Likelier to be accepted EA or regular application?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bit off topic but what happens if a college accepts more students than seats? I know there must be some type of formula that is used knowing that students apply to numerous school. Do the colleges accommodate the overflow?

Yes they do. Some schools resort to temp housing, make double rooms triples, hire adjunct faculty, etc. Some have offered deferred admission (January admission). This is why they like ED - if they've got 40% of the class set before they turn to the RD pool there is less chance of overfilling or under filling the class. This is also what the waitlist is for - if you think you might be oversubscribed you might do more WL offers and then backfill as needed.

So it seems that students who do regular decision have less of a chance of admission. Are there a certain number of slots held for regular decision?

Sorry. You answered that with the 40% analogy.

[Anonymous]

Yes they do. Some schools resort to temp housing, make double rooms triples, hire adjunct faculty, etc. Some have offered deferred admission (January admission). This is why they like ED - if they've got 40% of the class set before they turn to the RD pool there is less chance of overfilling or under filling the class. This is also what the waitlist is for - if you think you might be oversubscribed you might do more WL offers and then backfill as needed.

This is true. Sometimes there is overfilling of classes, or fewer dorm spaces for upperclassmen, or turning doubles into triples, or offering extra sections of classes. The schools are under a lot of pressure to get the number right with their formula. The schools do not fill their entire class with early decision slots, so yes, they do have "space" for regular decision applicants. I would say that typically it does give you a slight edge to be an early decision applicant...it shows you are committed to the school and it is your first choice, and it makes it easier for the school to make sure they have an appropriate class size. That being said, early decision is binding--so you should only apply early decision if there is a school that your kid is in love with and wants to go to over all other schools. Also, if you want to be able to compare financial aid packages, you're stuck with one option...contrary to common belief on this board, financial aid is offered to early decision applicants (though perhaps not so much merit aid...although there isn't much merit aid offered at top schools anyway, if you are apply ED there), however it's impossible to know how the school's aid package stacks up compared to other schools if you have to withdraw all your other applications.

I think ED can be great if there is a school that is a match, or even a reach that a kid is absolutely in love with. If someone is a borderline candidate, sometimes it can be the tie-breaker. However, I'm not sure that this advantage is as huge as people make it out to be, especially at top schools, because people are certainly rejected or deferred ED, and most people who are accepted probably would have gotten in anyway, or at least been strongly considered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes they do. Some schools resort to temp housing, make double rooms triples, hire adjunct faculty, etc. Some have offered deferred admission (January admission). This is why they like ED - if they've got 40% of the class set before they turn to the RD pool there is less chance of overfilling or under filling the class. This is also what the waitlist is for - if you think you might be oversubscribed you might do more WL offers and then backfill as needed.

This is true. Sometimes there is overfilling of classes, or fewer dorm spaces for upperclassmen, or turning doubles into triples, or offering extra sections of classes. The schools are under a lot of pressure to get the number right with their formula. The schools do not fill their entire class with early decision slots, so yes, they do have "space" for regular decision applicants. I would say that typically it does give you a slight edge to be an early decision applicant...it shows you are committed to the school and it is your first choice, and it makes it easier for the school to make sure they have an appropriate class size. That being said, early decision is binding--so you should only apply early decision if there is a school that your kid is in love with and wants to go to over all other schools. Also, if you want to be able to compare financial aid packages, you're stuck with one option...contrary to common belief on this board, financial aid is offered to early decision applicants (though perhaps not so much merit aid...although there isn't much merit aid offered at top schools anyway, if you are apply ED there), however it's impossible to know how the school's aid package stacks up compared to other schools if you have to withdraw all your other applications.

I think ED can be great if there is a school that is a match, or even a reach that a kid is absolutely in love with. If someone is a borderline candidate, sometimes it can be the tie-breaker. However, I'm not sure that this advantage is as huge as people make it out to be, especially at top schools, because people are certainly rejected or deferred ED, and most people who are accepted probably would have gotten in anyway, or at least been strongly considered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes they do. Some schools resort to temp housing, make double rooms triples, hire adjunct faculty, etc. Some have offered deferred admission (January admission). This is why they like ED - if they've got 40% of the class set before they turn to the RD pool there is less chance of overfilling or under filling the class. This is also what the waitlist is for - if you think you might be oversubscribed you might do more WL offers and then backfill as needed.

This is true. Sometimes there is overfilling of classes, or fewer dorm spaces for upperclassmen, or turning doubles into triples, or offering extra sections of classes. The schools are under a lot of pressure to get the number right with their formula. The schools do not fill their entire class with early decision slots, so yes, they do have "space" for regular decision applicants. I would say that typically it does give you a slight edge to be an early decision applicant...it shows you are committed to the school and it is your first choice, and it makes it easier for the school to make sure they have an appropriate class size. That being said, early decision is binding--so you should only apply early decision if there is a school that your kid is in love with and wants to go to over all other schools. Also, if you want to be able to compare financial aid packages, you're stuck with one option...contrary to common belief on this board, financial aid is offered to early decision applicants (though perhaps not so much merit aid...although there isn't much merit aid offered at top schools anyway, if you are apply ED there), however it's impossible to know how the school's aid package stacks up compared to other schools if you have to withdraw all your other applications.

I think ED can be great if there is a school that is a match, or even a reach that a kid is absolutely in love with. If someone is a borderline candidate, sometimes it can be the tie-breaker. However, I'm not sure that this advantage is as huge as people make it out to be, especially at top schools, because people are certainly rejected or deferred ED, and most people who are accepted probably would have gotten in anyway, or at least been strongly considered.

However, it needs to be noted that the number of kids going to college is starting to decline. The big issue for colleges outside the top 20-30 over the several years will be filling their classes, not overfilling them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bit off topic but what happens if a college accepts more students than seats? I know there must be some type of formula that is used knowing that students apply to numerous school. Do the colleges accommodate the overflow?

Yes they do. Some schools resort to temp housing, make double rooms triples, hire adjunct faculty, etc. Some have offered deferred admission (January admission). This is why they like ED - if they've got 40% of the class set before they turn to the RD pool there is less chance of overfilling or under filling the class. This is also what the waitlist is for - if you think you might be oversubscribed you might do more WL offers and then backfill as needed.

So it seems that students who do regular decision have less of a chance of admission. Are there a certain number of slots held for regular decision?

This varies a lot by school - the ED acceptance stats seem to be publicly available. Some have a lot of ED apps and will go as high as 40%, others end up with reasonably small ED pools. State schools tend to be EA only and the criteria and usually the acceptance rate will be the same as RD applicants (sometimes actually a little tougher/lower acceptance rate as they will defer to the RD pool). Ugh - will be glad when this whole process is over.