The ED game is nuts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD picked her target school in spring of her junior year, we looked at the common data set and she was at or above 50% for GPA and SAT so we gave it a shot. So nice to be done and not have to spend most of her senior year worrying about picking a school. Sure didn't seem like we were privileged when we wrote those painful 529 checks every year but happy that we did.

DS, same. He's about the only one we know who's done (except for athletic recruits).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Early Decision should be illegal, frankly. It's inequitable, and for families who can afford to participate, deeply stressful.

+1

It's affirmative action for the rich.

Ahh, so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Early Decision should be illegal, frankly. It's inequitable, and for families who can afford to participate, deeply stressful.

+1

It's affirmative action for the rich.

Nonsense. Anyone can ED. There's an out if you can't make the numbers work financially. Besides, not everything in life has to be "equitable," nor should everything you don't like or that you find unfair be "illegal."

Yep. Affirmative action for the rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is one of many broken things with college admissions. Not only does it benefit the rich, it puts so much pressure on 17/18 year olds to make a huge decision with limited information.

I know all kids are different, but I’m amazed at how many ED. My DD wasn’t jazzed enough about any school to ED anywhere - she has no clue what she wants! She applied to 10 and has a frontrunner (which she was accepted to) but she still wants to go see a few others. This may be a game time decision.

This is exactly my daughter (except she applied to more than 10 schools). Didn't ED anywhere, but applied to one rolling school, 4 EA schools and the rest RD.

She received acceptance to her front-runner school (an EA school) so the pressure is off. She is now just waiting for the rest of her EAs and RDs schools to come with their acceptances then she can make an informed decision.

[Anonymous]

I dont buy into the "so glad we didn't ruin senior year" thing about ED.

ED has to be done by nov 1 and RD by mostly Jan 1. Even if you do ED, you have to have your list ready and some of the supplementals at least started. That's conventional advice.

So this is done for all kids by early January. The decision making time if you do RD is exciting. the power shifts to the applicant. They colleges woo you for a change! The weekends are really fun, you get to think about what you really want, compare in a way you can't on a tour, etc etc.

IOW, all kids are done w the hard stuff by either Nov 1 or January 1. I don't think the trade off is worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont buy into the "so glad we didn't ruin senior year" thing about ED.

ED has to be done by nov 1 and RD by mostly Jan 1. Even if you do ED, you have to have your list ready and some of the supplementals at least started. That's conventional advice.

So this is done for all kids by early January. The decision making time if you do RD is exciting. the power shifts to the applicant. They colleges woo you for a change! The weekends are really fun, you get to think about what you really want, compare in a way you can't on a tour, etc etc.

IOW, all kids are done w the hard stuff by either Nov 1 or January 1. I don't think the trade off is worth it.

+1

I see the purpose for a kid that has a clear 'this school or nowhere else'. Though that's not really healthy.

My kid has no clear front runner. He could see himself at several different schools. He also decided to go for many reaches. He didn't want to be left with 'what if" or any buyer's remorse.

Personally, he's changed a lot since August. He even removed a few schools from his list that he really liked/toured last year--but by October lost the love for them.

Also--the prompts of many colleges provoked a lot of different feelings. Some just felt like a 'fit'. Others were a turn-off. You could almost see from that exercise which schools were aligned with him--likes, personality, vision.

[Anonymous]

After all the stress, we had a good experience with ED. My child got in to their first choice school with a large merit scholarship. The scholarship surprised us because everything we read said that we were basically giving up the chance by doing ED. But we checked with the school multiple times, and they said they reserved merit money for ED, ED2, and RD, and that our kid can had a better chance by applying early. I thought--sure. But it was true!

Looking at that, I thought, "Well, they might have gotten into one of the tippy top SLACs instead of just a very good SLAC." But do I think the tippy top SLAC that doesn't give any merit would be worth more than $140,000 of merit at what is already a very good school? No.

I paid a lot of attention to Jeff Selingo's list and looked for schools that were ranked highly but still gave merit for various reasons. It seems like some of that is probably related to location, but there are other factors. It was stressful and sometimes I felt like an idiot for putting so much thought in it, but I'm glad I did now. My kid was not that motivated to do research and basically knew more what they didn't want than what they did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or maybe your first didn't ED too low? I find it nuts when people say they ED'd too low....they may not have gotten in RD to the same school - or to the ones they perceived to be higher. Regardless of what they "saw" among peers' RD acceptances.

Bottom line - don't ED to a school you wouldn't be thrilled to attend.

This. Folks so ridic in thinking "well, I would've gotten in here and other places RD." Maybe and maybe not. It's not so clear cut. A friend's DC probably reached too far for ED1/2. Ended up not getting into any of the top half of NESCACs in RD. Likes where they are, but when ED1 didn't work, should've probably seriously reconsidered ED2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont buy into the "so glad we didn't ruin senior year" thing about ED.

ED has to be done by nov 1 and RD by mostly Jan 1. Even if you do ED, you have to have your list ready and some of the supplementals at least started. That's conventional advice.

So this is done for all kids by early January. The decision making time if you do RD is exciting. the power shifts to the applicant. They colleges woo you for a change! The weekends are really fun, you get to think about what you really want, compare in a way you can't on a tour, etc etc.

IOW, all kids are done w the hard stuff by either Nov 1 or January 1. I don't think the trade off is worth it.

No, we had all of our eggs in exactly one basket, not what was advised but looking at the numbers we felt confident. I guess we miss out on the joy of getting weekly acceptance notices for schools she had no interest in attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont buy into the "so glad we didn't ruin senior year" thing about ED.

ED has to be done by nov 1 and RD by mostly Jan 1. Even if you do ED, you have to have your list ready and some of the supplementals at least started. That's conventional advice.

So this is done for all kids by early January. The decision making time if you do RD is exciting. the power shifts to the applicant. They colleges woo you for a change! The weekends are really fun, you get to think about what you really want, compare in a way you can't on a tour, etc etc.

IOW, all kids are done w the hard stuff by either Nov 1 or January 1. I don't think the trade off is worth it.

+1

I see the purpose for a kid that has a clear 'this school or nowhere else'. Though that's not really healthy.

My kid has no clear front runner. He could see himself at several different schools. He also decided to go for many reaches. He didn't want to be left with 'what if" or any buyer's remorse.

Personally, he's changed a lot since August. He even removed a few schools from his list that he really liked/toured last year--but by October lost the love for them.

Also--the prompts of many colleges provoked a lot of different feelings. Some just felt like a 'fit'. Others were a turn-off. You could almost see from that exercise which schools were aligned with him--likes, personality, vision.

They have to pick sometime, but these kids are encouraged to put it off until the last minute. We used junior year research and visits as the point to make a decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont buy into the "so glad we didn't ruin senior year" thing about ED.

ED has to be done by nov 1 and RD by mostly Jan 1. Even if you do ED, you have to have your list ready and some of the supplementals at least started. That's conventional advice.

So this is done for all kids by early January. The decision making time if you do RD is exciting. the power shifts to the applicant. They colleges woo you for a change! The weekends are really fun, you get to think about what you really want, compare in a way you can't on a tour, etc etc.

IOW, all kids are done w the hard stuff by either Nov 1 or January 1. I don't think the trade off is worth it.

So don't "buy it" for yourself or your kid. But don't discount what we're saying for us when ED works for our kid: DS had his one app, top choice by far, ED1 acceptance on Dec 5. (If it was a rejection he would have moved to a very safe ED2 and super super safe RD). No pressure for midterms or second semester grades or decisions or anxious waiting. All good here.

[Anonymous]

These days, unfortunately, it's not just for "this place or nowhere else" or even just for high reaches. There are plenty of schools that might be target schools overall, but have so many slots gone after ED that getting in RD is extra hard. We know several kids who got shut out of their favorite target schools because they used ED for a high reach and didn't get in, and then got shut out of those target schools because there were so few slots left. Sometimes ED to your favorite target school is the smart way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Early Decision should be illegal, frankly. It's inequitable, and for families who can afford to participate, deeply stressful.

+1

It's affirmative action for the rich.

I mean, if we’re talking about fancy SLACs and Ivy League schools—in which many people (like us, for example) have zero interest in pursuing. DD applied ED to a state school and was admitted with a full tuition scholarship. We are middle class, and we are realistic about the realities of college admissions. For some, ED can be an early opportunity to be considered for aid and scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont buy into the "so glad we didn't ruin senior year" thing about ED.

ED has to be done by nov 1 and RD by mostly Jan 1. Even if you do ED, you have to have your list ready and some of the supplementals at least started. That's conventional advice.

So this is done for all kids by early January. The decision making time if you do RD is exciting. the power shifts to the applicant. They colleges woo you for a change! The weekends are really fun, you get to think about what you really want, compare in a way you can't on a tour, etc etc.

IOW, all kids are done w the hard stuff by either Nov 1 or January 1. I don't think the trade off is worth it.

+1

I see the purpose for a kid that has a clear 'this school or nowhere else'. Though that's not really healthy.

My kid has no clear front runner. He could see himself at several different schools. He also decided to go for many reaches. He didn't want to be left with 'what if" or any buyer's remorse.

Personally, he's changed a lot since August. He even removed a few schools from his list that he really liked/toured last year--but by October lost the love for them.

Also--the prompts of many colleges provoked a lot of different feelings. Some just felt like a 'fit'. Others were a turn-off. You could almost see from that exercise which schools were aligned with him--likes, personality, vision.

They have to pick sometime, but these kids are encouraged to put it off until the last minute. We used junior year research and visits as the point to make a decision.

A boy. He changed tremendously since he did college visits Junior year, and he also took his sport out of the equation.

He wasn't encouraged to put it off. That's just stupid. He applied to all of the schools known for being very strong in his intended major. Some he grew to like more and more after Nov. 1st.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These days, unfortunately, it's not just for "this place or nowhere else" or even just for high reaches. There are plenty of schools that might be target schools overall, but have so many slots gone after ED that getting in RD is extra hard. We know several kids who got shut out of their favorite target schools because they used ED for a high reach and didn't get in, and then got shut out of those target schools because there were so few slots left. Sometimes ED to your favorite target school is the smart way to go.

And I saw so many top 1-25 acceptances in RD by kids with no hooks last spring after the dust settled.

If your favorite target is close to your 'favorite' and your personality isn't one to 'wonder what would have happened, have regrets' then go for it. Agreed.

I think at $40-90k/year, it's okay to take the time to come to a decision and compare offers.