Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 23:59     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:My DS was rejected from a small SLAC in ED despite having a very strong application and high stats. DS now thinks it was a waste to put his ED option into a smaller school. Learn from him and use ED for mid-size or larger unis with thousands of seats for your ED and ED2 rounds. Don't do what we did and use it on a small SLAC that only has a few hundred seats to offer. The odds are against you.


Look at the percent that get in, not the number of seats available. THEN you will understand the odds.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 23:56     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
One reason I hate ED is that you feel forced into all sorts of game theory about where and whether to use it.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 23:19     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Sorry, OP. I hope he gets into somewhere else he really loves.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 23:14     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
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.


Agree, those folks should be ignored by most.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 23:10     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
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.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:43     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
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.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:33     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:My DS was rejected from a small SLAC in ED despite having a very strong application and high stats. DS now thinks it was a waste to put his ED option into a smaller school. Learn from him and use ED for mid-size or larger unis with thousands of seats for your ED and ED2 rounds. Don't do what we did and use it on a small SLAC that only has a few hundred seats to offer. The odds are against you.


This is bad advice if you actually want to attend a SLAC. Also, pretty presumptuous of your kid to assume he’d get in just because his friend did. Stats aren’t everything.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:26     Subject: Re:My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
I don’t really get anyone’s point here. ED is to get an early decision on your top choice. EDing to somewhere that isn’t your top choice is a dumb idea.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:17     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
I can’t believe he was rejected— seems like he should have deferred so he would still be in the running for regular decision. Seems like your kid is great and he will get in someplace that he will love. That ED school will rue the day they erred and rejected him.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:14     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:My DS was rejected from a small SLAC in ED despite having a very strong application and high stats. DS now thinks it was a waste to put his ED option into a smaller school. Learn from him and use ED for mid-size or larger unis with thousands of seats for your ED and ED2 rounds. Don't do what we did and use it on a small SLAC that only has a few hundred seats to offer. The odds are against you.


Yeah, if you're not a recruited athlete at a elite small SLAC, forget about ED.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:12     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:It's always a risk, never a sure thing.


True but he was going back and forth between two options he loved equally: the small SLAC he did apply ED to and a larger selective institution a friend of his with almost equal (but slightly lower stats) got admitted to. He feels gutted that could have been him.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:10     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Was it Williams, Amherst, Pomona or Bowdoin? Those are the ones I feel like are almost wasted without a hook.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:10     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
yeah why ED to Bowdoin or Swat as your sole ED which they are bot soo small in terms of freshman spaces? Better to ED to a larger ivy or ivy plus IMO.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:09     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
It's always a risk, never a sure thing.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 22:06     Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
My DS was rejected from a small SLAC in ED despite having a very strong application and high stats. DS now thinks it was a waste to put his ED option into a smaller school. Learn from him and use ED for mid-size or larger unis with thousands of seats for your ED and ED2 rounds. Don't do what we did and use it on a small SLAC that only has a few hundred seats to offer. The odds are against you.