What’s the best school I could get into with a 2100 on SAT, really good essay, 4.2 GPA, 9 AP classes, and a good resume IF I did Early Decision
You can get into a good number of selective schools. If you are looking to do ED, what schools do you have in mind? Can you afford to attend an ED school, as you could be full-pay depending on your EFC?
Yes, I can afford a full tuition. And I am looking at a lot of selective LACs, but I am open to other larger schools.
If you could give us the name of specific schools on your list we could tell you our best guess at your chances.
Brown ED biggest reach, Skidmore College lowest reach … Hopefully that gives you a better feel?
Skidmore sounds close to a lock. You could do ED2 for that, and use ED1 for something more of a reach. Maybe LACs in the 20 to 40 ranking on USNews. (The rankings are roughly useful, though they do gyp Reed at #93.) Brown would be a reach even at ED, at heir ED admit rate is still only 18%. Below is a link for Early Decision vs. Regular Decision Acceptance Rates, from Sept 2015. It has stats for over a hundred schools.
Early Decision vs. Regular Decision Acceptance Rates
https://www.iecaonline.com/PDF/IECA_Library_ED-vs-RD-Acceptances.pdf
Find your fit; don’t claw to the top of someone else’s list.
Dartmouth, Penn or Cornell ED. All these schools take almost half to well above half of their classes in the ED round. Dartmouth= the best 
How are you defining “best”?
If Brown is your top choice then apply there ED and see what happens.
Thank you so much! At what acceptance rate (ED or RD) would you say I have a good chance at?
I’m from Central Florida… Not too many kids here look at the schools I’m looking at
You think I could get into Hamilton College or Wesleyan University without going ED? How about Wash U in SL?
You might get in Hamilton or Wesleyan RD, though ED would increase chances. They and similar schools take a big portion of freshman ED, some over 50%. Both have ED2, which Brown does not. So you could take a chance with Brown ED, if that is your dream school, and us ED2 for your second choice, if that school is a CLEAR second. (BTW, Hamilton and Wes are quite different from what I read. Hamilton more preppy, Wes more hipster. Though I am sure there are students/grads from both who would scream at me. But schools have different vibes).
The ED rate for WUSTL is nearly 3 times the RD rate, and that school loves students who want to be there, and aren’t pissed they didn’t get into an Ivy. Might be worth a visit.
And congrats to you @samantha827 for looking at expanding your school search beyond just what your classmates are doing! Especially being full-pay, you have the whole USA to consider, get the benefit of being in colleges with bright kids from all over the USA an the world.
Thank you so much @PetulaClark !!! Your words mean so much and thank you for your help.
The numbers for these schools suggest part of the story. At Hamilton, for example, the recent acceptance rates were as follows:
ED1: 45%
ED2: 35%
RD: 24%
(Overall: 26%)
As an opinion, however, I think you should simply apply ED – should you select this option – to the college you like the most.
Or the ED2 pool (at any given college) could have a good number of applicants who did not get into a tougher ED1 school. Like Brown for ED1, and Hamilton or Haverford for ED2? And some of these ED2 candidates will be stronger than ED1s.
@merc81 Is that info on Hamilton on their websidte? The CDS does not break down ED1 vs ED2 does it?
This link will take you to Hamilton’s class of 2020 statistics:
Not to be a party pooper but you haven’t really provided enough info for anyone to really give you concrete feedback. Check past acceptance threads for some of these schools and you’ll see plenty of students get turned away with your kind of stats although, yes, some do get accepted. For anyone to truly give you feedback, what are your ECs? It’s more than just grades/test scores, especially for LACs which look at apps more holistically. You mention looking at both selective LACs and larger schools, but WHAT exactly are you interested in besides the most prestige? What attributes attract you? What majors are of potential interest? The info you have provided is very vague.
Without more detail, its all purely speculation and somewhat meaningless quite frankly.
Thanks @apple23 ! It is interesting that near 2/3 of accepted students came from HS that did not rank. Actaully, that is the case for virtually every Top 50 LAC, except the service academies. Which make the whole ‘Top 10%’ and ‘Top 25%’ of HS class claims kinda bogus.
I have been look at the CDS for various schools. Do other schools give out as detailed a report as Hamilton has?