Reply to Your Experience With Early Decision vs Early Action

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[quote=Anonymous]ED didn't come up for us since the only school on DC's list that offered it was her fifth or sixth choice.  Since she got into her first choice EA, it was clearly the right move not to do ED.

If your DC applies anywhere (SC)EA, make sure s/he also applies to a public school with EA or rolling admissions (and/or a foreign school if one's under consideration).  The kids who were deferred or rejected EA have a long and scary wait if there's no safety already nailed down.

Look at College Confidential to get a sense of both the rates and absolute numbers of EA or ED acceptance and to compare those numbers with RD.  Some small schools have depressingly low numbers of ED1 admissions, for example, and your kid needs to know that going in.  Otherwise the process could be extremely demoralizing (e.g. Kid thinks he's already lowered his expectations and given himself an edge, but still he's shut out.)

While *you* might think of (SC)EA as largely a strategic, first-stage choice (e.g. Where would placing this chip provide the most benefit?), your DC may come to see the EA school as his/her favorite school and, if admitted, resist considering alternatives.  There are lots of ways to address this issue -- just recognize up front that it may emerge.

Listen to (but independently verify) what DC's college counselor has to say about how various schools use EA/ED.  There are some ED schools -- Northwestern was one on my DC's long list -- where high stats kids are highly likely to be admitted EA but unlikely to be admitted RD (basically, Northwestern doesn't want to be a safety school and there are more than enough very qualified kids who really want to be there that they can and will select students based on perceived interest).  Kinda sucks if interest is genuine (e.g. strong second choice) but it's not the dream school.  Sucks even more if the dream school turns out to be out of reach.

Even though everything worked out quickly and well for DC, I hate the whole EA/ED system.  It makes an already stressful process even more brutal for some kids and it fosters a mindset ("the one") that is really counterproductive for kids who are applying to highly selective schools.  I much preferred the old system where everyone heard everything all at once -- so for each kid the bad was compensated for by the good and all the kids could celebrate together.  Instead, I see kids who keep acceptances quiet out of sympathy for their friends who don't know where they're going yet.  Which is probably better than the alternative (high-fiving while others are crying), but still not a great dynamic.[/quote]

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