That was my son’s strategy. He had a list of schools that we was really excited about, all pretty similar (small LACs). Applied ED1 to his dream school (very competitive small LAC), to which he was denied. Used ED2 to apply to a lower reach school (slightly less competitive small LAC) to which he was accepted. In between he’d gotten a couple of EA acceptances, one of which was a school pretty high on his list and to which he would have been really happy to attend, which took much of the stress out of the ED2 decision-making process. He preferred the ED2 school slightly to the EA school, but he would have been extremely happy at the EA school. So, he was in a pretty great position once he got that EA acceptance.
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Colleges that offer both ED and EA don’t seem to give any direct bump to EA— but they will invite applicants to change their application to ED at times.
Schools that offer EA but not ED do seem to give a decent bump to EA.
For example, SUNY Binghamton — overall acceptance rate of 43%. EA acceptance rate of over 60%.
But the real big advantage of EA is simply learning the decision EARLY. Hopefully getting some admissions into the back pocket before March
There is no downside to EA… apart from having to work harder on applications over the summer and early fall.
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Agree about EA!
And some EA only schools will only consider applicants for honors college and merit awards in EA. And often the majority of the class is filled in EA.
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True for public schools, but not necessarily true for private schools. MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Georgetown don’t give much bump (if any at all) to their EA applicants.
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It’s largely the public schools that use EA.
I haven’t examined the private schools as much – But the issue with EA and the private schools isn’t whether there is a bump in EA acceptance rate — To my knowledge, a high percentage of those EA applicants are deferred and reconsidered during regular admission?
Thus, once again, applying EA doesn’t hurt your chances, and gives you the chance to get an admission prior to the regular decision crowd.
In this case, EA is working a bit the opposite of ED:
With ED – Since it is binding, schools will trade off stats a bit in order to get a guaranteed yield. Thus, the higher acceptance rate.
But when only offering EA – There is no incentive to reward a marginal student with an early admission decision. It doesn’t protect your yield rate. So only admit the best during EA, reconsidering the rest as part of the RD process, as you fill out the class. But still, there is no disadvantage to applying early. And as noted, in public universities, most do give a significant bump to EA.
What is the evidence to support the claim that ED stats are lower at reach schools (factoring out athletes and other heavy hooks)?
That sums it up nicely and is ultimately the big question. The way I’m thinking about it now is (assuming it is a top choice) use ED1 for one of the top 3 along with EA at a few other schools. If he ends up rejected or deferred I think I might be more inclined to use ED2 on a school like (BC or Wake). Of course that could change with the outcome of the EA apps! Makes my head spin!
I don’t know any way to factor in or out athletes and hooks since I don’t know any source that reports data on “hooks.”
I do know that ED acceptance rates are significantly higher than RD acceptance rates. I know from Naviance that the GPAs and SATs/ACTs accepted for ED are significantly lower in range than for RD.
For example, on my local Naviance, we apply heavily to Cornell. RD, there was only 1 acceptance in the last 3 years with GPA under 4.0, but there were 5 ED acceptances under 4.0. Only 1 RD acceptance with SAT under 1400, but 8 ED acceptances with SAT under 1400. A very clear pattern.
Another moderately reachy school – BU – In the last 3 years, they have never rejected an ED student from my school with a GPA over 3.7. Was every single applicant hooked? I doubt it. But for RD, it’s mostly rejections in the 3.7-3.9 range.
ED is a hook in itself. It’s the most extreme version of demonstrated interest.
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Not at all such schools. Stanford, for example, defers very few.
EA to private schools offer an advantage that EA to public schools (at least the desirable state flagships) generally don’t have: their EA decisions are announced in December, so admitted students may not need to submit any more RD/ED2 applications.
If these “few other schools” are public, you likely won’t get a decision from them until after the RD or ED2 applications are due. If they’re private schools, only MIT and Caltech allow you to apply EA simultaneously along with your other ED1 applications (all others have restrictions preventing you from doing so).
Really? Or do you mean only among HYPS, Georgetown, Notre Dame (the kind of colleges that these forums focus on, as opposed to many other private schools with EA)?
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I’m not aware of any other private schools that offer EA (but not ED), announce EA decisions before the 1/1 deadline for ED2, and place no restrictions on simultaneous ED1 applications. Any examples?
I don’t think this is correct, most schools under ED rules allow you to apply EA as long as it’s not restrictive or single choice early action (example can’t pair ED1 at Penn with REA at ND, but can ED1 at Penn and EA at Chicago)
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No, the restriction is typically from the EA school (not the ED school). UChicago’s EA is in name only as another poster mentioned. It’s real intention is to get you to apply ED (or ED2 eventually).
Ok, but its EA1 decision isn’t guaranteed in December.
There are so very many that generally release decisions before RD deadlines, just to name a few…Tulane, U Chicago, CWRU, Auburn, Chapman, LMU, Santa Clara, Colorado College, U Denver, U Miami, DePaul, Babson, Marist, Elon, Reed, Furman. Probably over 100…not all highly selective, but great options for some students to get an acceptance before Jan 1. (Oops and sorry you wanted ones that didn’t also offer ED which many of these do)
But all (?) these schools have ED, not just EA. Their EAs aren’t in the same category.
Just saw that…yes many have ED…Auburn and DePaul don’t. I am sure there are more but don’t have time to pull more.
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Auburn is public, but DePaul is a good example.
Stanford has “restrictive” EA – And it provides a significant acceptance bump.
EA acceptance rate of 9%, compared to overall acceptance rate of 5%.
Once again — Applying early only provides an upside.