Your Experience With Early Decision vs Early Action

[Anonymous]

DD had great success with EA, or in some cases rolling admission. She was applying to large out of state publics. She received her first admittance in Nov and 3 more before regular decision came out for her in-state and least favorite choice. Applying early also, usually, gave her merit aid. It was nice to know the - adjusted- cost of attendance for the out of state schools early in the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest DC did restrictive early action and was accepted at a "dream" school. We didn't think it was the right place for DC, but s/he wouldn't consider doing any more applications. By that point, s/he was sick of the whole application process, plus, "hey -- I got into a school that people dream of getting into, Mom." Fast-forward -- DC pretty much hated the school and transferred to a very different school (a school we had suggested way back in junior year, though DC had declined to even visit.) All's well that ended well -- DC (now a senior) is very happy, but we're not EA/ED fans.

Good things worked out for your DC. However, EA and restrictive EA are totally different and might not have had such a bad experience who s/he had done EA.

NP - How so? EA and REA/SECA are different but I'm not sure if I'd characterize it as "totally different." One just has more restrictions than the other. Maybe I am missing your point.

I also would characterize EA and ED as "totally different." With ED, a kid is essentially making up his/her mind about what college to attend by, what? the end of October in order to get the application prepared? Which seems to be the problem you have with ED--that your DD made up her mind too quickly and didn't consider enough options? But that isn't an issue with EA. Students can apply EA to as many colleges as they want (assuming the college has an EA option), so they can keep their options open. And if, on further reflection, students realize there are other colleges they are interested in, they are free to submit additional RD applications, as many as they want, no matter what the outcome of their EA applications have been. Further, with EA, while acceptance may come early, the final decision doesn't have to be made until May 1, same as RD.

So really, the only thing EA has in common with ED is that the deadlines are typically in November and the notification of acceptance or rejection often comes before the new year.

[Anonymous]

I think they were saying restrictive early action (used by HYPS) is not much different than early action. Of course ED is completely different.

[Anonymous]

One additional thing to consider: if DC is admitted early action to somewhere lots of people would consider a "dream school" there is a lot of peer pressure to stop applying to the super elite schools to give your classmates a better chance and not get greedy. "Oh yes, I was very excited to get into Harvard early, but I still want to apply to the other 7 Ivies so I can see how many acceptances I can rack up" just doesn't fly if you are a considerate person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One additional thing to consider: if DC is admitted early action to somewhere lots of people would consider a "dream school" there is a lot of peer pressure to stop applying to the super elite schools to give your classmates a better chance and not get greedy. "Oh yes, I was very excited to get into Harvard early, but I still want to apply to the other 7 Ivies so I can see how many acceptances I can rack up" just doesn't fly if you are a considerate person.

That happened to one of DCs friends. Accepted EA at Stanford but still applied to many Ivies. Accepted at several and actually ended up attending one of those rather than Stanford so it was the right strategy, but some of the kids thought he was just trying to rack up acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One additional thing to consider: if DC is admitted early action to somewhere lots of people would consider a "dream school" there is a lot of peer pressure to stop applying to the super elite schools to give your classmates a better chance and not get greedy. "Oh yes, I was very excited to get into Harvard early, but I still want to apply to the other 7 Ivies so I can see how many acceptances I can rack up" just doesn't fly if you are a considerate person.

That happened to one of DCs friends. Accepted EA at Stanford but still applied to many Ivies. Accepted at several and actually ended up attending one of those rather than Stanford so it was the right strategy, but some of the kids thought he was just trying to rack up acceptances.

We found this is quite popular to do. SAme idea- get in HYP or Stanford, get in, then apply to all the others just to see and end up going to first choice anyway. I don't get it but it's definitely done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One additional thing to consider: if DC is admitted early action to somewhere lots of people would consider a "dream school" there is a lot of peer pressure to stop applying to the super elite schools to give your classmates a better chance and not get greedy. "Oh yes, I was very excited to get into Harvard early, but I still want to apply to the other 7 Ivies so I can see how many acceptances I can rack up" just doesn't fly if you are a considerate person.

That happened to one of DCs friends. Accepted EA at Stanford but still applied to many Ivies. Accepted at several and actually ended up attending one of those rather than Stanford so it was the right strategy, but some of the kids thought he was just trying to rack up acceptances.

I posted at 12:30, and, yes, this was a factor in our kid's decision not to apply to any other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest DC did restrictive early action and was accepted at a "dream" school. We didn't think it was the right place for DC, but s/he wouldn't consider doing any more applications. By that point, s/he was sick of the whole application process, plus, "hey -- I got into a school that people dream of getting into, Mom." Fast-forward -- DC pretty much hated the school and transferred to a very different school (a school we had suggested way back in junior year, though DC had declined to even visit.) All's well that ended well -- DC (now a senior) is very happy, but we're not EA/ED fans.

Good things worked out for your DC. However, EA and restrictive EA are totally different and might not have had such a bad experience who s/he had done EA.

Not really. Her daughter still could have applied RD and/or could have applied rolling or EA to public or foreign universities. SCEA doesn't commit you to a school or even limit you to one EA app (just one EA app at a private school). Effectively PP's DD was in exactly the same position as my DD who applied EA. Basically, kids who apply EA end up just as constrained if their 2nd and 3rd choice schools are SCEA. Choice number 1 (Chicago or MIT) might be cool with the idea of its EA applicants applying (SC)EA to an HYPS, but HYPS won't let its SCEA applicants apply EA to Chicago and/or MIT.

I think what PP is flagging is largely about psychology rather than rules and, to some extent, about family dynamics. It's not an SCEA vs. EA issue. It's a situation that could arise in either context and is probably most likely to occur when parents defer, perhaps against their own better judgment, to DC's EA selection, thinking it's just an initial preference rather than a final decision. Then the acceptance comes through and DC says game over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One additional thing to consider: if DC is admitted early action to somewhere lots of people would consider a "dream school" there is a lot of peer pressure to stop applying to the super elite schools to give your classmates a better chance and not get greedy. "Oh yes, I was very excited to get into Harvard early, but I still want to apply to the other 7 Ivies so I can see how many acceptances I can rack up" just doesn't fly if you are a considerate person.

That was certainly my kid's reaction. I'm kind of in the middle -- only apply to places you sincerely believe you might choose over places that have already accepted you. Assuming that the SCEA choice was one of your top 3, then 2 more apps max. But since SCEA choices aren't always a DC's first choice (because there is no firm first choice or because kid felt compelled to do SCEA at parent's alma mater so as not to sacrifice legacy advantage) and these decisions are made relatively early and sometimes in haste, I don't think kids who are accepted EA should voluntarily forego exploring other options.

[Anonymous]

Any stories of happy endings? Same school RD acceptance after deferral or their kid ending up happier with their RD choices after a first choice EA deferral/rejection?

[Anonymous]

It was a no brainer for DC, since we weren't comparing financial aid packages. Applied to his first choice Ivy ED (6% admit rate) and also EA for his safety (our state flagship with a 45% in-state admit rate). He wasn't focused on an Ivy brand so he was comfortable with picking just one and he felt his safety school would be fine as well. His strategy meant that he only applied to two schools and was all done November 1. Most of his friends were still rewriting their essays after Christmas. His thinking was he'd hear in December on the Ivy and if he didn't get in, he'd get the other decision in January. As it turned out, he got admitted to his first choice and withdrew the second application. So much less drama and fuss than most of his classmates obsessed with parsing 20-30 schools to get down to 10 applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was a no brainer for DC, since we weren't comparing financial aid packages. Applied to his first choice Ivy ED (6% admit rate) and also EA for his safety (our state flagship with a 45% in-state admit rate). He wasn't focused on an Ivy brand so he was comfortable with picking just one and he felt his safety school would be fine as well. His strategy meant that he only applied to two schools and was all done November 1. Most of his friends were still rewriting their essays after Christmas. His thinking was he'd hear in December on the Ivy and if he didn't get in, he'd get the other decision in January. As it turned out, he got admitted to his first choice and withdrew the second application. So much less drama and fuss than most of his classmates obsessed with parsing 20-30 schools to get down to 10 applications.

Most people do not apply to just two schools. Good things worked out well for your DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a no brainer for DC, since we weren't comparing financial aid packages. Applied to his first choice Ivy ED (6% admit rate) and also EA for his safety (our state flagship with a 45% in-state admit rate). He wasn't focused on an Ivy brand so he was comfortable with picking just one and he felt his safety school would be fine as well. His strategy meant that he only applied to two schools and was all done November 1. Most of his friends were still rewriting their essays after Christmas. His thinking was he'd hear in December on the Ivy and if he didn't get in, he'd get the other decision in January. As it turned out, he got admitted to his first choice and withdrew the second application. So much less drama and fuss than most of his classmates obsessed with parsing 20-30 schools to get down to 10 applications.

Most people do not apply to just two schools. Good things worked out well for your DC.

Same story here. It's not a crazy strategy given that you can add apps if EA goes bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One additional thing to consider: if DC is admitted early action to somewhere lots of people would consider a "dream school" there is a lot of peer pressure to stop applying to the super elite schools to give your classmates a better chance and not get greedy. "Oh yes, I was very excited to get into Harvard early, but I still want to apply to the other 7 Ivies so I can see how many acceptances I can rack up" just doesn't fly if you are a considerate person.

That happened to one of DCs friends. Accepted EA at Stanford but still applied to many Ivies. Accepted at several and actually ended up attending one of those rather than Stanford so it was the right strategy, but some of the kids thought he was just trying to rack up acceptances.

We found this is quite popular to do. SAme idea- get in HYP or Stanford, get in, then apply to all the others just to see and end up going to first choice anyway. I don't get it but it's definitely done

Although in the case of DCs friend he actually did choose another school, much to everyone's surprise, so at least those extra apps were worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

Our experience. We thought DC should apply to two prestigious early action schools that were not SCEA even though neither was DC's first choice. Our thought was DC had a better chance of acceptance to at least one of them and then could shorten the regular decision list to apply only to schools he liked more and drop all safeties. DC disagreed -- wanted to go for the first choice ivy SCEA. DC was right and got in. We made sure DC still had a few other apps in the pipeline in case DC had a change of heart between early December and March, but as interviews rolled around for each other school DC declined and eventually withdrew all other applications and accepted the original EA. And so far it has worked out very well.