<p>This may be early considering my turn in the admission battle begins at the end of this year, but I would like to relieve some of the stress that is going on in my mind. I am torn between three schools that I have fallen in love with, one more than the other two depending on the week. However my greatest fear is that I get rejected from all three. Now they aren't the most selective colleges (around 30-40% acceptance rate) but I don't exactly have the greatest stats. 3.6-3.7 GPA, and considering my practice tests, 2050-2100 SAT.
Now my question is, what should a early decision choice depend on? ED would practically ensure my chances in one of these schools, and significantly boost my chance on the other, while the third would actually reduce my chance (but meet 100% need if accepted). Should I go for the most selective while risking the other two? I just don't know! Can someone give me their experiences or their thoughts on on selecting an Early Decision college?</p>
<p>1) Have you spoken with your parents and can you afford all three? If yes, then apply to the one you’ll most enjoy attending w/o regard for accept rates. ED is binding. It’s akin to asking someone to get married. Make up your mind. Time to be mature and stop the “flavor of the week” bouncing.</p>
<p>2) If you can’t afford all three and need to compare fin aid packages (common occurance) then it gets trickier. Then you’ll really need to know which, if any, is known for generous FinAid to ED applicants. This can only be done thru research. Otherwise, you should apply to all three under RD and compare FinAid packages.</p>
<p>2a) There is a school of thought that you apply ED to your 1st choice and if they happen to come back w/an inadequate FinAid package, you immediately back out and go with your 2ndary schools. There are tricky timing issues with this strategy – and some would say even ethical ones.</p>
<p>Yup, ED is a legal commitment. Pick the school that you are sure you want to attend and are sure that you can afford.</p>
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<p>Clear cut.</p>
<p>If you’re vacillating, you probably shouldn’t be applying early decision. Early action is OK, but not early decision.</p>
<p>Same thing if, as T26E4 said, money is an issue: EA is all right, but ED is problematic. The thing I dislike most about ED is that it takes away an applicant’s ability to shop for the best value. You’d have to go to your ED college if they offered you enough aid. You’d never get a chance to find out whether another college that you liked nearly as much would have been more generous.</p>
<p>Your preferences may be clearer to you in another six months. If they are, then nothing that anybody has said in this thread will really matter. If they aren’t, then I think you should hesitate before applying ED anywhere at all.</p>
<p>^ Agreed 100%!!</p>
<p>ED is the choice where you have no question, hands down, that you would walk past any other school waiving offers of admission (and $) at you to attend. Throw on that sweatshirt baby, paint your face school colors, sing the fight song, and profess your lifelong loyalty. Okay, well maybe everyone has different ways of showing their enthusiasm, but you get the idea. You are totally committed to this school. If not…</p>
<p>EA is your friend. Non binding. A lot can change between November 1 and May 1 when you apply ED or EA and when EA/RD commitments are due. If there is any chance at all that you might change your mind for any reason (academic, financial, the weather is better, the nasty girl in your APUSH class is going to school XYZ and now there is no WAY you’re going!, Suzie’s brother said that there are roaches in the dorms at school ABC so it’s off the list) then you do not want to put yourself into a binding, ED, situation.</p>
<p>It may feel like ‘everyone’ goes ED. That’s not the case at all. Many people apply early and it’s smart to have an early admit (either rolling decision or EA that’s a financial safety that can let you relax a bit). It’s really a small amount of people who are applying ED and you really have to determine if it’s the right move for you. Best of luck.</p>
<p>ED has become the way to move a school that is in the reach range into the match range for kids, and that question “to which school should I apply ED?” has become more and more prevalent. Waste of breath to try to talk to those who are in that situation; I’ve tried. When it works out, it’s beautiful, but more often than one would think it does not.</p>
<p>First of all if, you are applying for financial aid, don’t do it You can’t compare offers and you won’t know in a vacuum what you are missing. </p>
<p>Second of all, understand that you are at a time in your life when you are changing quite a bit, and what you think is the best school in the fall, may not be your feeling in the spring. </p>
<p>Thirdly, if you really know yoursself to the point where you can be perfectly happy going to any of the three schools on your list, and you just want to be set with the surest chance, go right on ahead and go that route, picking the school most likely to accept you. </p>
<p>My neighbor’s DD applied ED to a school, exact same situation you were in, and she was accepted. She was a full pay, and though the family was not entitled to financial aid, with 3 kids and things the way they are, any merit money would have been nice.</p>
<p>After she was accepted and others started getting notifications, they found that a goodly number of her peers were getting some nice merit awards as much as $20K a year. No chump change here. They were quite miffed because they would have accepted admissions at any number of those schools at that kind of discount over ED U and even that school was giving out $s to those who did not have quite the academic profile. Also. a lot of the luster of the school was gone, once it was a done deal. The old buyer’s remorse and other gremlins jumped on board and started their torture.</p>
<p>Thank you for your insight guys. I am of course still an immature teenager. There are still months left before I make my decision, maybe one day it will just hit me.</p>
<p>Hey, now. Nobody said “immature.” It’s completely appropriate for your interests and preferences still to be developing and changing. </p>
<p>But as long as no single college or university is your runaway favorite, it makes sense to keep your options open. JMO.</p>
<p>I happen to have learned this lesson from my own daughter, who resisted the pressure I put in her to have a “first choice,” and who didn’t apply early anywhere.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>