My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Must have been Middlebury. They reject most everyone instead of deferring a large number, which I think is a good thing as a deferral is almost always a no. In general, it’s worth it to apply if you think you have a shot and absolutely love a school. My DS was just admitted and he is not recruited for a sport. It was his #1 but we knew how selective it is and wouldn’t have been that surprised if he didn’t get in. Good luck figuring out your ED2/RD plan.

But Middlebury is not "a very small LAC"; it is a large LAC. OP should share the school name so that the thread would make sense & should lead to better advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must have been Middlebury. They reject most everyone instead of deferring a large number, which I think is a good thing as a deferral is almost always a no. In general, it’s worth it to apply if you think you have a shot and absolutely love a school. My DS was just admitted and he is not recruited for a sport. It was his #1 but we knew how selective it is and wouldn’t have been that surprised if he didn’t get in. Good luck figuring out your ED2/RD plan.

But Middlebury is not "a very small LAC"; it is a large LAC. OP should share the school name so that the thread would make sense & should lead to better advice.

The original OP who made the post is dated from last year (class of 2025). It's probably a highly rejective SLAC like Williams, Bowdoin, Swat, Carleton, Haverford, Pomona/CMC/Mudd, etc.

[Anonymous]

Seriously, if one of SLACs is your DC’s dream, first choice, you should apply RD to maximize your chances!

No one at our school ED SLACs except for Middlebury. This is like year after year. Every year there are about 3 accepted to Williams RD.

[Anonymous]

Both of my kids applied ED to very small LACs; one got in, the other (with better stats) didn't. It's always a roll of the dice. Same thing happened with a friend's two kids. It stung for a littlle while, but all are very happy where they landed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends. There were at least 4 small LACS where my kid was advised that ED was his best chance to get in. If any had been his first choice, not applying ED would have ruled them out. He decided not to ED as his true first choice didn't offer ED, and not surprisingly did not get into any of those four LACs.

My other child did ED to a true first choice LAC and got in. There were three others on the list, and one takes a big part of the class ED. We were fairly certain not applying ED to that one would have resulted in rejection too.

There have been lots of weird threads/posts on this board recently that are ostensibly about SLACs by people who don’t really seem to get SLACs. They may be into Williams or Bowdoin (as acceptable alternatives to the T25 national universities) but not the broader universe of selective liberal arts colleges. IME opinions borne of that vantage point are not super helpful.

But ZERO chance of getting in ED somewhere else if you apply there. That's OP's point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must have been Middlebury. They reject most everyone instead of deferring a large number, which I think is a good thing as a deferral is almost always a no. In general, it’s worth it to apply if you think you have a shot and absolutely love a school. My DS was just admitted and he is not recruited for a sport. It was his #1 but we knew how selective it is and wouldn’t have been that surprised if he didn’t get in. Good luck figuring out your ED2/RD plan.

But Middlebury is not "a very small LAC"; it is a large LAC. OP should share the school name so that the thread would make sense & should lead to better advice.

2600 is not large!! It is not the smallest but it is definitely small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Must have been Middlebury. They reject most everyone instead of deferring a large number, which I think is a good thing as a deferral is almost always a no. In general, it’s worth it to apply if you think you have a shot and absolutely love a school. My DS was just admitted and he is not recruited for a sport. It was his #1 but we knew how selective it is and wouldn’t have been that surprised if he didn’t get in. Good luck figuring out your ED2/RD plan.

Middlebury takes a huge percentage of their class ED. Agree that a large percentage of them are athletes, but it is absolutely an advantage for anyone to apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must have been Middlebury. They reject most everyone instead of deferring a large number, which I think is a good thing as a deferral is almost always a no. In general, it’s worth it to apply if you think you have a shot and absolutely love a school. My DS was just admitted and he is not recruited for a sport. It was his #1 but we knew how selective it is and wouldn’t have been that surprised if he didn’t get in. Good luck figuring out your ED2/RD plan.

But Middlebury is not "a very small LAC"; it is a large LAC. OP should share the school name so that the thread would make sense & should lead to better advice.

2600 is not large!! It is not the smallest but it is definitely small.

In the world of LACs, 2600 students is large. Most LACs have fewer than 1,800 students. Middlebury College is one of the largest LACs if measured by students enrolled.

[Anonymous]

My kid was fortunate, was admitted to a WASP ED last year. But if it hadn't worked out, he had another one lined up for ED2, and a good number on the RD list. Since they are more similar than different, he said he would have felt good about however it worked out in the end and he knew he had an excellent chance of getting into at least some of them. We never treated his ED choice as a dream school, just a great school that happened to have a lot of what he wanted.

[Anonymous]

My DD was rejected ED from a SLAC but was accepted RD. I don’t think she would have gotten in just applying RD. I think they knew she was a guaranteed yes.

[Anonymous]

^ ^
focus on EDing to the kind of school the kid prefers. Then develop a list of similar schools and talk about what great potential all of them offer.

If the issue is elite school or bust, that's another kettle of fish. That's high-stress no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD was rejected ED from a SLAC but was accepted RD. I don’t think she would have gotten in just applying RD. I think they knew she was a guaranteed yes.

You mean deferred, I assume?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was fortunate, was admitted to a WASP ED last year. But if it hadn't worked out, he had another one lined up for ED2, and a good number on the RD list. Since they are more similar than different, he said he would have felt good about however it worked out in the end and he knew he had an excellent chance of getting into at least some of them. We never treated his ED choice as a dream school, just a great school that happened to have a lot of what he wanted.

That is because you are mature and wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD was rejected ED from a SLAC but was accepted RD. I don’t think she would have gotten in just applying RD. I think they knew she was a guaranteed yes.

You mean deferred ED and then admitted RD to the same SLAC? If so, could you share which one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure it's hard for him not to beat himself up and think he made a mistake, but every year kids with astonishing stats get rejected from midsize or larger T25's too. If you read Selingo's "Who Gets in and Why" narrative of the conversations in Emory committee that led kids to get bumped from admit to defer/reject status, it's often about subtle details that are beyond stats. The stats are table stakes. It was probably more nuanced details such as how his essay landed with the particular personalities of the AO's, EC profile and fit with the class they were creating, letters of rec, etc. that determined how the decision played out, and there's no way those were identical to those of his friend. Hope he can keep his head up and move forward.

OP was posting during last year’s admissions (January 2025) so I’m sure he’s landed somewhere.