Parents of Juniors: learn from us and ED if able

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are able financially to ED, please don’t be like us and think “naaaah I’m just gonna see where all DC gets in and make a decision then.” Pick a reasonable target (maybe a low reach) where your kid would be happy and ED there. Because what’s left over in April when you’ll have all your options is … the next tier down.

People told us don’t do it, don’t pass on the chance to ED. We thought naaaahhh that doesn’t apply to DS. He has high stats and doesn’t have a clear favorite. DS does have choices, but not ones as good as he could have had if he had picked in November and EDd. There just aren’t many spots left for RD after the top colleges have filled up with ED.

Yeah, that’s just what we need. More people applying ED to get an edge that doesn’t exist and then wanting to back out when they get cold feet.

It may not be as drastic as the raw numbers suggest, but it is a big admission advantage. No mistake about it.

The reason there are higher admit rates in ED is because students self select a school that is a very strong fit. That advantage vanishes if you are going ED to “take a chance”. Sure, if you really know it’s the school for you, go ED. But if you are considering different programs and might have different ideas in 6 months when you have more information, don’t ED to a school just because it’s high in rankings. That’s when you get to post in the thread about regrets …

What is a very strong fit? Most schools offer the same core programs. If you're a student with good grades, good test scores, have acceptable ECs and declare a major in one of those core programs... you could fit into hundreds of schools!

[Anonymous]

My child was accepted ED this year. It seems like almost everyone he knows didn’t apply ED because they are just deciding on schools in the last few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you can only ED at one school?
What if you ED at a reach and get waitlisted there?

Right. ED is binding. If you get waitlisted, pick an ED2 school
threats ranked a little lower.

But then what happens to your ED1 choice if they finally decide to admit you? Does the waitlist/deferred status cancel the obligation to attend the first school?

If the ED school defers you, you move to the RD pool so there is no longer a binding agreement. If they reject you in the ED round well you have your answer sooner and can focus on other options. Also while you can only apply to one school ED, you need to check if that school allows you to apply to early action and rolling admission schools as well (not only RD) so you have a backup plan if you get deferred or rejected. You would not want to delay getting in your UMD application by the Nov 1 EA deadline (where they fill 90% of their class) by waiting to find out in mid-December if you were admitted to your ED choice.

I give the same advice as the OP to parents of juniors, if you run the Net Price Calculator for that low-reach college that your child really wants to attend (and they are sure) and you are okay with paying that price, have them apply ED and get that admissions boost.

Not sure if that statement is accurate. I don't think there are any restrictions on applying to other schools non-ED. However, once you get admitted ED, you will have to withdraw those applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are assuming your DC would have gotten in ED. Very well might have still been rejected.

+1

OP here. This is right. On the other hand, we didn’t even try and have to live with that regret. It looks almost certain DS would have gotten into UVA if he had done ED there. UVA is GPA focused and DS was above what looked like the GPA cut off for ED.

If we had it to over again, we would have advised DS to ED at UVA. Instead he’s waitlisted. His top choice now is ranked 50-60 on USNWR.

Are you instate? Out of state admissions were crazy hard this year, even with perfect grades from rigorous schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was accepted ED this year. It seems like almost everyone he knows didn’t apply ED because they are just deciding on schools in the last few weeks.

Or were deferred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are able financially to ED, please don’t be like us and think “naaaah I’m just gonna see where all DC gets in and make a decision then.” Pick a reasonable target (maybe a low reach) where your kid would be happy and ED there. Because what’s left over in April when you’ll have all your options is … the next tier down.

People told us don’t do it, don’t pass on the chance to ED. We thought naaaahhh that doesn’t apply to DS. He has high stats and doesn’t have a clear favorite. DS does have choices, but not ones as good as he could have had if he had picked in November and EDd. There just aren’t many spots left for RD after the top colleges have filled up with ED.

Yeah, that’s just what we need. More people applying ED to get an edge that doesn’t exist and then wanting to back out when they get cold feet.

It may not be as drastic as the raw numbers suggest, but it is a big admission advantage. No mistake about it.

The reason there are higher admit rates in ED is because students self select a school that is a very strong fit. That advantage vanishes if you are going ED to “take a chance”. Sure, if you really know it’s the school for you, go ED. But if you are considering different programs and might have different ideas in 6 months when you have more information, don’t ED to a school just because it’s high in rankings. That’s when you get to post in the thread about regrets …

What is a very strong fit? Most schools offer the same core programs. If you're a student with good grades, good test scores, have acceptable ECs and declare a major in one of those core programs... you could fit into hundreds of schools!

You will be surprsied at how not true this is unless you are looking for a basic liberal arts program; and even then, they can be wildly different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED1 - Dream school with a reasonable chance.

ED2 - Target.

EA - everything else.

That is about the safest way to do it to maximize satisfaction.

Which doesn't work for the vast majority of schools my Dc applied to because they only had ED and RD.

Lots of schools only offer ED/RD, not just the ones your DC is applying to. Both of my DCs did ED1. One had selected an ED2, if necessary. The other was thinking they would roll to RD. Both of them picked a range of schools, intentionally including some that offered EA. While both got in early decision, I think I would've suggested that both pick a rolling decision school if I had been more on it.

The other wrinkle is tht DC's first choice has only RD, so ED to anywhere else meant giving up the dream school if ED worked out.

[Anonymous]

Ahhh, the mythical unicorn of “dream school”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m so conflicted. I know this is the best path for admission but it doesn’t allow DC to consider merit aid from other schools.

As someone who's been there, my advice is to be honest with yourself. The schools where ED makes a difference are not the schools that give a significant merit aid. If you are seriously counting on merit, i.e. do not qualify for enough need based aid and can't swing the cost without merit aid, you shouldn't be even thinking about ED. If you can afford the cost of your top choice, but are curious about who will be the highest bidder, consider how likely you and your kid will be to chose a school based on $$$ once you have an offer from a more desirable place. I have two kids in college, and not a single one of their friends was truly swayed by a merit offer. What I mean by that is that the kids knew pretty much from the start how their preferences rank based on whatever was important to them, including $$$, and at the end they made a decision according to their preferences among the schools that accepted them.

[Anonymous]

When DC applied ED to his first choice, he was still allowed to apply EA to state schools (UVA, UNC). He was deferred from the Ivy and also deferred from UVA early action. He got into UNC and so that helped with Dec- March.
He did not ED2 ( a lot of his peers did ED2 to UChicago, including some who were objectively more qualified than him and spooked by deferrals from REA).
In the end, he got in RD to his ED1 school, UVA and a reach Ivy as well.
We are glad he did ED to his top choice AND EA to the state schools. He was able to resist the push to do ED2 and it worked out for him. If your DC does ED2- he/she must be certain that the school is in essence their new top choice ( which is hard to decide between mid December and January when the ED2 applications are due).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great advice - My kid applied ED and got into his reach, and other kids with better grades and stats were rejected in April. Kids who RD'd were down a tier from the ED kids. Sad but true.

And yet at every admissions event the ADs swear up and down that it isn't true. Liars the lot of 'em.

Not necessarily. I know William and Mary said at one of the prospective student open houses something along the lines of “like many other schools there is an advantage to applying ED”. They also said the optional essay wasn’t really optional. At one of the Boston College virtual panels we attended they showed the ED and RD admission rate. That was eye opening we dropped it from the list once we saw the RD rates and then considered merit or FA was unlikely even if accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that ED is worth a shot, if merit aid isn't a deciding factor.

However, it is far from a sure thing. If you pull recruited athletes and legacies out of the ED numbers, acceptance rates are better than RD, but not nearly as good as the raw numbers look.

One interesting example was that Vanderbilt accidentally published their ED1 numbers separately from ED2 (they usually combine them), and, if you did the math with the final numbers, you could see that the ED2 acceptance rate wasn't much, if any, better than RD.

Recruited athletes aren’t considered ED. They are in their own category.

[Anonymous]

I guess it depends. If you are at TJ and ED to UVA it probably gives you some advantage because few kids do that. If you are at a base school, you probably compete with a lot of other kids from your school in ED so probably no advantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m so conflicted. I know this is the best path for admission but it doesn’t allow DC to consider merit aid from other schools.

Then apply to everywhere EA. What you should NOT do is apply to schools RD. By then it's too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that ED is worth a shot, if merit aid isn't a deciding factor.

However, it is far from a sure thing. If you pull recruited athletes and legacies out of the ED numbers, acceptance rates are better than RD, but not nearly as good as the raw numbers look.

One interesting example was that Vanderbilt accidentally published their ED1 numbers separately from ED2 (they usually combine them), and, if you did the math with the final numbers, you could see that the ED2 acceptance rate wasn't much, if any, better than RD.

Recruited athletes aren’t considered ED. They are in their own category.

Recruitment itself is a separate process, but at every school I’m aware of, recruited athletes apply ED.

https://www.collegezoom.com/early/early-decision-early-action/