Early Decision games

[Anonymous]

This was a very useful and insightful thread about the early decision choices when applying to colleges:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1056543.page

I have a bit of a twist though.

We just received an invitation from a school asking us to visit and encouraging us to apply via early decision. They also talked about the various rates of financial aid available to students who attend the university. It is a school that my child is highly interested in, but not a dream school and to be honest, weighing the odds of acceptance upon the stats to date, it's only a 50/50 shot that we'd get in.

We are currently debating whether to use the early decision for this school or save it for another, more desired school.

The only thing that burns me about this prompt is the distinct possibility of getting rejected. I find this too be highly unethical, and frankly, immoral to encourage people to burn away an early decision, then turn around and reject them because the only thing you are really interested in is piling up application stats to make you look more selective and increase your ranking status.

It's like a popular girl or boy in high school comes up to you in the hallway and tells you should ask her/him to go "steady" (old school term, I know) in a couple of weeks. You mull it over and decide to ask, then she/he says - That's so sweet. Let me think about it. You wait a couple of a weeks, then she/he comes up to you in the hall with another person in her arm - I'm sorry no. You're nice, but I really wanted Biff/Buffy all along. Thanks for playing.

Is an invitation like this a shoe if for acceptance or just a Biff/Buffy game?

Has anyone out there gotten a letter like this, decided to apply early decision and still got rejected?

[Anonymous]

Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

[Anonymous]

1. Name the school. People may have experiences with that school to share.

2. Generally, mailings are going out to thousands upon thousands of kids, not a handful. Don't assume you are special.

[Anonymous]

OP— be very, very clear on this point. The college admissions office does not care about your kid, and definitely is not acting in their best interest. They care about hitting various numbers and targets, and that’s it. They are watching out for their own best interest. It’s your job to watch out for your kids.

Now, once your kid choose a college, that calculus changes. A good college has a vested interest in your child being happy and successful. But before that it’s a numbers game. ED is part of that. But crunch numbers on your own. In some cases, it gives a big bump. In others, it matters very little.

[Anonymous]

We just received an invitation from a school asking us to visit

That's spam, pure and simple. They know nothing about your student.

I agree with the PP, only apply if the student is certain they want to attend and the school is certain to be affordable. Use the school's Net Price Calculator to make sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We just received an invitation from a school asking us to visit

That's spam, pure and simple. They know nothing about your student.

I agree with the PP, only apply *ED* if the student is certain they want to attend and the school is certain to be affordable. Use the school's Net Price Calculator to make sure.

(sorry, typo)

[Anonymous]

Using your dating analogy, schools are definitely playing the field. The good news is that they aren't selecting just one student to admit. They're trying to get a big pool of quality candidates to choose from.

The power shifts around during the course of the process. Right now, students have the power, deciding where to apply. Then schools get to say yes or no. Finally, if they apply wisely and broadly, the students get the final say of where to attend.

[Anonymous]

schools heavily recruit the top test scorers to apply. Don't be flattered or fooled. Your kid has a very low chance of getting in, period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

I know this is a popular opinion, but it is not the strategy we followed this year for DC22. DC had no clear top choice but really liked a couple of schools that offered ED and one that didn't.

This is what we weighed: the risk that DC would regret not applying to their top choice school (Stanford) VS the risk that DC would regret not playing his ED card at another school he liked with a more reasonable chance of getting in. When presented with that choice, DC thought the latter was a bigger risk and EDd to Northwestern. Accepted. Sure there was some regret that he'll never know if he would have gotten into Stanford, but there was mostly elation at getting into a top school that he loved when the numbers were so so bad. He probably would have been rejected from both in RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

I know this is a popular opinion, but it is not the strategy we followed this year for DC22. DC had no clear top choice but really liked a couple of schools that offered ED and one that didn't.

This is what we weighed: the risk that DC would regret not applying to their top choice school (Stanford) VS the risk that DC would regret not playing his ED card at another school he liked with a more reasonable chance of getting in. When presented with that choice, DC thought the latter was a bigger risk and EDd to Northwestern. Accepted. Sure there was some regret that he'll never know if he would have gotten into Stanford, but there was mostly elation at getting into a top school that he loved when the numbers were so so bad. He probably would have been rejected from both in RD.

You would think you would have learned by the 22nd kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

I know this is a popular opinion, but it is not the strategy we followed this year for DC22. DC had no clear top choice but really liked a couple of schools that offered ED and one that didn't.

This is what we weighed: the risk that DC would regret not applying to their top choice school (Stanford) VS the risk that DC would regret not playing his ED card at another school he liked with a more reasonable chance of getting in. When presented with that choice, DC thought the latter was a bigger risk and EDd to Northwestern. Accepted. Sure there was some regret that he'll never know if he would have gotten into Stanford, but there was mostly elation at getting into a top school that he loved when the numbers were so so bad. He probably would have been rejected from both in RD.

You would think you would have learned by the 22nd kid.

Common reference to high school class of 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

I know this is a popular opinion, but it is not the strategy we followed this year for DC22. DC had no clear top choice but really liked a couple of schools that offered ED and one that didn't.

This is what we weighed: the risk that DC would regret not applying to their top choice school (Stanford) VS the risk that DC would regret not playing his ED card at another school he liked with a more reasonable chance of getting in. When presented with that choice, DC thought the latter was a bigger risk and EDd to Northwestern. Accepted. Sure there was some regret that he'll never know if he would have gotten into Stanford, but there was mostly elation at getting into a top school that he loved when the numbers were so so bad. He probably would have been rejected from both in RD.

This makes a lot of sense to me. That's awesome for your child, I hope he has a great experience at Northwestern!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

I know this is a popular opinion, but it is not the strategy we followed this year for DC22. DC had no clear top choice but really liked a couple of schools that offered ED and one that didn't.

This is what we weighed: the risk that DC would regret not applying to their top choice school (Stanford) VS the risk that DC would regret not playing his ED card at another school he liked with a more reasonable chance of getting in. When presented with that choice, DC thought the latter was a bigger risk and EDd to Northwestern. Accepted. Sure there was some regret that he'll never know if he would have gotten into Stanford, but there was mostly elation at getting into a top school that he loved when the numbers were so so bad. He probably would have been rejected from both in RD.

Stanford and Northwestern are not really that different---both are T10 schools. your kid didn't really step down a level to ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

I know this is a popular opinion, but it is not the strategy we followed this year for DC22. DC had no clear top choice but really liked a couple of schools that offered ED and one that didn't.

This is what we weighed: the risk that DC would regret not applying to their top choice school (Stanford) VS the risk that DC would regret not playing his ED card at another school he liked with a more reasonable chance of getting in. When presented with that choice, DC thought the latter was a bigger risk and EDd to Northwestern. Accepted. Sure there was some regret that he'll never know if he would have gotten into Stanford, but there was mostly elation at getting into a top school that he loved when the numbers were so so bad. He probably would have been rejected from both in RD.

Stanford and Northwestern are not really that different---both are T10 schools. your kid didn't really step down a level to ED.

We studied the numbers very carefully, both those numbers published by the schools and the numbers from our kid’s high school. The difference was pretty significant. The odds were still against him with Stanford, but we calculated much better odds at northwestern. I don’t mean to suggest that it’s the same for everyone, but it’s what worked for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should only apply to a school ED that they are 100% sure it is their top choice.

I know this is a popular opinion, but it is not the strategy we followed this year for DC22. DC had no clear top choice but really liked a couple of schools that offered ED and one that didn't.

This is what we weighed: the risk that DC would regret not applying to their top choice school (Stanford) VS the risk that DC would regret not playing his ED card at another school he liked with a more reasonable chance of getting in. When presented with that choice, DC thought the latter was a bigger risk and EDd to Northwestern. Accepted. Sure there was some regret that he'll never know if he would have gotten into Stanford, but there was mostly elation at getting into a top school that he loved when the numbers were so so bad. He probably would have been rejected from both in RD.

You would think you would have learned by the 22nd kid.

Common reference to high school class of 2022.

Ah, so that's what that means.
In other threads, I have seen DS9. That's a 9-year-old son.