Why would you not apply ED?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD was looking at highly ranked SLACs and had some not great grades sophomore year related to COVID. In winter last year, we set a goal of having her be able to make an ED decision by 10/15, to have time to get paperwork signed.

We did a lot of visits in spring, summer and fall. A lot of discussion. She talked to a number of people, like teachers, guidance counselors, alums. And really put the time in. By early Oct, she had three top schools and was able to rank them 1,2,3. All were high matches that she was significantly likelier to get into ED. So, she had an ED1, ED2 and a defer to RD. She got into ED1.

My thought after watching it play out Is that your kid needs to suck it up and make a decision at some point. October, April. Eventually you have to choose. If you start seriously doing college mid junior year and you and your kid have the mindset that the deadline is October, and do all the work, research, visits you need to do to have a decision (we visited the 3 finalists twice), then you are ready to make a decision in October.

The problem is most people have a May 1 decision mindset. So, of course they aren’t ready to make a thoughtful ED decision.

The only downside was she still needed a college list and to start on supplemental essays while waiting to hear.

Our DC was in a somewhat similar situation, though the not great grades were in freshman year. Very hard to raise a GPA when starting with a middling performance. But DC stuck with it and raised it to a 3.5. Then landed a strong ACT score. DC wanted to get into the best school possible, which was sometimes in tension with other schools that were very appealing though probably more selective than DC's stats. DC was going back and forth with a couple of schools to ED1, ED2, then almost gambled on one of those long shots. Fortunately, DC's college counselor talked through the scenarios and DC reverted to the ED1, ED2 apps. Also got off 6 EAs. Fortunately got in ED1 and is pretty happy with choice. None of DC's classmates got into the appealing more selective schools and that seems to have confirmed for DC that the ED1 was a good decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adding that I know the financial aid package issue is one reason to not ED, but assuming you are prepared to be full pay my question is why not apply ED?

That's a big assumption. Most people put money front and center in making decisions about college.

ED is affirmative action for the rich.

Stop with the bs. The npc tells you if the school is affordable or not long before the ED decision needs to be made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adding that I know the financial aid package issue is one reason to not ED, but assuming you are prepared to be full pay my question is why not apply ED?

That's a big assumption. Most people put money front and center in making decisions about college.

ED is affirmative action for the rich.

OP here - my point is I’m asking for myself. We can afford to full pay and are essentially expecting to need to do so, although as I also noted in another response, the ED choice may be W&M in state, so good on all counts. This thread has been very helpful for me in terms of thinking through the pros and cons. I think this is likely to be a good strategy for DS. Like another PP whose kid did something similar, DS is relatively happy go lucky and not likely to be plagued by regrets as long as he finds a school or two he likes.

[Anonymous]

I think you just have to think hard about what more information we would have in spring than we have a few months earlier in the fall. It is so tempting to just wait it out and see what the options end up being, as long as youi don't regret trying to get that little bump for a quasi-reach

[Anonymous]

My son's dream schools in September of Senior year were no longer his dream schools by November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adding that I know the financial aid package issue is one reason to not ED, but assuming you are prepared to be full pay my question is why not apply ED?

That's a big assumption. Most people put money front and center in making decisions about college.

ED is affirmative action for the rich.

OP here - my point is I’m asking for myself. We can afford to full pay and are essentially expecting to need to do so, although as I also noted in another response, the ED choice may be W&M in state, so good on all counts. This thread has been very helpful for me in terms of thinking through the pros and cons. I think this is likely to be a good strategy for DS. Like another PP whose kid did something similar, DS is relatively happy go lucky and not likely to be plagued by regrets as long as he finds a school or two he likes.

I have two kids who were admitted ED to Ivies. One thing that has not been emphasized here enough is that the ED admission odds are usually not as good as they appear on paper. The ED applications include all the recruited athletes (90%+ admitted) all the Questbrige kids (90%+ admitted), and all the legacy kids who get an advantage only in ED (many ED schools say this explicitly).

So if the ED admit is, for example, 18%, and you take out the kids who have the above ED advantages, then the ED admit rate for the unhooked kids may be only 10% instead of 18%. That may still be a somewhat higher admit rate than during RD, but the point is that ED is usually not nearly as large of an advantage as it appears, at least for the kids that do not fall into any of the above noted ED-favored groups.

[Anonymous]

because the ED schools are not the top choice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you get to the day where you, your kid, and the counselor have to sign the ED contract, you will probably then understand why many kids don't.

If your kid has a nearly perfect record, then yes, you should pick your favorite and go for it. If your kid has a clear favorite in a less competitive school and is well qualified for it, yes, give it a go.

But for most kids, there is a level of uncertainty that makes ED to the dream school foolish, but hope still alive for RD to that school. When faced with giving up the dream school to ED to a more sure thing, that is a tough call to make.

Why would ED to the dream school be foolish though if you can still apply to other schools EA and do an ED 2? Is it just the idea that the kid is getting their hopes up on a longshot? If the kid recognizes that, what’s the downside?

Because not all schools have ED, EDII, or EA. USC, for example, is a very popular school with RD only, and many top 20 schools and SLACs only have ED1 and RD.

[Anonymous]

We did not ED because DS’s top pick does not have that option.

[Anonymous]

Another factor is that you may not be able to get as much information about your options prior to October. Once admitted, there are events/visits geared to admitted students, there may be more opportunity to sit in on classes or have an overnight.

This is definitely going to be issue for my junior DD. She thinks maybe she'd like to go to W&M but it will be a reach. Excellent test scores and ECs, GPA is a bit on the low end for our school. So, she's the kind of student who really is likely to do better in ED. But, she also has several LACs that she really likes based on initial tours and other research. She's going to need to do more research and see if she comes around to wanting W&M enough to pass on others that might be good options (and, given how expensive W&M is, some of those LACs will be cheaper). Hard decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not ED because DS’s top pick does not have that option.

+1 It is so nerve wracking to wait while so many others get to celebrate early.

[Anonymous]

ED shows the school that you want to be there and that you will attend (which positively impacts their yield rate). this really matters at the edges.

[Anonymous]

This regarding our 2025 student:

1. DD wasn’t ready to commit
2. DD’s top contender had EA as well as ED
3. DD ended up getting a large merit scholarship at the EA school
4. DD would have had to withdraw all applications and miss out on the EA scholarship
5. DD also wanted to see what opportunities might come in through RD
6. DD found out she was accepted to a few more schools, but in the end chose the EA school

It is possible DD might have gotten into a more highly ranked school if she had tried for ED rather than RD. But the EA school is a good fit and this seems to have been the right choice for her.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't applying ED vastly undermine potential merit awards? Why does the school offer merit when it knows the student must attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son's dream schools in September of Senior year were no longer his dream schools by November.

This. My DS had different dream schools in November January and April. And DS really thought he was sure each time.