@socaldad2002 as @milee30 said, ED to me one of the LEAST transparent numbers to investigate. It was a tough decision to go ED at DD’s chosen school, but we made an attempt by examining (1) How many Division I teams are there? If I am not mistaken, they are the only ones that can “reserve” a spot. My daughter is not an athlete, so I could be wrong. (2) Are there parameters on specific types of students? What does the school self report on the importance of these factors? For example, some schools allot a certain number of spots for legacy/first gen/ ethnicity/in state. (3) What is the difference between admission rates? What can you discern by research about the viewpoints of admissions. Using Colorado College as my example, they have a very small number of Div 1 teams, and the helpful students on CC said that the vast majority of the people they know were admitted ED. CC has a very different model (block scheduling as opposed to semester or quarter) and is very, very invested in ensuring that the students are choosing to buy in to this learning style. It was clear from multiple indicators that ED would make a difference in admission. Based on the extreme zeal of our daughter, and the lack of predictability of admittance, she elected to do it. We supported her, although I will miss the giant scholarships that she received from other EA schools! We also factored in the likely aide from the other schools in her decision-base. We knew we were not going to get need-based aide, so we reviewed https://www.kiplinger.com/article/college/T014-C000-S002-kiplinger-s-best-college-values-2018.html to get a a feel for how much merit she might be awarded. We then figured out the relative probably costs, so she would be fully informed. (We are blessed to have a scholarship fund from her grandparents, which she is allowed to use for educational purposes. The remaining funds are hers if there are any, as are the debts. D1 did a masterful job of managing her funds, so D2 has a great model).