<p>I've heard so many times that if you do early action you have so much more chances of getting in, but at the same time the quality of my essays will be much better if I have 2 months rather than 2 weeks. I love the college I just dont know what is better? Thoughts?</p>
<p>I think the general rule of thumb is those who get in/get rejected early would have the same results RD, and the higher admit rate is due to an overall stronger applicant pool. If I were you I would wait until you feel your application is strongest, then go for it.
However, if the school is your top choice, ED would certainly be the way to go. Perhaps working especially hard now to get them perfect in time for the deadline would really, really pay off for you in the long run!</p>
<p>^ Agree. ED would give you a higher chance if you are not too far off the admission average. EA may or may not give you advantage if you are below admission average. If you are above admission average, you should try EA. Otherwise, you should improve your score/GPA and apply RD. For schools that has a low EA rejection (high deferral) and you are above the 25%, you may still try EA as you are likely be deferred anyway.</p>
<p>I think colleges believe that student who apply EA have a higher level of interest in their school. It shows something that you went to the trouble to do their application early. Both my kids got EA acceptances, and one was to a school that we really did not think would admit my kid at all. There are generally fewer applications in the EA pool, and I think there is a lot to be said for having your application read in the early EA days before the ad coms are buried with the RD applications. There are a few tippy top schools where there is no advantage in EA. But I think at a lot of schools there is an advantage.</p>
<p>I say go for EA, but get working on the applications now. Most EA apps are due in November from what I have seen, so you probably have a month. Be sure you have someone review your essays, and print out the application and review it carefully on paper before submitting.</p>
<p>The OP did not ask about ED (per lauren’s comment). But only apply ED if you don’t need to compare financial aid offers and you are CERTAIN the college is the one you want to attend for 4 years. My D2 learned a lot at accepted student days last year (got into all 3 of her reaches) – she picked a completely different school than she expected to going into the accepted student visits. If she had done ED, it wouldn’t have been to the school she ended up picking in the end.</p>
<p>Best: Good EA and Good RD. You already know that. But since you know the quality of your work, there’s no way on earth you should rush a package to a school you can really envision yourself attending. Chalk it up to procrastination, whatever. The ship has sailed. Pound out a stack of stellar RD packages. Good luck.</p>
<p>Never send in a package that is less than great. It won’t work.</p>
<p>That said, why would great essays take two months? Most EA deadlines are still a month away. You can’t get one school done in that time? Get started immediately and see how it comes together. If it all works, send it in, if it sucks, don’t.</p>
<p>Applications and essays are just like an additional class. You have homework every night right now in that class. Get crackin’.</p>
<p>I would think if you have the SATs & good GPA then I would absolutely work toward EA.
regarding the essay, if it was two months or two years if you can’t get it cleaned up and out the door you never will. I don’t think the essay prep time will make a difference. and if its not a “highly selective” top school then I would be suprised if it makes any difference at all. I think most schools follow a SAT/GPA cutline just to make it easy. The essay comes into play only when the those other two items aren’t very good.</p>