<p>I was looking at the NY Times chart on early decision and early action Admit rates for 2010 and they all appear to be quite reasonable-in the 25% to 35% range for places like Dartmouth, Penn, Northwestern and Duke. Why then do students forego what looks to be a reasonable process to participate in the mass slaughter that comes in April? It appears that all these colleges inflate their acceptance rates at the early cycle to aritifically crush the masses in April.</p>
<p>ED means you can’t compare Financial Aid packages! </p>
<p>So, for many applicants Early Action or Regular Decision is what they must do, to see what school is giving them the best deal. </p>
<p>If paying for the college is a concern, then ED is very risky for those families.</p>
<p>You’re also seeing an increase in admissions rates due to various hooks like legacy status and recruited atheletes. Penn (not sure about the others) will only give an admissions boost to legacies if they apply ED. </p>
<p>Other factors: a student might not be ready to commit to one school by the ED application deadline. A student might be interested in applying to a school which doesn’t offer an ED/EA option, especially if they want to attend a school in a specific athletic conference.</p>