<p>Anyone have an idea of the difference (if any) between the EA and the RD acceptance rates at U of C?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>That difference has not been stable over the past few years. Last year, it was about 20% EA vs. about 11% RD (making reasonable assumptions about the number of EA applicants deferred to the RD pool). The year before, it was about 29% EA vs. 13% RD, but that was pretty unusual – the result of taking many more students than they ever had in the EA round, and getting a huge increase in applications in both rounds. The year before that – three years ago – the rates had been about 30% EA and 25% RD.</p>
<p>I would draw two conclusions:</p>
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<li><p>There isn’t really an established pattern. Between the huge increase in applications and the advent of a new dean of admissions, over the past few years it has really been impossible to predict what is going to happen with any certainty.</p></li>
<li><p>It does look like the new dean is committed to devoting a somewhat larger percentage of his total admits to the EA round, which has the collateral effect of reducing the overall number of admits in the denominator. So I do think there is likely to be some kind of meaningful difference. But the numbers will depend a lot on how many applications they receive – a point that seems obvious, but needs to be emphasized with a college that has seen massive year-to-year changes in many (but not all) recent years.</p></li>
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<p>The other thing to notice is that at ED schools, the difference in admission rate is strongly affected by things like admitting athletic recruits. If a college is admitting 700 kids ED, and 150 of them are athletic recruits, it makes a big difference in the admission percentage. And that can mislead normal, non-recruited students into thinking ED gives more advantages than it does. That does apply somewhat to an EA school like Chicago, but it has somewhat fewer athletic recruits and many more EA applicants and admissions. So the impact on the admission rate for real people is nowhere near as great. For example, last year Brown had an ED rate of 21%, but if you assume that included 150 athletic recruits the rate for everyone else was 16%. At Chicago, the difference would only be 20% vs. 18% assuming 150 athletic recruits, and there probably weren’t 150 athletic recruits.</p>
<p>I doubt very much there were 150 athletes recruites at Chicago in the EA round. Its a div III school, however, the athletes do have advantages over boarderline acceptance. But you have to reach the boarderline first before the applicants being considered. In the EA round, most accepted are stronger candidates. I know a girl who was taken off the waitlist because of her soccer, but she was a strong candidate anyway. This girl is a graduating Sr. now.</p>
<p>Plenty of Division III schools have 150 (or more) athletic recruits. They don’t give athletic scholarships, but they sure as heck try to get the athletes they want to apply and to commit. And for colleges with ED programs, that’s the best way to do it, which is why ED acceptance pools tend to be very athlete-heavy. </p>
<p>Most Division I schools (a) can admit athletes whenever they want, consistent with NCAA rules, (b) don’t have admission rates under 15%, and (c) admit large enough numbers of students that recruited athletes are irrelevant as a statistical matter. But at the Ivies and at LACs that care about their athletic traditions, none of that is true, and athletic recruiting has a big effect on the ED round. I’m sure it has some effect on the EA round at Chicago, too, but nowhere near as much.</p>
<p>whichever way you look at it, one would be a fool not to apply EA, since there is NO penalty, and only potentially upside.</p>
<p>I do NOT buy into this “EA acceptance rate is higher because they are stronger candidates”. Several of us went over this again and again with all available data last two years. The general consensus is, with the same stat (gpa, SAT, etc), your odds of getting accepted are much better if you apply EA. </p>
<p>Don’t miss this one-time only sales event in the entire admission season. </p>
<p>Besides, if you don’t get accepted, and deferred, you are no worse off. If you get rejected outright, you probably won’t get in during the RD season anyway.</p>