<p>My top schools are Stanford and MIT, but I feel like it would just be a disadvantage for me to apply EA to those schools (especially stanford, since I could get rejected flat out). Should I maybe apply EA to harvard?</p>
<p>@bowerland
The EA deadline for Stanford, MIT, and Harvard has passed actually, the RD deadline is coming up soon. </p>
<p>Why would it be a disadvantage? You just know your decision earlier, which can give you time to change your admissions plan if you are applying to other schools.</p>
<p>Yeah…pretty much all EA deadlines have passed. Some RD deadlines are really soon, so you should really just be polishing apps now, not figuring out where to apply. Go ahead and apply to your top schools (the only way to disadvantage yourself would be to apply ED2 somewhere and not be sure about the FA) but just know that you’re not going to find out until April.</p>
<p>Deadline is past now but compare SCEA admit rate to RD admit rate. For Stanford there is not much difference. For many other schools, particularly ED schools it can be huge</p>
<p>I’m a junior now, I was thinking about next year. It would be a disadvantage because I want to have another semester to prove I can do better than my frosh grades (3 Bs 
)</p>
<p>A top GPA in a rigorous 7th semester to boost up the culm GPA is one of the best reasons NOT to apply EA/ED to selective schools. </p>
<p>Exactly…</p>
<p>I think it’s hard for anyone on CC to advise you without knowing your grades/test scores, but here goes.</p>
<p>Personally, I think you should apply to whichever school you prefer since your chances can’t really actually be <em>worse</em> applying ED than RD, so if you get rejected from your favorite school, you know you would never have gotten in RD anyways. It gives you time to deal with the decision and plan for RD.</p>
<p>Also, when thinking about EA/ED applications, keep this in mind: acceptance rates for EA/ED are generally higher, somewhere around 20% for Ivies, but that is pretty misrepresentative of your chances. When the average student applies ED, he/she is competing against other applicants that generally have better scores, ECs, etc than regular applicants. You’re also competing against more legacies and possibly more URMs. Basically, when you apply ED, you face the real cream of the crop that is college admissions.</p>
<p>Basically what I’m trying to say is, don’t sweat ED. </p>
<p>Also, colleges don’t really look at frosh grades (or at least they don’t weigh them as much as junior ones)</p>