Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers.

My daughter doesn't fit into the first two categories, but I don't think we were suckers: we are full pay, she knew without a doubt what SLAC she wanted to get into, so for her ED was a great way to just get the whole college search out of the way by December.

I don't feel like anyone gamed us at all; rather, we benefitted from the 4+ months of peace of mind it offered.

+1

It worked for your household. That's really all that matters.

No - not every varsity athlete at D3 schools is a recruited athlete. It very much depends by school and sport. And there is an also variation on academic criteria differences based on the sport. Many of these kids are also qualified students. At my D1 Ivy, all these years later they are some of the most successful in the class

Anonymous wrote:ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers.

My daughter doesn't fit into the first two categories, but I don't think we were suckers: we are full pay, she knew without a doubt what SLAC she wanted to get into, so for her ED was a great way to just get the whole college search out of the way by December.

I don't feel like anyone gamed us at all; rather, we benefitted from the 4+ months of peace of mind it offered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers.

And for kids who know exactly what they want.

+1
Every school should have ED so there is no doubt about who will actually enroll if accepted. This would save SO MUCH time and effort on both the students' and the colleges' part.

Except it makes it impossible to comparison shop based on merit aid. If it were up to me colleges wouldn’t be able to have binding ED and maintain their nonprofit status. I say this as someone who can afford the full cost of a private university for my kids so they’ll likely benefit from ED.

But nobody is entitled to merit aid. ED matches and the resulting probable guaranteed tuition revenue allows the schools to offer more merit etc later. I think those who are put off by ED are people who try to use ED to game the system themselves like EDing at a high reach or to allay self-imposed anxiety by having a sure thing in the fall rather than a range of choices in the spring. That was not the purpose of ED.

Maybe I just have a different perspective because it worked out well for my dc. He EDed to basically a target school and it was his first choice by far and we could pay. Boom done.

And? How is that relevant?

The point is that candidates who may otherwise be admitted cannot try because ED'ing means taking the risk of committing to a school they can't afford.

No one is entitled to admission, either.

I wish Gtown and ND did ED… kids that love those schools can really be put into a bad situation.

You can easily be deferred from REA, skip the ED2 round holding out hope, and then not only be rejected but also miss the next tranche b/c you failed to play the ED game.

Affirmative action for the rich.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers.

And for kids who know exactly what they want.

+1
Every school should have ED so there is no doubt about who will actually enroll if accepted. This would save SO MUCH time and effort on both the students' and the colleges' part.

Except it makes it impossible to comparison shop based on merit aid. If it were up to me colleges wouldn’t be able to have binding ED and maintain their nonprofit status. I say this as someone who can afford the full cost of a private university for my kids so they’ll likely benefit from ED.

But nobody is entitled to merit aid. ED matches and the resulting probable guaranteed tuition revenue allows the schools to offer more merit etc later. I think those who are put off by ED are people who try to use ED to game the system themselves like EDing at a high reach or to allay self-imposed anxiety by having a sure thing in the fall rather than a range of choices in the spring. That was not the purpose of ED.

Maybe I just have a different perspective because it worked out well for my dc. He EDed to basically a target school and it was his first choice by far and we could pay. Boom done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers.

And for kids who know exactly what they want.

+1
Every school should have ED so there is no doubt about who will actually enroll if accepted. This would save SO MUCH time and effort on both the students' and the colleges' part.

Except it makes it impossible to comparison shop based on merit aid. If it were up to me colleges wouldn’t be able to have binding ED and maintain their nonprofit status. I say this as someone who can afford the full cost of a private university for my kids so they’ll likely benefit from ED.

Anonymous wrote:Except if you ED to a school that doesn't want you then you are out of luck. They get to reject you and you dont get to ED to your 2nd and 3rd favorite school.

Then don't ED. It's a gamble but no one is forcing anyone to do so.

Maybe you should be able to ED to 3 schools. That would be more fair.

Except if you ED to a school that doesn't want you then you are out of luck. They get to reject you and you dont get to ED to your 2nd and 3rd favorite school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED is for colleges, recruited athletes, and suckers.

And for kids who know exactly what they want.

+1
Every school should have ED so there is no doubt about who will actually enroll if accepted. This would save SO MUCH time and effort on both the students' and the colleges' part.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My unhooked got in ED2. Doesn't feel like a scam.

But did your kid have regrets when they saw where classmates got in RD? If already at college do they have regrets about binding in EDII now?
I ask as I know kids who definitely regret it, more in the EDII group than the EDI.

Zero regrets. He had been wanting that school for 2 years. He actually regretted not doing ED1 there and changed his EA to ED2. Very happy.

I don't understand kids who have ED regrets. They should not be playing games with ED, but rather choosing their top choice, or their top choice they still want to attend (knowing that HCY might not be a real chance). But if you would have regrets, then ED is not for you

The students are 17 year-olds- they aren't the ones playing games, the schools are

Anonymous wrote:ED is a scam tactic used by colleges to prety on student fears that they will be shut out to make them commit before they know what their options are and what they've giving up by giving up all their choices. They dangle the increase in admission percentage, but a huge part are hooked people who take up most of the spots: recruited athletes, FGLI and development/legacy admits.

Dont give up your power!

Actually it did not start out as that at all. Maybe it became that because people have gotten so neurotic and crazy about college admissions.

ED makes a lot of sense for certain situations but not all. If it isn’t in your student’s (and family’s) best interest, don’t use it!