<p>Lets say you have the scores and you are definitely qualified for Wharton and you know you want to go there. However, you are not a legacy or a recruited athlete. Would you apply for ED or RD? I heard the acceptance rates for ED were higher but the applicant pool is generally stronger and that there are a lot of legacies and recruited atheletes who fill up the spots in ED. Regardless, would you apply ED or RD, to maximize chances of acceptance, or is there minimal difference for whether you apply ED or RD?</p>
<p>Thanks for any input!</p>
<p>There is probably still some difference between ED and RD, even for unhooked applicants. Given that Penn’s RD acceptance rate was under 10% last year, and that applying ED demonstrates in no uncertain terms that Penn is your first choice, I’d strongly recommend applying ED. You really have nothing to lose (even if you’re applying for FinAid–you can always back out of the commitment if your FinAid award is not adequate).</p>
<p>Of course ED!
Unless you know you will have something to add to your application in the coming months that will drastically improve your case to the point that at least 90% of applicants in the RD pool would pale in comparison.</p>
<p>Actually, on second thought, if you know for sure what it is that you’ll be adding to your application, might as well mention it in the app for ED. If you don’t know for sure… well then of course you’d ED.</p>