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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Given that it's Early Decision season, I thought I'd share my DC's ED experience last year.

After some deliberation, my DC applied ED to a very selective college (sub-10%) last year. While I wouldn't say that DC had a strong emotional commitment to this college, it made the most objective sense on paper. It offered the best financial aid (based on the NPC), is strong in DC's major, and is generally a great school. While DC had a strong application that fit comfortably within the school's admitted averages (in terms of class rank, test scores, rigor, etc.), we also were well aware that the odds were still against admission. We also knew that ED offered very little advantage for this particular school.

The ED school rejected DC outright. It's funny how one can be subjectively shocked at something objectively likely. Despite knowing that rejection was a probable outcome, I think I believed that DC would at least be deferred to RD. Thankfully, DC took it in stride. But, if I'm honest, I was concerned. Was it the personal statement? Did DC's teachers write underwhelming recommendations? Did DC's sophomore French grade doom the application? And, of course, despite already having a seemingly well-considered application plan that contemplated an ED rejection, it was very tempting to advise DC to change that plan to add more safety/targets and/or consider a target school for ED2.

In the end, DC stuck to the original plan, which was to apply RD to one true safety (a local public university where admission was essentially guaranteed), four targets, and seven reaches. In part because DC had a lot of school commitments and in part because DC procrastinated, DC put together all the supplemental essays and other application components during winter break and the first week of January classes. This was not a particularly fun experience, and an ED admission would have allowed DC to enjoy the break. DC gave a little consideration applying ED2 somewhere, but decided against it. This made me a little nervous.

When March came around, DC did extremely well in RD. DC's ED rejection was DC's only rejection. DC was admitted to six of the reaches and waitlisted at the seventh. Four of the reaches have lower admission rates than the ED school that rejected DC. DC was also admitted to the safety and three of the four targets, the fourth being another waitlist.

While I'm sure it sounds very sour-grapes-ish, I think the school that DC ultimately chose is a better fit than the ED school. DC ended up being flown out to two of the schools for overnight admitted students events, which was much more informative than Fiske descriptions and half-day tours. Also, with the passage of time, DC's college desires shifted a little in terms of things like big vs. small, close to home or distant, urban vs. outdoorsy, etc. DC seems very happy at their current school, so there are no regrets. I believe that, all things otherwise being equal, DC would pick their current school over the ED school if given the option.

On the flip side, had DC been accepted to the ED school, I'm pretty sure that DC would have been very content there, too. And, as noted before, had DC been admitted to the ED school, DC would have avoided the stress and time of applying to a dozen other schools and then trying to make a decision in April. The whole RD process took a lot of time and mental energy during an already hectic senior year.

Here are some possible takeaways:

(1) ED rejections at highly selective schools are not necessarily predictive of admissions at other highly selective schools. There's a huge amount of unpredictable variability among admissions at schools with sub-10% admission rates. For example, just because one is rejected from Cornell in ED doesn't mean it's hopeless to apply to Princeton RD.

(2) To quote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Don't panic." If you have a solid plan, don't let an ED rejection throw it off course. I'm glad my DC didn't ED2 anywhere, although it was very tempting in the moment.

(3) I think most kids are likely to make a more-informed college decision in RD than ED. There's a reasonable chance that your kid's preferences in a college will shift between November and April. They can also learn a lot at admitted students events.

(4) I am not advocating against ED. I think there are many positives to ED admissions, and at some schools it provides a meaningful boost. If nothing else, applying ED helped my DC get their application together much sooner.

Good luck, everyone! [/quote]

OP, what's your DC's rough stats, and what kind of HS? TIA[/quote]

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