what did you or your kid think of restrictive early action?
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Anonymous
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Read that CalTech was going "restrictive early action" and was like huh? Google taught me some but I have a PhD and my head kind of hurts just trying to get my head around this newer option (well really the only option to find out early) for Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, etc.
Curious to hear anyone's thoughts on it from your own observations, college counseling/advising, or your kid who went through, or is going through the process. Bonus points if you add a little about your socioeconomic background and how it influenced how you think about it. (For example--we're a donut hole family, which is not the end of the world, but REA seems kind of disadvantageous in some sort of way for...almost everyone except the institutions themselves? Maybe I'm missing something? Like it's supposed to be beneficial for lower/moderate income students, but thinking back to my high school self, which came from a lower SES background, and I don't think I would have liked REA as someone who wanted to consider elite schools but wasn't necessarily deadset on attending one) |
Anonymous
| I too am interested in the game theory behind REA. |
Anonymous
| You had to work that PhD in there. |
Anonymous
| REA is better than ED for donut hole families --- because you don't have to go and can compare other options - aid and the like. You don't have to be deadset on going because you don't have to go. You also can still apply EA to state universities. The only schools that typically offer it are top schools that aren't worried about their yield. The downside for some is it doesn't seem to be as advantageous as ED in terms of admissions. So it may not add much but does offer flexibility. I did it at an Ivy. Worked well. Still applied other places - but ultimately chose the school where I did REA. |
Anonymous
| Everyone we know that got in REA to these elite schools had a big hook. Legacies were also VIP. Everyone else either deferred or rejected....RD outcome for the deferrals remains to be seen. |
Anonymous
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Worked out great for my kid.
Kid wasn't ready to commit to any school with ED. Interested in business program. Applied to REA Notre Dame and Georgetown which were actually top choices. Got in Notre Dame. Withdrew Georgetown. Thought about applying to Brown RD, then didn't bother. |
Anonymous
| Rea is more forgiving than Ed. It is non binding. |
Anonymous
Not PP, but just want to clarify that Georgetown just has regular EA. Not restrictive EA. |
Anonymous
| I don’t like it at all because given how capricious admissions are these are schools you just cannot make an educated guess that you will be admitted in this day and age and then you’ve given up your ED opportunities. My DS really likes Georgetown but just is forgetting about it because if their early action policy. I suppose if he doesn’t get in to his ED 1 or 2 he could throw in a Gtown application RD, but he’s probably picking ED schools that are more likely than Gtown so if he doesn’t get admitted to those Gtown isn’t likely. |
Anonymous
I just posted about Georgetown. It is restrictive in that you can’t EA there while ED’ing anywhere else but EA at Georgetown confers no benefit. |
Anonymous
https://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/applying/early-action/ It is restrictive so that you can't applied to any ED. I believe it's the very definition of REA. |
Anonymous
The benefit is you get to know the acceptance decision before January, so then you can eliminate shit ton of schools to apply if you get the acceptance in hand. |
Anonymous
| I find REA to be obnoxious on the schools part. Yes, you can still apply EA to state schools. But not to other private schools that offer EA. My DC applied ED and was able to still apply EA to schools like MIT and Case. You can’t do that if apply REA. But if it’s your kid’s first choice and that’s what they offer, then that’s what it is. At some schools it gives an advantage, at others it doesn’t. |
Anonymous
NP here - except that the true REA's most people are thinking about are the SCEA of HYPS that say you ALSO cannot EA to any other private school. So if Georgetown and Notre Dame were true SCEA - this person could not have applied early to both. (I don't know ND's EA policy...). Essentially Georgetown has it's own version of restrictions in EA - it doesn't fit into a neat REA box. |
Anonymous
Those schools with REA don't have ED to severely limit your choices. That's the point. |