is it really easier to get into a college ED?
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Anonymous
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ED is binding, so it isn't a matter of being pretty sure. An ED applicant is committing to enrollment, so yield in ED is 100% regardless. The other 94% for the most selective schools is due to the chum of RD. ED is not binding when you are deferred -- so yield on deferred ED applicants is NOT 100%. Deferred is not acceptance. If you are accepted at ED, it is binding. Thus, 100% of applicants accepted at ED will matriculate. If you don't get sufficient financial aid, then you can decline an ED acceptance, so not 100% but close |
Anonymous
| There was one study a few years back that suggested that controlling for GPA/grades/assorted hooks there's a 1-2% average admittance bonus for applying ED. So on average a bit of a help, but not much. But schools varied--some it helped more and some virtually none. Since the study ED has exploded more and many think its positive impact on admission at selective schools has diminished, but it gives a push at less selective and/or lower yield schools. I don't know of current research on this. |
Anonymous
| Affirmative action for people of means. |
Anonymous
This trope gets old. Most of the selective schools were falling over themselves in presentations last year to assure folks requesting financial aid that they could apply ED. Use the NPC to check in advance. If your aid doesn’t reach that level or your situation changes before spring, you will be excused from the binding agreement. In the meantime, you are allowed to apply to state schools and those with scholarship deadlines before ED decisions. My kids have had multiple acceptances with merit in hand on ED decision day, with more in the pipeline. Stop whining and do your due diligence. |
Anonymous
+1 to immediate PP, who is right about how ED actually works. So much ill-informed assumption about ED on this forum. Not just this one thread--the whole college forum. |
Anonymous
Of course, the study is meaningless when not applied to individual schools. Across the board results literally mean nothing with ED. |
Anonymous
| Some colleges have shared their ED vs. RD stats at admissions info sessions. For example, the stats that Georgetown shared indicated that the admit rate is the same for EA and RD, however, the average stats of the students they accept EA is higher than RD. |
Anonymous
Yes, BUT the NPC isn't always right in the sense that the financial aid could, in fact, be better. Example - Oberlin College said our family's NP would be $60,000. That was more than $25,000 more than other private schools ranked both higher and lower. My DS decided to apply anyway RD, and the FA aid package that came with the Oberlin RD acceptance brought our NP down to $32K (no merit aid). Similarly, the FA at the school DS is actually going to attend was $15K better than predicted on its NPC. Others were exactly what the NPC predicted, nearly to the penny. Whether that's because the NPCs are often a crude instrument if your situation is slightly more complex, I don't know. But in both cases, DS did not apply ED because it was not clear we could afford it. |
Anonymous
If you want to hold out hope that the FA will be better somewhere than the NPC is telling you that is your choicel. As others have said, don't apply ED to one school if you are not willing to pay what the NPC is telling you the cost will be in order to go to the ED school. |
Anonymous
We had a couple similar experiences with calculators, even though most worked. The thing I now realize is, if you're interested in a school, start a dialog with FA immediately. They are ready to work with families early in the process. |
Anonymous
I would disagree. Many are arguing that ED is generally an advantage-- and a fairly large one--usually based on large differences in acceptance rates. But if a study looks at these systematically with appropriate controls and finds only a small average effect, it tells you something. Especially since it's highly unlikely that ED would be a strong disadvantage at schools so that can't tilt large positive effects at other schools downward. But if once you control for athletic recruits, legacies, expected yield effects, and in-pool differences etc. there's still an effect but it's a small one. Now does it tell you if it confers a 5% advantage at x school, but a 0% advantage at y school, no. But it does tell you that there's not likely to be systematic large advantages from it at many schools because otherwise the average would be higher. There's not a gigantic population of schools offering ED. |
Anonymous
However, if you look on college confidential, a lot of the new schools doing ED that don't have the $$ that Ivy and other huge endowment schools like Michigan do, the financial aid packages are NEVER good enough for middle class families and are not nearly as good as RD packages. They are always spending more than their FAFSA said they should. So I would NEVER apply ED to schools that do not meet 100% need. Even those are sketchy because they add loans and work study to meet that need. For my nephew that was $10K between 3 loans and work study to get to the 100% need on his ED. And we all know even the FAFSA starts higher than you really want. So it truly is for athletes, legacy, and rich. |
Anonymous
But you can get out if the package is un-affordable. It can work for everyone who does their homework. No reason not to. None. |
Anonymous
Except when you have to tell your DC that they can’t attend esp. because all the aid is loans because you signaled to the school your desire to attend. |
Anonymous
But the package you get is not likely to include the merit awards that would be available on review of the RD pool. So in some cases--many--you end up having to turn down your first choice without really seeing all that they could offer you since you have to accept or decline the offer at the ED time. |