<p>Does anyone know the accepetance rates for ED v. RD?</p>
<p>I have heard that the acceptance rate for RD is much lower. Is this because students less committed to the school apply, or is it genuinely harder to get in. I am right in Saint Olaf's applicant pool with 30 ACT, 3.8 unwghtd GPA and decent extracurriculars (I have also visited campus and done an interview). Would I have the same chance applying ED as RD?</p>
<p>Help a girl out. I don't want to be rejected and regret not doing ED.</p>
<p>If St. Olaf is your clear top choice, than go the ED route. The Common Data Set for 2009-2010 has not been released yet but the ED acceptance rate for the prior year was over 87%. They have had a consistently high ED acceptance rate over the last 10 years. The RD acceptance rate is approximately 58% but, again, the most recent numbers have not been released. Clearly ED is the way to go if St. Olaf is your favorite school and you don’t want to lose the opportunity to be admitted.</p>
<p>Bobby is correct–the acceptance rate for ED is far greater than that for RD. St. Olaf, like most schools with ED, likes students who are highly committed to the school. In fact, the school would like to see 20% of the class admitted early (about 140 out of a first year class of about 700).</p>
<p>Whether YOU should apply ED, is, of course, an intensely personal decision, based on many factors, not least of which is finances (although St. Olaf is usually pretty good with aid). It sounds like you are a good candidate–the only negative I see is that females generally have a harder time because more females apply and they want to have the male/female ratio closer to 50/50 than 40/60.</p>
<p>If you’re not sure that ED 1 is right for you, you might want to consider ED 2 as an intermediate option between ED 1 and ED 2. The ED 2 application is due January 15, with notification by February 15.</p>
<p>If you apply ED needing financial aid, you can’t, of course, compare aid offers, so your decision becomes: is the FA enough, or not? If not, you tell them thanks but no thanks, and apply RD (or maybe ED 2) elsewhere.</p>
<p>After talking to admissions at St. Olaf, I am happy to conclude that I will be applying ED I. I was under the impression that once accepted under ED, I would have to immediately withdraw all my other applications. If that were the case, everything would ride on my financial aid package from St. Olaf, and if it was not enough, I would be stuck at a community college. Because I am applying for need based financial aid, I do not have to withdraw my applications and submit an enrollment deposit until two weeks /after/ I know my aid package. :)</p>
<p>St. Olaf would give Rampaige two weeks to decide if she wants to accept the school’s financial aid offer. If she does, then she must withdraw her other apps. This is standard Common App procedure for ED with FA (though two weeks is St. Olaf’s own policy–apparently).</p>
<p>gloworm, my parents and I have had numerous conversations with Saint Olaf admissions and financial aid office. Their answer was exactly what vossron said. If I accept the school’s financial aid, then I will withdraw all other applications.</p>
<p>I am really glad to hear that. When all was said and done, St. Olaf was in the running until the last night for my D. I hope you get in and have four wonderful years with the other Oles.</p>