Anonymous wrote:Vandy, Emory, Rice, and now Notre Dame have passed WashU in app numbers.
Vandy- 48k
Emory- 43K
Rice- 39k
ND- 36k
WashU- 32k

The only peer school with less apps is Georgetown which will move to the common app and likely pass WashU at minimum.

+1, pretty sure this is the reason.

Vandy, Emory, Rice, and now Notre Dame have passed WashU in app numbers.
Vandy- 48k
Emory- 43K
Rice- 39k
ND- 36k
WashU- 32k

The only peer school with less apps is Georgetown which will move to the common app and likely pass WashU at minimum.

Wake added it only for first gen so they could still compare merit offers and not be bound. Maybe that’s what Wash U is doing but it isn’t restricted to a certain population as it is at Wake Forest,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d assume it’s to increase apps and get apps from very strong students so they can take steps to recruit them. I know UVA has said that their EA pool is the strongest, because that’s where kids who are also applying to HYPSM apply, and I would expect the same will be true at Wash U.

The big difference is that unlike applying SCEA/REA at HYP, you can also apply to a public school EA. Here, you won't be able to apply both to HYP and WashU EA. I don't know what the strategy is. I am guessing since UChicago USC and some other privates offer both ED and EA they think it will be a good thing to do.

Good point. But some of this is also geography, I suspect. How many schools in the Midwest, admitting at least 1000 freshmen, have ED only, with no EA? At this point I think it’s only Northwestern.

It’s a highly rejective and highly ranked school. It SHOULD do what it can to ensure it captures the best possible applicants.

Anonymous wrote:I’d assume it’s to increase apps and get apps from very strong students so they can take steps to recruit them. I know UVA has said that their EA pool is the strongest, because that’s where kids who are also applying to HYPSM apply, and I would expect the same will be true at Wash U.

The big difference is that unlike applying SCEA/REA at HYP, you can also apply to a public school EA. Here, you won't be able to apply both to HYP and WashU EA. I don't know what the strategy is. I am guessing since UChicago USC and some other privates offer both ED and EA they think it will be a good thing to do.

Anonymous wrote:It helps them create an ED3 round (like UChicago before ED0)…

Not sure wtf you’re talking about.

It helps them create an ED3 round (like UChicago before ED0)…

Maybe they'll get a lot of applications from the MIT / Georgetown/ Public EA crowd.

Unless they DO pick up the Chicago norm of deferring (nearly) all EAs and then pushing them to ED2.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d assume it’s to increase apps and get apps from very strong students so they can take steps to recruit them. I know UVA has said that their EA pool is the strongest, because that’s where kids who are also applying to HYPSM apply, and I would expect the same will be true at Wash U.

How is this different from the scholarship round? Doesn't that act as a defacto EA?

What is the scholarship round? And also, if that’s a de facto EA maybe it makes sense from a marketing POV to make it a de jure EA.

Anonymous wrote:Re capture declining market share, likely from a decline in yeild evidenced from waitlist desperation.

Who said they have waitlist desperation? Why so dramatic?

Anonymous wrote:I’d assume it’s to increase apps and get apps from very strong students so they can take steps to recruit them. I know UVA has said that their EA pool is the strongest, because that’s where kids who are also applying to HYPSM apply, and I would expect the same will be true at Wash U.

How is this different from the scholarship round? Doesn't that act as a defacto EA?

I’d assume it’s to increase apps and get apps from very strong students so they can take steps to recruit them. I know UVA has said that their EA pool is the strongest, because that’s where kids who are also applying to HYPSM apply, and I would expect the same will be true at Wash U.

Re capture declining market share, likely from a decline in yeild evidenced from waitlist desperation.

They already fill half their class via ED. What new goals are they trying to accomplish? To attract kids who otherwise save their ED/SCEA for HYP/T10 schools? Is their plan to reject all the EAs then try to convince applicants to switch to ED2?

UChicago also has ED + EA this but I don't know what they tend to do with their EA applicants. Is it a harder or easier admit than RD?