<p>Yesterday I received an Ask the Dean question from a student whose Early Decision good news wasnt really all that good for him. Yes, he actually did get accepted by his ED college, but now hes confessing that hed only applied there because he felt that he had a strong chance of admission via ED . He said that he was really more interested in several other colleges, which either did not offer an ED option or where he worried he would be deferred in the Early round. He explained that didnt want to waste his ED application on a Reach school, preferring instead to game the system with more of a sure-thing choice. Now, however, he has regrets, but he will honor his ED commitment.</p>
<p>So heres my question for those of you who also applied ED this fall:</p>
<p>Was your ED college a true love or more of a bird-in-hand?</p>
<p>That student was badly counseled! Why was the ED agreement signed?</p>
<p>My daughter applied to a fast track, rolling and EA school. These were her bird in the hand schools. She already has acceptances from her fast track and rolling schools. Next week she will hear from the EA school.</p>
<p>She also applied to an ED school - a school she adores. I did warn her that she might get some buyers remorse after she hit submit, but it hasn’t happened. I think, when she gets the answer, she will be thrilled with an acceptance.</p>
<p>I have remorse - but have since before she hit submit. I understand why she loves the school, but I think she could have easily gotten into something more prestigious. I am working through these issues I actually suggested ED, because her stats are higher than the average, I worried that if she did RD, they might dismiss her as someone searching for a safety. </p>
<p>As much as I admire this student for planning to honor his agreement, I also will reiterate that if he applied this way from the get go, he was very poorly counseled, and some trusted adult should intervene on his behalf and see if he can back out. Of course, this is a problem now, because he would be giving up his sure thing, and may end up with poorer options in the RD process. </p>
<p>But, if it is just the typical remorse that some students feel, he should take a deep breath, and remind himself what he loved about the school when he applied, and realize he will get those good feelings back. He can also relax - he is in.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that this student was poorly counseled. It sounded to me like he went into the deal with his eyes open. He consciously chose the proverbial bird-in-hand. He figured that an ED application to a college that is somewhat less selective than his top-choice colleges would be a much lower risk than either applying Early Decision to a school where even the ED boost wouldn’t be enough to help him get in or waiting for the Regular Decision round at a school with no ED option at all. </p>
<p>Granted, there are certainly students who are indeed poorly advised and who don’t make ED choices wisely. But I’m not convinced that this guy is among them.</p>
<p>daughter applied and was accepted to her first choice ED school…</p>
<p>no remorse, just nervous about taking this next step in her life; she is overjoyed!!</p>
<p>For her, there was this #1 but all the rest were ranked equally and she would have been happy almost everywhere she applied; the others each had one or two things that she liked but only the #1 had it all…</p>
<p>unlike above poster, “prestige” is a four letter word in our house…never even entered into the conversation…</p>
<p>agree that the person Sally is answering was badly counseled…and, yes, he will honor the ED agreement but why oh why are these kids “forced” into places just because they can get in???</p>
<p>edit:after reading Sally’s follow-up, agree that maybe he wasn’t badly counseled; that wasn’t clear in original thread…also, without knowing a little more about this kid and the schools involved, hard to judge…but when one resorts to making decisions JUST on selectivity and percentages, it really takes the personal aspect of this process out…</p>
<p>My S1 applied ED to his first choice school BY FAR and was accepted. He is estatic!! It was a match school for him but had low admit rates, so that’s why he went ED. He would not have applied ED to a reach school “just because” it’s a reach school unless he felt the “fit” was spot-on.</p>
<p>Thank goodness he is mature enough to make sure there were enough factors in his decision where he would be extremely happy with his decision for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>The kid didn’t actually mention the specific colleges in his “Ask the Dean” query (bummer ). And when I tried to respond directly to his question (which was essentially, “Tell me that I did the right thing, didn’t I?”), the message bounced back (I wasn’t surprised … seemed like the address he’d given wasn’t legit.) I did ask him to name the schools but I guess now we’ll never know unless he shows up on this thread (unlikely). </p>
<p>But this scenario is a familiar one to me. And, frankly, I often feel that when students apply ED to improve admission odds at a college they like (but which isn’t the absolute top choice), it’s actually a good step toward fighting admissions insanity.</p>
<p>As Rodney said, “‘prestige’ is a four-letter word in our house.” Well, similarly, by going ED at a somewhat less celebrated school, applicants can be sending a subliminal message to their peers–and into the universe–that proclaims, “I can be happy at a lot of different places, so rather than spend gazillions on application fees and enduring stress until April, I am going to take a shot at a spot where I think I can be happy and engaged, even if it’s not a dream college or the most selective one that I might be able to get into.”</p>
<p>When I counsel students who are facing risky vs. safer ED choices, my advice will vary depending on the student and the schools involved. But there are definitely times when I feel that the latter route is probably the best bet. </p>
<p>Even high school seniors who have no buyers’-remorse after they’ve made their college choice can still have “Road Not Taken” thoughts later on. This is just human nature and isn’t the same as having regrets. But I think that every student in my orbit who opted for an ED college that may not have been the #1 true love did go on to have an excellent experience and would probably take the same route again with hindsight. I don’t feel that any of these kids felt “forced” into their choices, even though this sort of choice isn’t for everyone.</p>
<p>Much like rodney, my S had a very clear first choice. He never would have considered a “bird-in-the-hand” strategy although I understand the motivation to do so. A binding agreement is exactly that — binding. If a student wants to game the system, then so be it, but understand that if the attempt is successful, then you have to honor the commitment. One or two times, I’ve seen kids report that they are going to try to get out of an ED agreement so they can try to get into a “better” school and that just infuriates me.</p>
<p>Sally: I guess without more info this is difficult, but I didn’t get the impression that this kid even had a “favorite” school reach or otherwise…that’s kinda where my comments came from…it appears (to me, at least) that he applied ED to this school just so he could be done…and to be done into somewhere “good” if not “great”.(from both a prestige as well as a “fit” perspective)…kind of misses the spirit of ED if that is the case…</p>
<p>It would be interesting to explore this further but as you said, it doesn’t look like we will have an opportunity to do so…</p>
<p>My son applied ED to Rice. He is IN LOVE with Rice. If he does not get accepted (tomorrow at 5pm …pins and needles …) then he will pursue a transfer or apply for grad school there. He’s pretty mature about the whole thing. I’m the one who is on pins and needles. Is it too much to want an early, early decision? All I want for Christmas is for my son to get into Rice and world peace, and …</p>
<p>D did not apply to any ED schools because she was not sure (and still isn’t ) what her first choice is. She is applying to mostly schools with an acceptance rate of 40-60% but one school is probably more like 20% or lower. That school is the most highly rated but I am absolutely not convinced that it is right for her. At all the other schools she will be one of the top students so why didn’t she choose to apply to any more highly selective schools- a few reasons. She didn’t want New England nor CA. Then she decided she didn’t want any of the others left for a variety of reasons- didn’t like the brochure and website, didn’t want to do more tests, etc. etc. So except for the one school, all she has is matches and her one safety. It is what is right for her.</p>
<p>Because my #1 school was a huge reach (and EA), my counselor advised me to go to ED to another reach as well. My parents pressured me into it and I did (and got accepted and am going). Although I know I will be happy there, I seriously regret doing it because I wasn’t quite sure of where I wanted to go (besides the reach EA) and I wanted to see what my options were.
I still haven’t heard back from the EA, but I’m hoping that I don’t get in.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but that was a bone stupid move. ED is exactly what you should do for the Reach school that you really want to go to. If a school is a “sure-thing” why would you wast ED on it? Always use ED on the school you want more than any other, because that is usually a Reach school for most people. Not all, but most.</p>
<p>I don’t think the student was dumb, but this particular decision WAS especially dumb.</p>
<p>I wanted to apply ED to either Pomona or Claremont, but was concerned about if I got bad financial aid. So I applied EA as “bird in the hand” to Boston college and Babson.</p>
<p>Both my kids did multiple EA schools. For S1, two of his top three choices were EA, so it was a no-brainer about not doing ED. </p>
<p>For S2, one of his top two was EA, and had he not been accepted, he likely would have applied at his other top choice ED II. As it turns out, he got into the EA, applied RD to his other top choice, was accepted, and is now attending there. In retrospect, I am very glad he didn’t do ED, because he agonized over his top two until the night of May 1st. They are both exceptional schools and he would have been thrilled at either one. </p>
<p>We were all VERY happy to have fabulous birds in hand in December.</p>
<p>To me, ED is an excellent tool for a student who is competitive but not at the tippy-top of the applicant pool, who has a reach (but not a pie-in-the-sky) he or she really loves, and for whom the FA is not a critical factor in the decision (i.e., a couple thousand less than expected in the FA package is not a make-or-break issue). </p>
<p>There are some VERY happy ED parents and kids in the 3.6 thread – the profile for success over there seems to be 3.6 UW, tough HS, lots of APs/IB, outstanding essays, interesting ECs – translated as the GPA’s a little low for the tippy-tops, but these kids have the whole package and hit the sweet spot at a lot of outstanding schools.</p>
<p>However, I also know some applicants who had FAR better stats than my S, who were waitlisted or rejected in RD at schools which would have been a slam dunk in ED. Young women applying to top LACs seemed to have a tougher time of it in RD than most other groups.</p>
<p>Lol, I remember applying ED to a reach school just to try and get in somewhere. To this day, I am still extremely grateful that I was rejected. I’ll never forget weeping endlessly after having “buyer’s remorse” and during the day I awaited my decision. The more time I spend at my current school, the more I realize that my ED school would have been a huge mistake. It’s very much like the school I am in now, and I’ll be honest, I’m miserable here. I can only imagine that the ED school I chose would have been just as bad (if not worse).</p>
<p>At our high school, the kids are guided by the college counselor (a former ivy adcom) to use ED as a strategy and make a pragmatic choice. Over half the class applies somewhere ED.</p>
<p>This, as Sally said, really does put a stop to some of the insanity. The kids understand from junior year that they should really think through their options instead of throwing darts at 22 colleges.</p>
<p>I am amused when I read here and elsewhere that ED should only be used if it’s your dream, absolute number one college. I don’t think we’re giving the kids much credit for being able to strategize to achieve a great outcome.</p>
<p>D1 was accepted last week to her #1 choice ED. She perfectly fit the profile that CountingDown mentions: “a student who is competitive but not at the tippy-top of the applicant pool, who has a reach (but not a pie-in-the-sky) he or she really loves, and for whom the FA is not a critical factor in the decision.”</p>
<p>We the parents were reluctant to support ED primarily because D1’s second choice would have offered significant merit aid. Since D1’s plans may include grad school or professional school, that’s no small consideration. We told her that if she chose her #1 school, we could not guarantee her any financial support for post-undergrad education. There were extensive conversations on this topic before we agreed to sign the ED form. I’m still not utterly thrilled with this, but we trusted her with the decision. </p>
<p>Our second, smaller consideration was that she would regret the decision to commit to one school early. Many a student changes their mind between December and April. However, D1 has been in love with her ED school since she first visited a year and a half ago, and is now happily bonding online with her fellow ED admits. </p>
<p>Her decision to pursue ED came after her second visit to the school in early September. Since our district starts relatively late (a week after Labor Day), D1’s spring semester grades would come out later than for many other high schools. The adcoms at the ED school suggested that ED would be her best option given the late grade reports. </p>
<p>Prestige wasn’t an issue for either her or us. If the ED news were bad, D1 would have applied to another non-pie-in-the-sky reach and two Hail Mary passes where she really liked the essay prompts. The Hail Marys have more name recognition, but I think if she had been admitted to them AND her ED school, she still would ultimately have picked her ED school.</p>
<p>I applied to my ED school because it’s my top school. I applied EA to some of my safety schools while I was at it, but my ED is really my favorite choice. </p>
<p>I’ve visited, done overnights, sat in on classes, talked to professors, etc, and it was all perfect. Granted, I think I do have a chance of getting in, and being done with the whole application process would be a very relieving feeling. </p>
<p>However, if I didn’t have a number one choice, or had not narrowed it down to two, I definitely would not have simply applied ED somewhere just so it didn’t “go to waste”. Personally, I feel like that would be a waste of my money and my time if it weren’t a top school.</p>
<p>Sally, is it true that ED lessens your chances for financial aid? It seems like merit money is used to attract students the school wants, but if they know you’re coming no matter what, couldn’t they put that money to better use (from their POV)?</p>
<p>Of course it might be true that schools that do ED are fairly highly selective and don’t give much merit money anyway.</p>
<p>Would there be any effect on need-based aid?</p>
<p>I applied ED to a pragmatic compromise… turns out I got deferred because an Ivy really isn’t a compromise hahaha (and before I get anything about prestige, it’s the only Ivy I’m applying to and I would like it even if it weren’t an Ivy). I’m absolutely sure it’ll end up being good that I got deferred because other schools have really started to shine as I’ve been doing applications between the time I applied to the ED school and when I heard back from it.</p>
I actually suggested ED, because her stats are higher than the average, I worried that if she did RD, they might dismiss her as someone searching for a safety. </p>
). And when I tried to respond directly to his question (which was essentially, “Tell me that I did the right thing, didn’t I?”), the message bounced back (I wasn’t surprised … seemed like the address he’d given wasn’t legit.) I did ask him to name the schools but I guess now we’ll never know unless he shows up on this thread (unlikely). </p>