ED is the name of the game

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no right answer to how to apply to college.

1. If you DO get in ED, yeah you finished early with a decision you love!
(Except, when you have buyers remorse and feel like you could have done better...)

2. If you DON'T get into ED, yeah more choice! (Except when all your RD choices fall through...)

3. If you don't TRY for ED, yeah you aren't locked in anywhere and have the ultimate choice set!
(Except you threw away your opportunity to get a higher admit rate at a reach school....)

I want my kid to be happy and feel like their hard work paid off in some meaningful way, but it isn't looking good : (

Feel the same here!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids had much better results in RD rounds.

ED can backfire easily. You pick a school if it is not your absolute tippy top first choice and have to go there without getting any chance to compare (or shop merit offers). Also, you rush an application early while kid is still figuring out what they want in college and bind yourself to the wrong college.

Do, but this is very unusual.

Not really. My nephew having regrets on ED. Wishes he aimed higher.

If wishy washy kids have FOMO, don't do ED.

yeah, a lot of this is on the parents and kids -- you know who you are. My kid assessed his chances, decided to put all his luck on his ED1 school and never looked back or wondered if he could/should have reached even higher. He's just not a second-guessing kid wondering about his friends' choices. Know your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for schools, athletes, and suckers. Everyone who plays falls into one of those three buckets.

Wrong. ED is for students who have an absolute top choice school and want to show that school that they will attend if accepted. It benefits the student just as much as the school.

+1

Kids are applying to 10-15 schools , but can only attend ONE when the process is over.

A strategic ED choice for a applicant's #1 option is a smart one. The NPC isn't going to magically change in RD.

Exactly. I have to wonder why the hate for ED. No one is forced to apply ED, so if you're uncomfortable with it - don't! The people who ARE ready to commit should absolutely have that option. Every school should offer ED.

No way. ED is another way for schools to favor rich students while securing their class rather than just admitting the best students in a nonbonding way. The best schools don’t have to lower their standards to get students in ED. They do EA.

If you hate the ED school/game so much, they make it so easy not to apply. Go ahead and try your luck at "the best schools."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for schools, athletes, and suckers. Everyone who plays falls into one of those three buckets.

Wrong. ED is for students who have an absolute top choice school and want to show that school that they will attend if accepted. It benefits the student just as much as the school.

+1

Kids are applying to 10-15 schools , but can only attend ONE when the process is over.

A strategic ED choice for a applicant's #1 option is a smart one. The NPC isn't going to magically change in RD.

Exactly. I have to wonder why the hate for ED. No one is forced to apply ED, so if you're uncomfortable with it - don't! The people who ARE ready to commit should absolutely have that option. Every school should offer ED.

No way. ED is another way for schools to favor rich students while securing their class rather than just admitting the best students in a nonbonding way. The best schools don’t have to lower their standards to get students in ED. They do EA.

Nope---ED is simply a way for schools to admit students who actually want to attend their school. Every student can run the NPC and decide if they can "afford" the ED school.

Also, Harvard does REA, then literally defers over 80%, essentially knowing that if they "accept them in RD they are extremely likely to attend". So they play the yield game their own way. In 2023 that meant they had almost 7K students deferred and they then accept ~10% of those. Between REA accepted and the 10% of deferred who are accepted in RD, they have over 95% of their freshman class.

[Anonymous]

Are you able to ED and EA at the same time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no right answer to how to apply to college.

1. If you DO get in ED, yeah you finished early with a decision you love!
(Except, when you have buyers remorse and feel like you could have done better...)

2. If you DON'T get into ED, yeah more choice! (Except when all your RD choices fall through...)

3. If you don't TRY for ED, yeah you aren't locked in anywhere and have the ultimate choice set!
(Except you threw away your opportunity to get a higher admit rate at a reach school....)

I want my kid to be happy and feel like their hard work paid off in some meaningful way, but it isn't looking good : (

+1

THIS

So you have a choice to make. And then you have to live with your choices. These are not toddlers, they are 17/18 and qualified to be attending a T25 university. They should be capable of realizing the options, the pros/cons of each and deciding. Hopefully this isnt' the first time they have had to deal with not getting everything they want in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you able to ED and EA at the same time?

Yes! You only need to pull your RD/EA applications if you get into the ED1 or ED2.

My kid did ED1. Had all but 2 applications in by Nov 1. Those 2 were only RD with Jan dates, so my kid didnt' finish the supplementals and pay the fee until they were deferred ED1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for schools, athletes, and suckers. Everyone who plays falls into one of those three buckets.

Wrong. ED is for students who have an absolute top choice school and want to show that school that they will attend if accepted. It benefits the student just as much as the school.

+1

Kids are applying to 10-15 schools , but can only attend ONE when the process is over.

A strategic ED choice for a applicant's #1 option is a smart one. The NPC isn't going to magically change in RD.

Exactly. I have to wonder why the hate for ED. No one is forced to apply ED, so if you're uncomfortable with it - don't! The people who ARE ready to commit should absolutely have that option. Every school should offer ED.

No way. ED is another way for schools to favor rich students while securing their class rather than just admitting the best students in a nonbonding way. The best schools don’t have to lower their standards to get students in ED. They do EA.

Most of the T20 offer very good financial aid. If you do the NPC and it's manageable, I don't see why middle class students wouldn't apply ED to highly selective private schools. Financial aid doesn't get magically better in RD. I think ED is only a bad idea for those who don't qualify for financial aid, and are looking for merit at lower ranked schools. And no, students admitted ED to T20 schools are not weaker than those accepted RD.

We're middle class and DC applied ED to a school whose NPC provided the best financial aid (and was also a good fit). But before DC applied ED in November, I made a Zoom appointment with one of the school's FA officers in October and we went through my tax returns and NPC in detail and I asked several questions about hidden costs, etc. I came away feeling very confident that I knew what the school would cost if DC were admitted. If DC had been admitted and the FA package exceeded the NPC, I would have had strong grounds to appeal and/or get a release from the ED commitment.

Sadly, DC wasn't admitted to that ED school but had great results in RD. Of the 9 schools that admitted DC, 8 provided FA packages that were close to the NPCs we had previous run or slightly below. The only one whose package was above the NPC we ran previously was an Ivy with a massive endowment. The COA was about 25% higher than the NPC we had previously ran, which no one was able to explain. We appealed and they applied a minor reduction but it was still well above the NPC. DC chose another school for fit reasons mostly, but the FA issue didn't help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for schools, athletes, and suckers. Everyone who plays falls into one of those three buckets.

Wrong. ED is for students who have an absolute top choice school and want to show that school that they will attend if accepted. It benefits the student just as much as the school.

+1

Kids are applying to 10-15 schools , but can only attend ONE when the process is over.

A strategic ED choice for a applicant's #1 option is a smart one. The NPC isn't going to magically change in RD.

Exactly. I have to wonder why the hate for ED. No one is forced to apply ED, so if you're uncomfortable with it - don't! The people who ARE ready to commit should absolutely have that option. Every school should offer ED.

No way. ED is another way for schools to favor rich students while securing their class rather than just admitting the best students in a nonbonding way. The best schools don’t have to lower their standards to get students in ED. They do EA.

Most of the T20 offer very good financial aid. If you do the NPC and it's manageable, I don't see why middle class students wouldn't apply ED to highly selective private schools. Financial aid doesn't get magically better in RD. I think ED is only a bad idea for those who don't qualify for financial aid, and are looking for merit at lower ranked schools. And no, students admitted ED to T20 schools are not weaker than those accepted RD.

We're middle class and DC applied ED to a school whose NPC provided the best financial aid (and was also a good fit). But before DC applied ED in November, I made a Zoom appointment with one of the school's FA officers in October and we went through my tax returns and NPC in detail and I asked several questions about hidden costs, etc. I came away feeling very confident that I knew what the school would cost if DC were admitted. If DC had been admitted and the FA package exceeded the NPC, I would have had strong grounds to appeal and/or get a release from the ED commitment.

Sadly, DC wasn't admitted to that ED school but had great results in RD. Of the 9 schools that admitted DC, 8 provided FA packages that were close to the NPCs we had previous run or slightly below. The only one whose package was above the NPC we ran previously was an Ivy with a massive endowment. The COA was about 25% higher than the NPC we had previously ran, which no one was able to explain. We appealed and they applied a minor reduction but it was still well above the NPC. DC chose another school for fit reasons mostly, but the FA issue didn't help.

This is how it's done! Proving that Anyone can apply ED if they want to. Just do your research first so you understand the NPC for that university.

Also, if you won't get FA, but don't really want to pay $90K+/year, well then ED may not be for you. You want to be able to compare multiple offers and merit offers, so you need to do EA/RD, that is what those are for. But remember, if it's "not affordable in ED" it doesn't magically become "more affordable in EA/RD". It will cost the same in EA/RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For high stats kids. EA and RD are crapshoots.

Its FOMO or FOBO

Fear of Missing Out

Fear of Better Options

[Anonymous]

On U Chicago- nope. The Chicago basher who shows up on every thread has no facts, which means she has not received the admissions emails. It does not take 75% ED1. It also does not take “every applicant from a given magnet school.” They share the list of ED1 top schools and the top magnets are way lower than the top private schools in their list- numbers are not mine to share but Exeter and Andover are the highest and low double digits ED1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On U Chicago- nope. The Chicago basher who shows up on every thread has no facts, which means she has not received the admissions emails. It does not take 75% ED1. It also does not take “every applicant from a given magnet school.” They share the list of ED1 top schools and the top magnets are way lower than the top private schools in their list- numbers are not mine to share but Exeter and Andover are the highest and low double digits ED1

I am an incoming U Chicago parent and I have no idea what emails you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Full pay family here.

We won't be doing ED1 because DC's first choice doesn't ED (REA only). If she doesn't get in REA, she will do ED2 to her second choice school. She's high stats and coming from a feeder school, so she will at very least get into her 2nd choice school ED2.

[Anonymous]

ED acceptance rates for the top schools are all sub 15% now. how is that not a crapshoot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Full pay family here.

We won't be doing ED1 because DC's first choice doesn't ED (REA only). If she doesn't get in REA, she will do ED2 to her second choice school. She's high stats and coming from a feeder school, so she will at very least get into her 2nd choice school ED2.

Hahahaha
It’s not so easy.