what to ED1/ED2/RD with this list
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Anonymous
Your information is incorrect for most schools. RD acceptance rate at Davidson is well under 10%. No one from DC’s top private (Catholic) was accepted RD this year, although there were a few waitlists (no admits, though). |
Anonymous
It is accurate for the top academically rigorous independent schools my kids attend, two different schools. Op can check their school’s naviance to confirm if it is applicable to their school. You are describing a Catholic high school which is in its own category, and probably has a lower acceptance rates to Davidson. |
Anonymous
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All great schools. Your hook is being a boy that's interested in majoring in the humanities. Stress that on the app. All of the top schools are starved for smart young men that want to major in English, Philosophy, Classics etc. Dial that to 10 on the application. And then take a look at the admissions data from your high school. Universities often have preferences for certain high schools. And they also ding other high schools for whatever reason. Look for patterns over the past three years. It's usually very clear which universities like students from your high school. And which don't. Take that into consideration when choosing how to strategize with ED1 and so on.
Sounds like this is a pretty easy going kid who'll do fine anywhere. That list is all over the map though. So, hard to give a meaningful suggestion. Personally, if you want to go to a SLAC, I'd do Bowdoin with the ED. They seem to get pretty sane kids. Williams seems like it's intense 24/7 and not a terribly happy school if you're not part of their thing. But winter in a small town in Maine. Not for everyone. For the bigger schools, Vanderbilt would be good but it's such a hard, fluky admit that I'd hesitate using the ED card there. I think it'd be great to study humanities at Notre Dame, but that is such a particular cult-like school, so really do a vibe check. Also, they do like their upper middle class/wealthy Catholic school kids so check your NY private school's data before applying ED. Rice is fantastic but very STEM-y, yet with really good humanities departments and the residential college system. Would think about that one, but a humanities boy might not be on the same nerd wavelength as other students. Northwestern seems kind of out of sorts these days. Another school that made its rep in the 90s as a fun, smart school - like Stanford - and then kind of lost its way and doesn't quite know what it is anymore. So by process of elimination, Chicago for the other ED contention. Traditional life of the mind school, but have worked hard over the past decade to get over the where fun goes to die thing. Everyone seems to rag on Chicago a bit, but I think they know what they're doing. They're building classes that are broader in scope than those of yore while keeping the smartness. And it's a school where applying ED is going to be advantageous. |
Anonymous
Skip Williams unless he's an athlete. Davidson isn't worth it, apply RD. Same with Middlebury Chicago is where fun goes to die Visit ND, it is polarizing, either he will love it or hate it. I'd ED to Rice and Vandy |
Anonymous
| Chicago is less and less where fun goes to die, esp for humanities |
Anonymous
Chicago loves ED. But what does kid want? Those are very different schools in terms of size, location etc. Most prestigious school they can get into? |
Anonymous
I’d say ND should probably be out if there was a visit and it’s not #1. Never ED to Williams. Probably ED1 to Rice and ED2 to Davidson. |
Anonymous
| ND doesnt have ED so even if it is in a top position, kids often try their hand at an equally liked school with ED |
Anonymous
I agree with this. Chicago has a much larger undergraduate student body that most of these schools and takes a lot ED. Plus the top private thing - I was reading a memoir and the author's son from STA applied ED at U Chicago and got in along with something like five of their classmates. |
Anonymous
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The PPs who are demanding that the OP's DS pick a favorite are flat-out wrong. There are no dream schools, period. And lots of kids would be reasonably happy and successful at various schools. Kudos to the OP and her kid for realizing this.
ED should be all about strategy. Where will ED give the biggest boost as compared to RD? That's easy to figure out - just go to the Common Data Sets and run the numbers yourself. Don't bother with ED at any school where it doesn't significantly enhance the odds. You have 2 shots, use them wisely. |
Anonymous
| 100% |
Anonymous
| If he's happy with them all - and they're all great schools so makes sense to me - then I'd use my ED card where it seems to make the most difference. That's def UChicago and maybe Middlebury? |
Anonymous
For the last year with data, Middlebury took 68.7% of their students through ED, and their ED acceptance rate was 4.2x their regular decision rate. Bowdoin took 52.6% of their students through ED, and their ED acceptance rate was 3.7% of their regular decision rate. |
Anonymous
Chicago ED1 will likely be an admit for a competitive student. |
Anonymous
Wow! Middlebury's stats are crazy. |