<p>My ED school was a lowreach/highmatch, and I could have definitely applied to other schools ED to see if I could get in, but, let’s be honest: I LOVE the school I was just accepeted into. I wouldn’t have applied ED if I wasn’t sure that I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. </p>
<p>SPIDERS '15 :D</p>
<p>I love my ED school, too! My reasons for applying were none other than that I would’ve picked the school over HYP and anywhere else. Going into the ED round, I wasn’t sure that I had a legitimate shot at being accepted to my ED school at all and so figured that I had nothing to lose by hearing back in December, even if it was a no. My results turned out beautifully, including in terms of financial aid, and I’m thrilled to be headed to my first choice U next fall.</p>
<p>Perhaps my only qualm with ED is that I am having “Road Not Taken” thoughts, as Sally_Rubenstone called them. I also loved Brown and will perhaps always wonder whether I would’ve been admitted to a few of my other favored schools. But a while of wondering is well worth my ED acceptance 
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<p>If you’re even moderately sure about the school, I’d say go for ED! The general consensus seems to be that even if you originally experience some buyers’ remorse, it disappears completely once you get acclimated at school; there’s a niche for everyone everywhere. Best wishes!</p>
<p>One ‘chances’ website said I had a 1% chance of admission at my ED school. </p>
<p>I’m in. No hooks. </p>
<p>Think it through, and then go for that top choice.</p>
<p>Now that I have had some time to reflect, in hindsight, I would have always regretted, yes regretted, compromising on my Early Decision (at least till I got to the said college). Sure, they rejected me yesterday, but if I had got into my compromise, I know I would have thought “maybe my first choice would have taken me”. </p>
<p>Sally I think it completely depends on the person we are talking about. For some people, like my friend, who compromised on his first dream and went for the second, which is a top ivy, it was totally fine because he wasn’t really attached to his dream or to any other college. On the other hand, for a person like me, who makes choices more, well, emotionally, it may have been a wrong choice.</p>
<p>… or maybe I’m just subconsciously defending the choice I made.</p>
<p>You know, I don’t like the US college system. The UCAS and even our Mumbai University college system is so, so much better. </p>
<p>Ah well, 4 more months of waiting here I come!</p>
<p>While the example-student’s decision may seem dumb, I can understand where he was coming from, as I know I will be in a similar situation as I approach applications next year.</p>
<p>The problem goes something like this (I’ll use my personal schools as examples):
My top two schools are Brown and Vassar; I adore them both. Now, I consider myself an appealing and impressive applicant, but I wouldn’t consider myself Ivy material.
Chance-wise, Vassar is a match for me, but Brown is a bit of a reach.</p>
<p>Using a scale of 1-10 to gauge how much I like each school, let’s say that Brown is a 10 and Vassar is a 9. To me, Brown is perfection, but, as I said, I love them both to death.</p>
<p>Should I use my ED for Brown even though my chances are very slim, or play it safe and use it for Vassar?</p>
<p>I applied to NYU ED for a mix of both those reasons. I love NYU and if I get in I will ridiculously happy. That being said, it was a reach school for me. If I was more sure of my chances of getting in, I may have applied regular decision, but ED gave me a better chance.</p>
<p>But I wouldn’t have applied ED if I wasn’t sure I was going to be really happy there. So I think it was 50/50 
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<p>Anyways… wish me luck, I find out tommorow!</p>
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<p>In all honesty is:
-Brown a high match, low reach, mid-reach, or high?
-Vassar a high match, low reach, mid-reach, or high?</p>
<p>Personally I’d play on the safe side and apply ED to Vassar because they are so close on your scale. Then again getting into to any selective school is a coin flip so might as well make a coin flip whether or not you’ll apply ED to Brown or Vassar. That way whatever happens it’ll be up to “fate”. You can blame chance/probability. :)</p>
<p>I am constantly dumbfounded by the folks who elect to apply to a second- or third-choice school just to “game the system.” This is not a poker game. This is your life. What if you get admitted? How will you deal with the regret, always wondering whether your should have waited, or chosen a different EA/ED target? I would always choose to apply and be rejected to my first choice over gaining admission to my second choice and wondering forever about my first.</p>
<p>I applied ED to a school. I thought I really wanted to go, and also subconsciously wanted to “game the system.” After I got rejected, I was happy and realized that I actually didn’t really want to go. I don’t feel upset at all, and am looking forward to hearing back from my RD schools.</p>
<p>I guess God was on my side by rejecting me. :)</p>
<p>^
Mickjagger: It’s not just applying ED; it’s applying ED to a school you are likely to get into RD. As pbr and some others have said, use ED for a reach school you really, really want to go to. If you don’t get it, at least you know you gave it your best shot, which is ED. People do get into real reaches. ED gives you a better shot at that reach. </p>
<p>On the earlier Vassar v. Brown question. If Brown is the reach and Vassar the match, decide which one you really prefer. If you’re really unlikely to get into Brown RD, and you decide to spend ED on your match, why spend the money to apply to Brown RD when it’s a 90% certain rejection and it’s not really your first preference? That’s like saying, “oh, I’ll just throw in an RD app to HYP or Brown for the hell of it, even though I prefer Vassar, and I’m a certain (no hooked) reject to HYP and Brown.” Why waste the money and the time?</p>
<p>I think such a student really does want Brown (or HYP) but can’t bring himself/herself to admit it because the disappointment would be too great. Those schools reject dozens of class valedictorians and 2400 scorers. Students apply anyway for the same reason their parents buy lottery tickets: lightening will strike someone. You never know who. :)</p>
<p>When I applied ED it was to a specific program in a school. and although I was crushed when I was rejected, it honestly worked out SO much better in the long run. I ended up getting into a college I only applied to RD (more as a lottery ticket than anything else bc I was convinced there was no weay I was getting in) but had been my dream school for years. I applied ED bc I knew if I got into the program, then I really had no legitimate regrets, but looking back, I am grateful they rejected me. :)</p>
<p>“If everyone is applying SCEA to Stanford or Yale, but you’d actually also love Columbia, then applying ED makes a lot of sense. It makes even more sense if everyone is also going to be lobbing applications at Columbia etc etc during RD.”</p>
<p>This is basically what happened to me. I was in the bottom of the top tier (at one of the most rigorous schools in New York). I was one of two who applied ED to Columbia because I loved the school and wanted to stay in the city. Everyone who ended up going to Harvard, Yale, and Williams ended up applying to Columbia RD, and I’m not sure I would have been admitted had I also applied RD. ED allowed me to show that it was my top choice.</p>
<p>I applied ED to TCNJ because I absolutely love everything about it. Just got in today!!</p>
<p>Congrats to closham and to all of you who got good news from your ED schools so far this year. But for those who didn’t, note that this crazy process often ends in a meant-to-be kind of way, even though it may not feel that way when you first receive a rejection letter. Check out what ECazndb8r says in post #51. I’ve even known plenty of students who ended up at their safety schools and then said that they couldn’t imagine being happier anywhere else.</p>
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<p>True love; however, both of mine had ED II choices that were close-seconds that I believe they would have then gone to if the ED I’s hadn’t worked out. Near the end, I was worried that they were falling in love with the idea of their ED I schools too much and were setting themselves up for disappointment, but thankfully that didn’t materialize.</p>
<p>I think both of their ED choices were very strategically played (both well-loved reaches).</p>
<p>I really, really wish I would have taken the leap and applied to my dream school ED. Now, I will have to compete with my higher-ranked peers during RD. The worst part is, these peers don’t even really want to go to that school! I’m really nervous for April 1, but my counselors have said that I have a fighting chance to get in, even then. Let’s just hope they like my essays!</p>
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<p>My friend was in the same situation about two months ago. After revisiting and weighing the ED option, she decided on Vassar. She got in last Friday and couldn’t be happier, especially since a more qualified friend of hers got deferred from Brown this Monday. I think it’s important to take a realistic approach to ED. Yes, there are people who fall instantly in love with a school, but applying ED to a match school that offers what you want in terms of programs and student life, even if you aren’t head-over-heels in love, isn’t necessarily the wrong decision. Some students just don’t want to play the RD game and would rather get it over with by ED-ing to a match.</p>
<p>It’s like fairy tales ending at the alter…apart from the question of whether you apply somewhere ED out of love or pragmatism, the question also is, were you right? Once you get there, do you find that it was all you thought it would be? For me, I love my ED choice in terms of my fit there, BUT there are kids I know who got in ED (here and elsewhere) who don’t; either socially it is a mismatch or academically not right. Who really knows a school before you meet your roommate and friends and start attending classes? Even if a sibling went to a school and loves it, doesn’t necessarily mean that you will find it right for you.</p>
<p>But also like marriage, maybe it doesn’t matter… Statistics say that arranged marriages are less likely to end in divorce…maybe love has nothing to do with it…</p>
<p>i dont see what the kid did wrong in the first post.</p>
<p>many people “game the system” or whatever you want to call it. if your favorite school is brown you may want to ED there, but if your stats aren’t on par or even near it you are probably wasting your time (unless you are URM/Minority/etc.). </p>
<p>I mean, a lot of top schools offer similar stuff. study abroad, nice campus, tons of clubs, career services, etc…besides location, they really offer many many similar stuff. </p>
<p>why not game the system and go to a school where you have a better chance of getting into? i dont see whats wrong with that.</p>
<p>of course, you have to be happy about your ED school. it doesnt have to be ur first choice, but you should be happy and excited to attend the school.</p>
<p>I decided to ED Rice, which was more of a pragmatic compromise for me, even though my absolute dream school was Columbia.</p>
<p>I knew my chances of getting accepted into Columbia ED were still pretty slim. My stats were also not great enough to ensure a good chance of acceptance to Rice RD, so I decided to ED Rice and got in!</p>
<p>I suppose I’ll always wonder what could have happened, but forgoing my first choice for my second-choice is okay, since, if I got rejected/deferred from Columbia ED and got rejected/waitlisted from RD Rice, then I’d end up at my safety, which I don’t love quite as much as the other two =P.</p>