For those who know, and have the $$- then good for them and the school. A match has been made.
For others of us, we need to know the bottom line $ to know how much we love a school- so can’t ED. So the school sees us as something less than truly interested.
The result: I can’t blame schools for loving and relying on ED, even if they end up accepting some kids that might not be top tier. And the for the kids applying to 20+ schools, they don’t have a choice if they want to find a school that makes financial sense.
an as others have noticed, as Miami’s app numbers skyrocket, they have no idea what their yield will be. All history is off the table in a test optional world, and they need some way to figure out the intentions of all of these incremental applications. Getting it wrong could be fairly disastrous in the form of significant over and under enrollment.
Again, I can’t blame them for pushing ED as hard as they do, or deferring qualified applicants and gently showing them what they really need to do to get in.
You can break an ED contract if they don’t supply sufficient aid/merit to make it financially viable. But that metric is ~EFC - if your EFC calculation is still well over what you’re comfortable with and you want to play the field to see what other schools are offering… then clearly ED isn’t for you.
And it’s not just Miami’s numbers skyrocketing - that’s happening at almost every school. Common App has made it a TON easier for people to apply to many schools. All the more reason why schools are going to love the kids that apply ED.
My DS in a similar situation with similar stats - applied EA and deferred, got the “are you sure you don’t want to sign up for EDII?” email. Nope, thanks.
As long as they are still accepting students who they know can do the work at their institution then let them admit whomever they want to admit. If they take a lower stats ED it hopefully means they feel the student can still keep up with the rigor of the university. It can’t become a game of protecting yield and then the retention rates start to be on the decline.
On the flip side some high stats kids might not throw their hats into the ring at some of the elite top schools because they feel they still might not be smart enough to get in but you don’t know unless you apply and let the AO review your application and decide if what they see they feel you can do the work at their school and fit into the class they are looking to craft. Also AOs see trends from students they have admitted from their assigned high schools. They know how a high school stacks up and how it has prepared its students to take on the work that their university puts out there.
If your student’s high school tends to have a nice chunk of kids who get a YES from Miami, then that helps set expectations. If only a few kids apply every so often from a particular HS, then it’s hard to know which way the decision might go.
would likely depend on major, gender and what other areas of the class they want to fill. is this a test optional applicant? how was the essay? any demonstrated interest beyond ED2?
major: intercultural communications
gender: female
test optional
strong common app essay
lots of demonstrated interest besides ED, like visiting campus, signing up for the mailing list, two virtual tours, and a school fair (miami visited her school)
I don’t know if this applies to everyone accepted, but all the people who were accepted to Miami (at least that I know, including myself) received their merit information along with their acceptance. It was highlighted in the admissions portal
My daughter was deferred EA with a 35 ACT, 4.4 weighted GPA and 3.8 u/w gpa. Super hard rigor classes all the way through. She really has no other school but Miami that she wants to attend because of her major and because she wants to be in Florida. She has some other choices, but either has to go out of Florida or change her major. So going ED was the only option for us. I thought her essays were decent and she is very involved at a top school. So not sure what happened EA. She is more of an athlete than club involved kind of girl. But had leadership positions with both sports and community service roles.
it’s my 3rd choice school and my other two are reaches so, honestly, it depends. I really love UM and can see myself going there. However, I’ve gotten full tuition from other schools and it’s pretty far from home.
I do really love it tho, so assuming I get rejected from my other schools, I’m committing to the U. I’ve already put all the stickers they sent in the acceptance package up already, so Miami is for sure close to my heart.
That’s great! My D has full rides other places too, but is pretty set on UM. So if she gets in she’ll be going. It is a gorgeous campus…not sure if you were able to visit…and the energy on campus is always so positive. I also saw you are a dancer of 15 years as is my daughter…which was the biggest reason I asked.