<p>^
I am well aware of the differences between EA and ED. There are many students out there who apply early to schools they like to increase their chances. Frankly, many students don't know what they truly want from a college. The opportunity cost of doing ED is that they lose the chance to apply to other schools they might like slightly more. For many this cost is not enough to deter them from increasing their chances by applying ED. This is game theory in action.</p>
<p>Last year the schools I would have applied to had I not gotten into D were:</p>
<p>Williams
Princeton
Brown
Yale
Vassar
McGill</p>
<p>I also did a survey last year on CC of those choosing Dartmouth after RD asking which schools they turned down. Here are the results:</p>
<p>I have chosen Dartmouth over .....</p>
<p>Amherst (2)
American
Arizona State University
Boston College (4)
Bowdoin (2)
Brandeis (2)
Brown (2)
CalTech
Carleton (2)
(University of) Chicago (9)
Clarkson
Colgate
Columbia (5)
Cornell (8)
Duke (6)
Emory (3)
Harvard (3)
Georgetown (4)
Johns Hopkins (5)
McGill (4)
Michigan (4)
Middlebury (2)
MIT
Northwestern (8)
Notre Dame
NYU (3)
Pomona (3)
Princeton (3)
Rice (3)
Stanford (2)
Swarthmore (3)
Tulane
UArizona
UBuffalo
UCBerkeley (4)
UCLA (2)
UCSD
UPenn (3)
UPenn, Wharton (4)
URochester (6)
UVA (5)
UWash-Seattle (3)
UWisc-Madison
Vanderbilt
Vassar (1)
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Whitman
William&Mary
Williams (6)
WUStL (10)
Yale (4)</p>
<p>And I would have gone to ---- if I had gotten in, rather than Dartmouth:</p>
<p>Alpha order</p>
<p>Harvard
Penn - Wharton
Princeton
Yale (2)</p>
<p>The list "I have chosen Dartmouth over ....." is, not surprisingly, larger than "And I would have gone to ---- if I had gotten in, rather than Dartmouth."</p>
<p>Not a lot of people are going to reveal that they would have rather gone to another place had they been accepted. In fact, the overwhelming majority of college students would "say" that the current school they are attending is their first choice. That's just how human nature works. We are psychologically prone to adjust to such situations in efforts of mental compensation. I know this sounds very pessimistic but it is how our minds work.</p>
<p>Hallowarts: You must be really fun at parties. :) kidding you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Not a lot of people are going to reveal that they would have rather gone to another place had they been accepted.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think you overestimate the power of the subconscious. Many people I've talked to said that Dartmouth was not their first choice and they would have gone to x over Dartmouth. Nonetheless, they still love it here.</p>
<p>
[quote]
This is game theory in action.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How, exactly, does game theory apply here at all?</p>
<p>^
You have two options. Being a top student, you could apply to your top choice school of X or apply to Y, a school that you somewhat like. Assume X is generally more selective than Y. X does not have ED. If everyone applied to X in regular decision then everyone stands the chance of not getting in and losing the opportunity to increase their chance at Y. With this in mind, many will strategically choose to apply to Y because they deem the increased chance of admissions is worth the slight loss in terms of preference.</p>
<p>middlebury, colgate, bc, davidson, claremont mckenna, bowdoin, bates, colby, william and mary, kenyon..</p>
<p>You're both wrong. Most people just didn't know that they should list where they would have preferred to go. The original question on that thread was only where else you got in.</p>
<p>Actually, the original question on the thread is where will you apply ( and assumes you applied ED to D) - therefore, you've gotten in nowhere yet. This differs from the question of who did you turn down to come to D. However, it's all good.</p>
<p>And I will agree with hallowarts on some level, but I think if Harvard is really your top choice or you just really don't know, you'd be shortsighted and foolish to apply to any school ED just to hedge your bets. Life is full of regrets, why start so young?</p>
<p>
[quote]
And I will agree with hallowarts on some level, but I think if Harvard is really your top choice or you just really don't know, you'd be shortsighted and foolish to apply to any school ED just to hedge your bets. Life is full of regrets, why start so young?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Because when you apply RD to Harvard and Dartmouth and get rejected at both and end up going to Colgate or Middlebury instead, you will then regret not applying ED to Dartmouth.</p>
<p>^Exactly, just like I'll end up getting rejected from Midd and D and regret doingthe latter over the former ED and wind up at Colgate.</p>
<p>^Except I wouldn't say the spread between Harvard and Dartmouth is as great as between Middlebury and Colgate. My year, the SAT avg was actually three points higher at Colgate than Middlebury, although think Midd has always had a somewhat lower acceptance rate.</p>
<p>^No, I'm comparing Midd and Dartmouth to Dartmouth and Harvard. The scenario was someone not doing ED to D because they wanted a chance at H, and then not getting into either because they didn't take the opportunity to maximize their chance by settling for D ED. In my personal case, substitute D for H and M for D.</p>
<p>Modanunn:
[Quote]
Actually, the original question on the thread is where will you apply ( and assumes you applied ED to D) - therefore, you've gotten in nowhere yet. This differs from the question of who did you turn down to come to D. However, it's all good.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>We are talking about two different threads. I'm talking about the thread last year where we were asked what schools we turned down. This was where that list of schools we rejected for Dartmouth was produced.</p>
<p>You were talking about this thread that we were talking in right now.</p>
<p>Dartmoose.... since I have read every thread, which only suggests I am probably obsessing about this far more than my S, I know we were talking about two different threads and the list of schools was a cut and paste from the other thread. Like I said, it's all good. </p>
<p>And I guess I am confused by the whole gaming theory thing as I can't imagine encouraging my son to ever hedge a bet on his dream. You either go for it or you don't. You only fail when you quit the game before it's over. But seriously, SAT's are not his friend like the ACT is. His grades and ACT scores do not correlate well with his SATs. However, Amherst, Middlebury and Colgate will all accept just his ACT's. His odds are much much better at these highly selective school simply because they'll never have to see his SAT score sheet (send one, send all crap). Still.. Dartmouth is #1 and to not have applied would have been a forever "what if" in his mind. I just don't see the logic of applying binding ED to your second choice school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
No, I'm comparing Midd and Dartmouth to Dartmouth and Harvard. The scenario was someone not doing ED to D because they wanted a chance at H, and then not getting into either because they didn't take the opportunity to maximize their chance by settling for D ED. In my personal case, substitute D for H and M for D.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I understood what you were saying. I was saying that I while would view Harvard as a lot better than Dartmouth, I wouldn't view Middlebury as a lot better than Colgate. So I would think you should try to maximize ED at Dartmouth because I would think Middlebury and Colgate are reasonably equal backups; so wouldn't consider ED to Middlebury and give up what you would really want; namely trying to maximize acceptance at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>^For me, Middlebury has a bunch of advantages over Colgate, but I get what you're saying.</p>
<p>What do you think the advantages of Middlebury are? I personally very much prefer Colgate to Middlebury and think it's a great place to spend four years....</p>
<p>I'd like to hear those differences myself. neither one is right and both are valid!</p>
<p>Location- it's far enough away, but more convenient than Colgate. I can get home easily if necessity dictates at Midd, but not Colgate. Also, I'd like to stay in VT.
Reputation- Though both have great reputations here, being a Middlebury alum will be more advantageous for networking purposes if I want to stay in this area.<br>
Distribution Requirements- Middlebury has less of these, unless I'm mistaken.
People- I have some friends at Midd already, and some of the Juniors I like will also probably end up here, whereas at Colgate, I know nobody.</p>
<p>But yeah, they are very similar (VERY), so I can appreciate how my statement might have seemed odd. A lot of it is based on my love of VT, and while upstate NY is comparable, it's not the same.</p>