<p>I've tried searching for such a thread, but all I found was really old-dated (2005/2006) threads and some vassar-vs-carleton-vs-manymoreotherlacs threads.</p>
<p>I am really torn between Vassar and Carleton for EDI this november. Perhaps you all could share some of your thoughts about these two really brilliant LACs?</p>
<p>(ps: Brown is also lingering in my mind - any peripheral views on Brown too?)</p>
<p>What are you area of interests or potential major? They are both outstanding LAC’s.</p>
<p>My main interest is in Urban Studies which is offered at Vassar/Brown. However, I won’t mind pursuing political economy + spanish at Carleton either. Hence, im rather uncertain which college I should ED. I do know that Vassar and Carleton are very distinct colleges (Northeast vs Midwest).</p>
<p>What area of the country do you currently live in? Have you visited these colleges already? Finally, do you have the stats and finances for admission to these schools?</p>
<p>Why ED?</p>
<p>I only believe in ED if you MUST attend that “perfect” school AND if money is no issue. Otheriwse, I’d apply regular or EA where offered.</p>
<p>Personally, I do not believe ED has better “chance” of acceptance. Many cases, the school will accept the best of the ED and defer the “middle” cases to regular round. IMO, the “best of” students would still get in during the regular round.</p>
<p>Here is my stats. Im an international applicant. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/992459-do-i-stand-chance-if-i-ed-brown.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/992459-do-i-stand-chance-if-i-ed-brown.html</a></p>
<p>I want to apply through ED because I am just a mediocre applicant, and I hope that ED can give me an extra boost to my chances of getting admission into these schools. </p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>If you are torn between the two, apply to Regular Decision for both of them.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m of the same mind as Longhaul. Most schools have admissions officers who claim that Early Decision won’t help a student get in - most students who are admitted ED would’ve been admitted in the RD pool, they say. Most people on CC disagree with that and seem to grasp tight to the idea that applying ED sill give them a boost in admissions. Not having been an admissions officer, I don’t know for certain, but I can’t see any reason that admissions officers would lie to the thousands of students applying to their colleges.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I think you should only apply ED as a “boost” if you have a really clear reason to prefer one school over the other. That’s why it’s called Early Decision - you’ve made a decision to attend this school 100% if you get in. If you’re really this torn, ED is not the option for you. This is especially if you are applying to schools that are need-aware for international students, unless you don’t have to worry about money.</p>
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<p>I think this varies enormously from school to school. I’ve heard many admissions officers say just the opposite, that although the profiles of ED and RD admits are very similar, statistically you’re likelier to get the offer if you’re in the ED pool and your stats are comparable to those they’ll admit in the RD round. A lot depends on how the individual school uses ED. Some schools use ED to fill a substantial portion of their entering class. It makes sense for them because ED admits are virtually guaranteed to enroll, so the more they admit from that pool, the higher their yield and the lower their overall admit rate—and the fewer admissions offers they need to make to kids with similar stats in the RD pool, who are far less certain to accept. Besides, they’re getting kids who have clearly signaled they want to be there, and that’s a positive for the entering class. But they will all tell you to apply ED only if the school is clearly your #1 choice. They don’t want a bunch of ED admits with buyer’s remorse who applied ED only for tactical reasons and later came to regret it.</p>
<p>I’ll second bclintonk’s remarks about ED.</p>
<p>While I agree it’s a mistake to apply ED unless comfortable with both the commitment and the financial issues at play, I disagree that there is no acceptance advantage across the board. </p>
<p>Certain colleges do clearly state that ED offers no acceptance “tip” and historical stats bear this out (Brown, in fact, along with Stanford probably represent the two most glaring examples among top tier universities). </p>
<p>But other schools - including most top LACs and selected universities - e.g. Northwestern - make clear that ED, the ultimate manifestation of “demonstrated interest,” is a significant factor in admissions decisions. LACs, given their small size, are particularly happy to mold as cohesive, enthusiastic, and diverse a class as possible (AKA disgruntled Harvard rejects not wanted). ED helps them achieve this end.</p>
<p>Among top private and highly selective city and suburban high schools, college counselors make these facts known and typically 50-75% of all seniors apply ED.</p>
<p>As bclintonk notes, ED is almost always an advantage – you’ll simply find some colleges more willing to admit it than others. A few schools who are blunt about it:
[Cornell</a> University Undergraduate Admissions Office - HOW TO APPLY](<a href=“http://admissions.cornell.edu/apply/firstyear/early.cfm]Cornell”>http://admissions.cornell.edu/apply/firstyear/early.cfm)
[Duke</a> University Admissions: Regular & Early Decision](<a href=“http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/apply_RD-ED.html]Duke”>http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/apply_RD-ED.html)
[Frequently</a> asked questions, Freshman, Office of Undergraduate Admission - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/faq/#ed]Frequently”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/faq/#ed)
[Penn</a> Admissions: Applying Early Decision](<a href=“http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/early.php]Penn”>http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/early.php)</p>
<p>It is also true, however, that ED is no longer the safety net that it once was. Many students are trying to be clever and apply ED to “increase their chances,” not realizing that a hefty percentage of their competition is doing precisely the same. In the last 5 years alone, ED and SCEA admit rates at several elite schools have halved, and the gap between ED and RD rates continues to narrow. Along with increasing numbers of applications per student, the flocking to ED has resulted in something of a tragedy of commons.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the most practical question is – can you afford Carleton and Vassar? They’re both quite expensive, and financial aid can be a very iffy thing for international students. While it’s possible to back out of an ED acceptance if completely incapable (read: NOT just unwilling) of paying the EFC, an applicant needing a great deal of financial aid is better off applying RD to several places with good aid policies.</p>
<p>I agree, don’t do ED if one of them is not your dream school; you can really regret it.</p>
<p>Now if you were just trying to decide between the two acceptances at RD time, I’d ask if you were interested in grad school, and have you compare the number of entries in this table, as indicative of the kind of undergrad prep you might find: [PHD</a> PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]PHD”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>“As bclintonk notes, ED is almost always an advantage – you’ll simply find more colleges willing to admit it than others. A few schools who are blunt about it:…”</p>
<p>…include Vassar. An adcom told us exactly that at an info session on campus a few years ago.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot everyone. Your comments have been invaluable. 
</p>
<p>As for the comparison between Vassar and Carleton - what thoughts do you all have on that? </p>
<p>My interest is leaning towards the social sciences - such as public policies, ethnic studies and urban studies. (And i intend to delve towards studying the historical progression of indigenous settlements and their sustainable development - which encompasses all three of my interests). I do intend to pursue post-graduate studies in Urban Planning. </p>
<p>Here are some of my thoughts -</p>
<p>Carleton:
<p>Vassar
<p>Please share more of your experiences and thoughts about these two colleges. Im an international applicant and i wont be able to visit these colleges - so any comments from you will greatly help me throughout this process.</p>
<p>Carleton’s weather comes up as a concern so often (with good reason) that they’ve devoted a whole page on their admissions site to winter: [Carleton</a> College: Admissions: Winter](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/topics/winter/]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/topics/winter/)
Like most of Carleton’s admissions communications, it takes a lighthearted approach, but the underlying message is that weather is pretty extreme in Northfield.</p>
<p>I see, pretty extreme in the sense that it is unbearably cold in the winter and burning hot in the summer? I think a person who loves outdoor adventures (be it winter or summer) might be able to adapt to the Northfield weather - and i think i might be one of them.</p>
<p>Vassar has more prestige and is in a more attractive location. Carleton is a good school, but few people outside of the midwest have heard of it. I’ll be the first to say that it is going to be cold on either campus, so don’t let weather factor in. However, geographic location should play a role in your decision.</p>
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<p>Oh, really? Then how do you account for the fact that Carleton’s student body is drawn from 45 states and 23 countries? Or that after Minnesota (with 100 members of the freshman class) and Illinois (51), Carleton draws most heavily from California (49), New York (32), and Massachusetts (29)? Or that it draws almost as many entering students from Texas (16) as from neighboring Wisconsin (18), and more from China (13), South Korea (9), Washington State (16), Oregon (11), Colorado (10), Maryland (10), Connecticut (9), Arizona (9), Georgia (8), and New Jersey (7) than from neighboring Iowa (6), South Dakota (2), North Dakota (0) or Nebraska (3)?</p>
<p>Indeed, one might better argue that “few people outside of the northeast have heard of” Vassar. At least it appears that way from the composition of Vassar’s student body, well over half of which comes from New York and immediately adjacent states. In contrast, only about 1/3 of Carleton’s student body comes from Minnesota and adjacent states. Carleton has more international students, too, and because its student body is a bit smaller internationals comprise a larger fractional share of the student body. In a head-to-head comparison, then, it looks like Vassar is the school that draws from a narrower regional base.</p>
<p>I live an hour away from Vassar and I can say without hesitating that if my D had a choice between Carleton and Vassar, and asked my opinion, I would tell her to jump on the opportunity to attend Carleton. I am not taking anything away from Vassar, it is a great college but I think Carleton is in a different league. It is not a correct statement to say that few people outside the midwest have heard of Carleton. As far as Vssar having more “prestige”, that is subjective at best.</p>
<p><a href=“National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com”>National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com, MN&sfld2=Poughkeepsie, NY&clocid1=&clocid2=</p>
<p>Throwing Brown in the mix changes things. I would lean towards Brown if you can get in.</p>