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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There is no "slot."  Colleges overaccept, usually by a lot, like a factor of 2-10.   If a student declines an offer early, there are typically still thousands of kids left in the accepted pool for that "slot." If the college started accepting new students as accepted students declined their offers, the college's accepted pool would stay constant and come May 1st, they'd have way too many acceptees.

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Simple math. If some kids decline EA slots, more kids will get regular decision (RD) offers.[/quote]

Not true. You have no way of knowing if the EA declines are the ones you planned for or not. [b]I suppose if huge numbers declined, in excess of your yield calcs, you might adjust,[/b] but I suspect that never happens.

EA seems to be more common at big state schools. So they aren't worried about one applicant variations like a SLAC might be. [/quote]

The bolded part is exactly the issue here. Good behavior that benefits everyone even has a name: it's called a "public good" in policy and economic worlds. Throwing your trash around is a good analogy. If I put my trash in the basket but everybody else throws their trash on the grass, then nobody is better off. If everybody behaves well, and throws their trash in the basket, then we all benefit from a nice grassy park. Once again, it's important to add the caveat for the college EA case, that nobody is saying that the kid who is still waiting to hear from his/her first choice has some sort of obligation to give up the EA.[/quote]

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