<p>What is ED and how does that work?</p>
<p>Stands for early decision, and it increases your chances for acceptance as it shows a strong committment to the school. It's binding though (Don't pay attention to those idiots who try to wiggle out of it) so make sure that your ED college is your 1st choice.</p>
<p>Early Decision. Basically, the idea is that when you apply to colleges, there's an option called Early Decision, which is when you apply early to your first-choice college. When you apply, you make an agreement that if you are accepted, you will attend, no matter what (unless the college really doesn't give you enough aid). There are pros and cons to applying early. Here's some advice:</p>
<p>Pros:
- If you know which school is your first choice school (and you are certain), then there's basically no reason not to apply early decision.
- If you get accepted, then you don't have to worry about applying to all the other schools, because you already got into your first choice school. My friend applied Early Decision to Columbia, his first choice school, and got in, and got a lot of aid, so while I was stressed out about applying to eight schools, he was all done! I was kind of jealous of him.</p>
<p>Cons:
- You have to be certain that the school you apply Early Decision to is really your first choice school, because once you get in, you basically can't change your mind: you're going there (unless the financial aid is truly, actually, excruciatingly bad). So think carefully.
- You need to be more prepared. In other words, you have to fill out the form, get the recommendations, get the transcript, get everything you need for your application, done sooner. For recommendation letters, that means asking your teachers earlier, and of course it means knowing who to ask much sooner as well. Most of the Early Decision due dates are around November, while, for the schools I applied to at least, they were due around March. Also, you need to (for the most part) complete the financial aid forms earlier as well, and this can be a real pain if you don't know how to complete these. This is why, however you apply (Early or Regular), you should talk to someone who can help you fill out these forms, if there are any free programs (fortunately, my high school was very good about telling students about a program where I could talk to an expert and get help filling out the forms, for free!). If there are any, you absolutely should go. If you apply early, you should have a plan for what you need to do, before senior year begins. Also, there's not enough time to send first-semester grades, which might impact the decision positively, so it might be better to apply regular.
- Once you apply early, you might not be sure about whether you want to apply to more colleges, because what if you get rejected? Then you need to apply to other colleges. That friend who got into Columbia was pretty sure he'd get into Columbia, so he didn't bother to apply anywhere else. Fortunately he got in, because if he didn't, he'd have to scramble during Winter Break or so to get all the applications he had to complete, done.</p>
<p>Now, there's more to Early Decision than this. First, some students (why, oh why do people do this), apply early because they think that it will increase their chances of getting in. For example, Wesleyan University is a highly selective school, but I think its Early Decision acceptance rate is like 40%. Some students think that means it's easier to get in if you apply early, but that percentage is misleading, because generally the people who apply early are stronger applicants and because generally the people who apply early do so because Wesleyan is their first choice school. When you apply early, the admissions people get the message that, "Okay, this student is seriously wanting to attend our school. He/she even made an agreement to attend if he/she gets in." That's what Early Decision is about. So don't be misled by the percentage, though applying early does send the message that it's really your first choice school and that you really really want to go. That factors into the decision.</p>
<p>There are also things like Early Decision I and Early Decision II, which makes things twice as confusing. Under the Early Decision II option, students may take more time to reach their decision and may include their first-semester grades in their applications. The deadline for this is sometime in January. </p>
<p>There's also Early Action, which is the same thing as Early Decision, except it's nonbinding, meaning that if you get accepted Early Action (EA), you don't have to attend that school. So in some ways EA is beneficial to ED, but you still get most of the cons of ED in EA.</p>
<p>Another note: Some schools don't have EA/ED I/ED II. Largely that's because many colleges and universities think that people are trying to use these programs in the wrong way, for example by applying ED because the acceptance rate is higher. There's also an argument that these early acceptance options favor the wealthy, since if you get in early and get an okay amount of aid, you can afford to go, whereas some students who are less affluent shouldn't apply ED because they aren't able to compare financial aid packages, for example, what if the schools that you would have applied regular to gave you much more aid than your ED school? You wouldn't know because you have to accept the ED school, and the other schools didn't show how much they would give you, because you have to accept the ED offer. And because within two weeks or so of receiving the ED acceptance notice, you have to send a letter saying that your applications to those other schools have been canceled.</p>
<p>So that concludes what I have to say about Early Decision. Again, think carefully about this option, but if you get in Early and get a good amount of financial aid, you'll have a much easier senior year.</p>
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