takes that 38% ED acceptance rate and reduces it quite a bit for a student that doesn’t fall into those categories
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