I was rejected ED from Cornell. My backup was to do ED II for NYU Stern. But, my parents convinced me to apply to many high reach schools for RD (Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, Princeton, UPenn), as well as some mid-low reach schools (Georgetown, JHU). I have all my supplements and essays written and ready to go. However, after doing research for many of these schools, I’ve found that I do like them and would be willing to give them a shot in RD. But then again, if I was rejected from Cornell ED there is no way in hell’s tarnation I would be accepted by these schools RD. Granted, I did improve my application in many ways, namely I retuned and improved my Common App essay and fixed my EC list. And yes, I do have many matches and safety schools on deck.
You don’t know that. Lots of people get rejected at most of their reaches but get into one or two and attend. If you really like those schools and your grades/scores are somewhat competitive, then go for it.
Go for RD! You’ll never know what’ll happen until it does.
@An0maly But you’re thinking about instances when someone gets rejected by Harvard or Stanford, but get accepted to Brown or Dartmouth. And my scores are competitive, my grades are a bit on the lowside with a great upward trend that I have to explain but I don’t know where or how.
I would go for the RD. You never know what’s going to happen. You know there are people who have been rejected from one and accepted to another. These places don’t always cross-admit.
As commented on in you other thread. you can’t reasonably “explain” an upward trend in grades unless you had some issue before that colleges would look at sympathetically causing lower grades. Illness, family tragedy, homelessness, etc. all might be something an admissions committee would want to know about. If that is the case, have your guidance counselor explain it. But just “I figured out how to word harder and I am going to keep on doing it” isn’t something that will impress an admissions committee at all, especially at those types of colleges. They can clearly see your grades, and any trends in them. The only time an explanation is warranted is if there is some extenuating factor, which I don’t think you have.
@intparent I commented on that in reply to the message you sent me, check your inbox
You don’t want to live thinking “what if?” If your parents are fine with having you apply to more places, then go for it.
On the thread where students post their overall results, there were several times were people got accepted into colleges “more prestigious” and rejected from one “less prestigious”. The most interesting case of this was when one person got into Stanford, but was rejected from UCLA. There’s a YouTube video posted by a current Harvard student on how she was rejected from Stanford, her first choice, but accepted to Harvard. So, you never know.
Yeah, if you look at the Cornell ED results thread, you’d see a bunch of lower-stats kids accepted and a bunch of higher-stats kids rejected.
Colleges are idiosyncratic and may look for different things or judge different ways. Kids get rejected by Cornell yet get in to schools on the same tier (and vice versa) all the time.
BTW, Tufts also has ED2. Something to consider.
Just apply everywhere on your list or your parent’s list. You have nothing to lose.
My D was accepted into her ED1 school (Pomona), but we had talked about the plan if she were rejected. One opetion was to switch her CMC application from RD to ED2 (it had already been submitted at that point to make the merit aid deadline). But her other apps were all ready or had been submitted RD, and included a mix of reach and match schools. Plus she had already been admitted to her safety. So I’m pretty sure we would have just waited for the RD results.
My feeling is that if you have a strong, clear second choice for ED2 (i.e., you would go there even if all your other apps were accepted), and reason to believe that ED2 actually improves your odds, then consider applying ED2. But otherwise go ahead with RD. I definitely remember months ago when I was studying the Class of 2018 ED1 results for Pomona, that there were some students who were rejected who went on to be accepted at high reach schools. So you never know exactly why you were rejected or what another adcom may see in you.
Also, if you want to hunt for merit money or compare fin aid packages, go with RD.
Why are your ED II and RD schools a mutually exclusive decision? You can apply EDII somewhere and RD to a number of other places.
@"Erin’s Dad" Because let’s say I get into my ED II school.
Apply RD to a bunch of schools! Just be sure you have some matches and safeties in there too! Good luck 
So now you don’t think you want to attend NYU? If that’s the case then apply RD. I think you’re making this harder than it needs to be
@"Erin’s Dad" No because if I get into NYU then I’m going to have to retract all my other applications, effectively taking me out the race for all the other schools.
If it’s not your #1 choice then don’t ED.