Not worth ED for UVA - no real advantage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just went on a tour and someone asked about ED and whether there is an admissions advantage and what they said was surprising. There isn't any.

ED in-state acceptance rate was 30% last year. EA in-state was 28% last year. The pool of ED applicants was about 4.5K and only 782 in-state students were accepted ED.

Someone mentioned that the only reason to apply ED vs. EA is trying to get what is essentially a demonstrated interest boost by signing the binding contract. But UVA doesn't consider demonstrated interest, and the differences in admission rates are not significant. It might actually be harder to get into ED vs. EA because a lot of recruited athletes apply ED and it is enough to skew the numbers.

Anyways, the benefits of ED simply aren't there beyond a 1.5 month earlier decision. EA will have similar admission criteria, but allow you to see what other schools you got into and what amounts of aid they are offering.

I just don't see the advantage and a bunch of disadvantages of ED for UVA. Both ED and EA provide admissions advantages over the RD in-state rate of 16%.

ED is less of a boost than it was a few yrs ago. Naviance used to show a huge difference in stats. They worked to shift that this last cycle, however the borderline stats kids from the local privates got in ED but did not EA. The pools of applicants are different. It is rare anyone from the top dozen kids do ED —they usually aim for ivy/T10 and use Uva EA as a backup (and get in). So the ED pool does not have the majority of the top kids. DeanJ has said this before: EA is the most competitive pool. Therefore the rate itself is not comparing apples to apples. However—the gpa/rigor that got students IN ED in 22 and 23 got waitlisted this past cycle. Those stats were never good enough for EA so the gap has narrowed and the boost in ED is far less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions wont consider midyear grades if you apply EA. And this year the school just moved you directly to the waitlist rather than putting you in the reconsider regular pool.

Finally, UVA admissions clearly had a cookie-cutter "we need to take so many students in each of regular, EA, and ED." But then so many kids apply in the EA pool--without midyear grades--to then be dumped into a waitlist. EA is probably the toughest pool of kids who were then more likely to be forced onto a waitlist.

UVA has by far the worst system for admitting students.

FYI, if you apply ED, it is the same thing. Seems like you are arguing for benefits of EA vs. RD, compared to ED vs. EA. The stats clearly show RD is the toughest pool, and ED and EA are the very comparable.

RD certainly has the lowest admit rate, but that could also reflect that a lot of the RD kids had bumpier transcripts and were holding out to apply after their fall grades came in. A strong kid in RD likely has the same chance as a strong kid in EA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just went on a tour and someone asked about ED and whether there is an admissions advantage and what they said was surprising. There isn't any.

ED in-state acceptance rate was 30% last year. EA in-state was 28% last year. The pool of ED applicants was about 4.5K and only 782 in-state students were accepted ED.

Someone mentioned that the only reason to apply ED vs. EA is trying to get what is essentially a demonstrated interest boost by signing the binding contract. But UVA doesn't consider demonstrated interest, and the differences in admission rates are not significant. It might actually be harder to get into ED vs. EA because a lot of recruited athletes apply ED and it is enough to skew the numbers.

Anyways, the benefits of ED simply aren't there beyond a 1.5 month earlier decision. EA will have similar admission criteria, but allow you to see what other schools you got into and what amounts of aid they are offering.

I just don't see the advantage and a bunch of disadvantages of ED for UVA. Both ED and EA provide admissions advantages over the RD in-state rate of 16%.

This is true of every school. The only reason ED admission rates are higher is because the athletes and priority students apply then.

Take out those applicants and the admission rate for unhooked applicants are pretty much the same.

[Anonymous]

Every kid I know who got in ED this past year had lesser stats than those who got in regular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just went on a tour and someone asked about ED and whether there is an admissions advantage and what they said was surprising. There isn't any.

ED in-state acceptance rate was 30% last year. EA in-state was 28% last year. The pool of ED applicants was about 4.5K and only 782 in-state students were accepted ED.

Someone mentioned that the only reason to apply ED vs. EA is trying to get what is essentially a demonstrated interest boost by signing the binding contract. But UVA doesn't consider demonstrated interest, and the differences in admission rates are not significant. It might actually be harder to get into ED vs. EA because a lot of recruited athletes apply ED and it is enough to skew the numbers.

Anyways, the benefits of ED simply aren't there beyond a 1.5 month earlier decision. EA will have similar admission criteria, but allow you to see what other schools you got into and what amounts of aid they are offering.

I just don't see the advantage and a bunch of disadvantages of ED for UVA. Both ED and EA provide admissions advantages over the RD in-state rate of 16%.

This is true of every school. The only reason ED admission rates are higher is because the athletes and priority students apply then.

Take out those applicants and the admission rate for unhooked applicants are pretty much the same.

Admission rate and probability of admission for any one individual are two completely different things. To partially quote Spock in Star Trek VI, logic is the beginning of wisdom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They say it doesn't matter, but the year Dc graduated HS in 22, the difference between ED acceptance in state and EA accepting in state was 8%. So, it did matter, and DC got in ED.

The difference between ED instate acceptance and EA acceptance changes each year, it's hard to predict.

The trend is increasing applications for ED and keeping the ED admissions about the same. It narrowed to 4% for class of 2023, and then 2% in class of 2024.

It isn't a wild trendline. The ties to the staff saying there is no advantage. Remember ED includes a lot of recruited athletes in that 700 or so ED acceptance pool.

Just stating parent's talking about this ED advantage from years ago is like them saying stuff like VT has a 70% acceptance rate or JMU has a 90% acceptance rate, when things have really changed the last few years.

JMU has never had a 90 per cent acceptance rate, and before a few years ago VT regularly had a 75 percent rate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one can know everyone’s stats, essays, recs, etc of course…but there is still the sense that ED gives a tiny bit of a boost for some kids in our huge public HS.

The stats just don't bear this out. I only posted this because I think there is a big misperception there is an advantage and it seems completely illusory. I was shocked when I read the stats after the tour. I think a lot of parents and rising seniors will be very surprised. EA or ED provides a boost over RD, but the ED over EA advantages just aren't there to give up your ability to apply other schools and see what your options are.

Many parents told me ED gives an advantage. But it is only over RD, not EA. UVA's ED system doesn't appear to be a method to manipulate yield like schools like UChicago and Tulane do, or even Dartmouth. The EA is a much more attractive option.

It’s an advantage. UVA also acknowledges EA is its most competitive pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just went on a tour and someone asked about ED and whether there is an admissions advantage and what they said was surprising. There isn't any.

ED in-state acceptance rate was 30% last year. EA in-state was 28% last year. The pool of ED applicants was about 4.5K and only 782 in-state students were accepted ED.

Someone mentioned that the only reason to apply ED vs. EA is trying to get what is essentially a demonstrated interest boost by signing the binding contract. But UVA doesn't consider demonstrated interest, and the differences in admission rates are not significant. It might actually be harder to get into ED vs. EA because a lot of recruited athletes apply ED and it is enough to skew the numbers.

Anyways, the benefits of ED simply aren't there beyond a 1.5 month earlier decision. EA will have similar admission criteria, but allow you to see what other schools you got into and what amounts of aid they are offering.

I just don't see the advantage and a bunch of disadvantages of ED for UVA. Both ED and EA provide admissions advantages over the RD in-state rate of 16%.

This is true of every school. The only reason ED admission rates are higher is because the athletes and priority students apply then.

Take out those applicants and the admission rate for unhooked applicants are pretty much the same.

Except UVA takes its athletes EA, not ED. People should do some basic research before posting.

[Anonymous]

UVA says it does not give an advantage. Can someone explain how the ED stats show UVA is lying?

[Anonymous]

Do whatever you think is best for your DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA says it does not give an advantage. Can someone explain how the ED stats show UVA is lying?

As PP have tried to explain, the ED stats are incomplete, and the admission rate tells you nothing about the probability of any one individual applicant being admitted.

As another PP has pointed out, the OP is wrong that recruited athletes apply during ED at UVA.

Finally, another PP pointed out that it is not politically correct for colleges to encourage ED, because it skews toward higher-income applicants who do not need to compare financial aid packages.

[Anonymous]

Cutting and pasting. PP is right that they don't give stats about the GPA/scores of each round. The acceptance rate isn't hugely different for ED, so it doesn't make sense to stress about it.

Early Decision Offers
Overall offers: 1,133 (1,040)
Total VA offers: 782 (30% offer rate)
Total OOS offers: 351 (18.5% offer rate)

Early Action Offers
Overall offers: 6,519
Total VA offers: 2,854 (28% offer rate)
Total OOS offers: 3,665 (13% offer rate)

Regular Decision Round
Total RD applications: 16,866 (15,828 last year)
VA RD applications: 3,750 (3,413)
OOS RD applications: 13,116 (12,415)

VA RD acceptance rate: 15% (16%)
OOS RD acceptance rate: 11% (10%)

Overall Admission Statistics
Total applications: 58,995 (56,439 last year)
Total VA applications: 16,455 (15,200)
Total OOS applications: 42,540 (41,338)

Overall VA acceptance rate: 25.5% (27%)
Overall OOS acceptance rate: 13% (12%)

[Anonymous]

These stats make ED look like a sizable advantage for oos students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every kid I know who got in ED this past year had lesser stats than those who got in regular.

Or they got the VA Wise offer with ED; my kid with similar (very average) stats & ECs did EA was rejected out right