Would Early Decision hurt you??

Applying to College
1

<p>I am applying Early Decision to Vanderbilt and I am worried about whether or not it will actually help me.<br>
I know ED is supposed to give you a higher change of acceptance, but won't the applicant pool for ED also be stronger?
Please reply!</p>

2

<p>not necessarily </p>

<p>it could just be people who think ‘my only chance of getting in here is if I ED it’ whereas really strong applicants might just make Vandy their RD-safety… as well as the fact that EDs usually get priority admission</p>

<p>like, I’m applying ED to a pretty solid place and I had to spell check ‘necessarily’</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

4

<p>Vanderbilt’s ED/RD acceptance rate is 32/18, that’s a pretty big gap, so it looks like there is a definite advantage.</p>

<p>A lot of strong applicants don’t apply ED because they are likely applying someplace where they’re marginal, e.g. Ivies. Some kids can’t commit by the ED deadline, they want the ability to make a choice. Some strong candidates need to play FA at different schools off each other, so they can’t afford to take a chance that an ED school won’t pay enough. Etc, etc. </p>

<p>On the plus side for you, if you show a willingness to commit to Vanderbilt, and they like your app, they’ll lock you in so they have a good base to build the next class from. Only 40% of those getting offers in the RD round accept, so the school likes to grab those good students who are a sure thing for them.</p>

5

<p>I just talked to a rep from Vandy at my school, and she said the admission rate ED is about 22%, and 40% of the class is admitted via this route.</p>

6

<p>Remember, there is a restriction for ED that each student can only apply to one. So the applicant pool is much smaller and those apply are very much interested in that school. Whereas for RD, everybody who got rejected ED from other top schools as well as those who were not ready for ED are applying. It is a much larger pool. Even with 40% admitted students are from RD, the acceptance rate would be much much lower than from the ED pool.</p>

7

<p>I think one needs to take note of the fact that the ED pool DOESNT have to necessarily over the top more competitive than regular. We are not talking about the ED pool of a top 8 school where very competitive early pool is virtually guaranteed. You have to realize that people apply to Vandy ED not because its a higher chance, its because they fall in the quantitative range of accepted students (like scores, sats, grades, etc) and they think they have a good chance. They are really committed and LOVE vandy. Although u can expect the pool to be slightly harder cause its VANDY but i think applying early would still give u an advantage if u fall in the average numerical ranges of vandy acceptances and u have solid ECs.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the replies guys!</p>

<p>Could you chance this??</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1566646-ill-chance-back-if-you-chance-me-tulane-ea.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1566646-ill-chance-back-if-you-chance-me-tulane-ea.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;