The PPs who are demanding that the OP's DS pick a favorite are flat-out wrong. There are no dream schools, period. And lots of kids would be reasonably happy and successful at various schools. Kudos to the OP and her kid for realizing this.

ED should be all about strategy. Where will ED give the biggest boost as compared to RD? That's easy to figure out - just go to the Common Data Sets and run the numbers yourself. Don't bother with ED at any school where it doesn't significantly enhance the odds. You have 2 shots, use them wisely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rice
UChicago

I would have said UChicago and then Rice.

Both really like private school kids. 3.8 won't hold him back in ED.

I agree with this. Chicago has a much larger undergraduate student body that most of these schools and takes a lot ED. Plus the top private thing - I was reading a memoir and the author's son from STA applied ED at U Chicago and got in along with something like five of their classmates.

ND doesnt have ED so even if it is in a top position, kids often try their hand at an equally liked school with ED

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3.8 GPA at top tier NYC private.35 ACT. No hooks, lots of good school-based ECs including leadership, fulfilling summer activities but nothing especially competitive.

Humanities boy. Would be thrilled with any of these reaches based on one visit to each (would def want to revisit)

UChicago
Rice
Vandy
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Williams
Northwestern
Davidson
ND

what to ED 1/2 or RD here?

Skip Williams unless he's an athlete.
Davidson isn't worth it, apply RD. Same with Middlebury
Chicago is where fun goes to die
Visit ND, it is polarizing, either he will love it or hate it.
I'd ED to Rice and Vandy

I’d say ND should probably be out if there was a visit and it’s not #1. Never ED to Williams. Probably ED1 to Rice and ED2 to Davidson.

Anonymous wrote:3.8 GPA at top tier NYC private.35 ACT. No hooks, lots of good school-based ECs including leadership, fulfilling summer activities but nothing especially competitive.

Humanities boy. Would be thrilled with any of these reaches based on one visit to each (would def want to revisit)

UChicago
Rice
Vandy
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Williams
Northwestern
Davidson
ND

what to ED 1/2 or RD here?

Chicago loves ED. But what does kid want? Those are very different schools in terms of size, location etc. Most prestigious school they can get into?

Chicago is less and less where fun goes to die, esp for humanities

Anonymous wrote:3.8 GPA at top tier NYC private.35 ACT. No hooks, lots of good school-based ECs including leadership, fulfilling summer activities but nothing especially competitive.

Humanities boy. Would be thrilled with any of these reaches based on one visit to each (would def want to revisit)

UChicago
Rice
Vandy
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Williams
Northwestern
Davidson
ND

what to ED 1/2 or RD here?

Skip Williams unless he's an athlete.
Davidson isn't worth it, apply RD. Same with Middlebury
Chicago is where fun goes to die
Visit ND, it is polarizing, either he will love it or hate it.
I'd ED to Rice and Vandy

All great schools. Your hook is being a boy that's interested in majoring in the humanities. Stress that on the app. All of the top schools are starved for smart young men that want to major in English, Philosophy, Classics etc. Dial that to 10 on the application. And then take a look at the admissions data from your high school. Universities often have preferences for certain high schools. And they also ding other high schools for whatever reason. Look for patterns over the past three years. It's usually very clear which universities like students from your high school. And which don't. Take that into consideration when choosing how to strategize with ED1 and so on.

Sounds like this is a pretty easy going kid who'll do fine anywhere. That list is all over the map though. So, hard to give a meaningful suggestion.

Personally, if you want to go to a SLAC, I'd do Bowdoin with the ED. They seem to get pretty sane kids. Williams seems like it's intense 24/7 and not a terribly happy school if you're not part of their thing. But winter in a small town in Maine. Not for everyone.

For the bigger schools, Vanderbilt would be good but it's such a hard, fluky admit that I'd hesitate using the ED card there. I think it'd be great to study humanities at Notre Dame, but that is such a particular cult-like school, so really do a vibe check. Also, they do like their upper middle class/wealthy Catholic school kids so check your NY private school's data before applying ED. Rice is fantastic but very STEM-y, yet with really good humanities departments and the residential college system. Would think about that one, but a humanities boy might not be on the same nerd wavelength as other students. Northwestern seems kind of out of sorts these days. Another school that made its rep in the 90s as a fun, smart school - like Stanford - and then kind of lost its way and doesn't quite know what it is anymore. So by process of elimination, Chicago for the other ED contention. Traditional life of the mind school, but have worked hard over the past decade to get over the where fun goes to die thing. Everyone seems to rag on Chicago a bit, but I think they know what they're doing. They're building classes that are broader in scope than those of yore while keeping the smartness. And it's a school where applying ED is going to be advantageous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Bowdoin
Middlebury
Williams
Northwestern”

I think these would be a waste of an ED. I’d look at the others, particularly ND and Davidson.

ED is not necessary for Davidson for a top private. Don't even need to be in top 20 percent of class at ours, and they take a good number of kids every year.

Your information is incorrect for most schools. RD acceptance rate at Davidson is well under 10%. No one from DC’s top private (Catholic) was accepted RD this year, although there were a few waitlists (no admits, though).

It is accurate for the top academically rigorous independent schools my kids attend, two different schools. Op can check their school’s naviance to confirm if it is applicable to their school. You are describing a Catholic high school which is in its own category, and probably has a lower acceptance rates to Davidson.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Bowdoin
Middlebury
Williams
Northwestern”

I think these would be a waste of an ED. I’d look at the others, particularly ND and Davidson.

ED is not necessary for Davidson for a top private. Don't even need to be in top 20 percent of class at ours, and they take a good number of kids every year.

Your information is incorrect for most schools. RD acceptance rate at Davidson is well under 10%. No one from DC’s top private (Catholic) was accepted RD this year, although there were a few waitlists (no admits, though).

he will get into Middlebury and DAvidson ED1 so don't choose those unless he's happy leaving the rest on the table. He will probably get into Chicago ED1 too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the diff btw first choice and dream school?

Dream school = “This school is perfect. It’s the only place for me. Every other school pales in comparison.”

First choice = “Of the various schools I’m considering, this school seems like the best fit, and I’m comfortable committing to it if I get in ED. If I don’t get in, there are a number of other schools where I could be happy.”

this is slicing things pretty thin. first choice is often a dream. take your shot, why not. hopefully nobody has unrealistic views of their chances

Eh, I do think emotionally there's a difference. "First choice (not "dream")" hopefully is well considered but not going to be devastated if you don't get in.

Which is fine, but you still have to seriously make the decision as to which of the set under consideration you most want to go to. Not just where gaming ED will help the most. Picking an ED is, in fact, picking your first choice.

Asking where others would ED seems pointless. I can't tell OP where "we" would apply -- one of my kids would have picked Bowdoin and applied to only LACs and the other wanted the big school/big sports/college town experience and likely only would pick ND from that list.

I think it's super helpful - I hadn't heard that ED at Williams isnt' a boost for example. Some of us don't have a firm ranking like your kids did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the diff btw first choice and dream school?

Dream school = “This school is perfect. It’s the only place for me. Every other school pales in comparison.”

First choice = “Of the various schools I’m considering, this school seems like the best fit, and I’m comfortable committing to it if I get in ED. If I don’t get in, there are a number of other schools where I could be happy.”

this is slicing things pretty thin. first choice is often a dream. take your shot, why not. hopefully nobody has unrealistic views of their chances

Eh, I do think emotionally there's a difference. "First choice (not "dream")" hopefully is well considered but not going to be devastated if you don't get in.

Which is fine, but you still have to seriously make the decision as to which of the set under consideration you most want to go to. Not just where gaming ED will help the most. Picking an ED is, in fact, picking your first choice.

Asking where others would ED seems pointless. I can't tell OP where "we" would apply -- one of my kids would have picked Bowdoin and applied to only LACs and the other wanted the big school/big sports/college town experience and likely only would pick ND from that list.

ED1/2 to UChicago Rice is some order.
RD to Williams, Davidson, ND .. should have good luck, depending on private.

And then do the rest of the apps of course, but spend time on those three. They care about their supps

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3.8/35 is too low for Rice, Vandy and Williams from our Big3. NU basically is too. the rest are ok.

We have kids at our private get into all those schools w 3.8. But we have massive grade deflation. 3.8 is very good at some schools. Would only knock HYPSM out of contention, unless hooked.

Agree with PP.
3.8 works at Vandy and Rice, etc. also works at Duke.
But not HYPSM.
Northwestern can be weird.

Duke is really hard from our NYC private if unhooked. But if hooked, yeah, a 3.8 totally works