Must have been Middlebury. They reject most everyone instead of deferring a large number, which I think is a good thing as a deferral is almost always a no. In general, it’s worth it to apply if you think you have a shot and absolutely love a school. My DS was just admitted and he is not recruited for a sport. It was his #1 but we knew how selective it is and wouldn’t have been that surprised if he didn’t get in. Good luck figuring out your ED2/RD plan.

very timely message. we feel the same way.

I'm sure it's hard for him not to beat himself up and think he made a mistake, but every year kids with astonishing stats get rejected from midsize or larger T25's too. If you read Selingo's "Who Gets in and Why" narrative of the conversations in Emory committee that led kids to get bumped from admit to defer/reject status, it's often about subtle details that are beyond stats. The stats are table stakes. It was probably more nuanced details such as how his essay landed with the particular personalities of the AO's, EC profile and fit with the class they were creating, letters of rec, etc. that determined how the decision played out, and there's no way those were identical to those of his friend. Hope he can keep his head up and move forward.

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 very true. Especially when you realize that in the ED rounds those very small amount of seats are prioritized for what they prioritize more: 1) Recruited Athletes with Coach sponsored "tips" (this takes the majority of slots in ED, especially for males at SLACs), 2) First Generation to College (FG or FG/LI), the new institutional priority for LACs since affirmative action was overturned, 3) a smaller amount of Questbridge/Posse and 4)Donor sponsored "tips".

I'd just add it's not a "waste" to apply ED to SLACs if there is no other absolute 1st choice, but it is very very very low odds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

No. ED admit rate does not give you your true odds.

Two schools. Both schools have ED admit rates of 15%.

School A has 1,000 ED applicants. School B has 2,000 ED applicants. That means that School A has 150 ED seats and School B has 300 ED seats.

Both schools also have 105 recruited athletes who have passed a pre-read and have a 100% chance of admission.

After taking out the athletes,
- School A has 895 other students competing for 45 seats (5% admit rate)
- School B has 1,895 other students competing for 195 seats (10% admit rate)

The overall admit rate at both schools is the same, but the odds of a non-athlete being admitted are twice as high at school B.

Convoluted and flawed math. Why assume both schools have 105 recruited athletes when School B is twice as large as A?

Amherst has more athletes than the U. of Alabama…

So he didn’t want to go to a lac? I’m a little lost on why he can’t keep applying to some, rather than throwing in the towel and going to a completely different type of school.

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.

Did DS consider ED2 to another SLAC?

OP, if he had gotten accepted you would have said the opposite.

Hindsight is always 20-20, as they say.

That's what makes ED such a kick in the balls. It's a gamble. Always.

ED is the best chance of getting in lots of SLACs, like Middlebury and Davidson, for example. Sorry it did not work out for op's kid, but if he is now interested in bigger schools, hopefully it works out for the best.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Because your son was rejected in the ED round without being deferred to the RD round, there may be a problem with his application package such as a poor teacher recommendations or an essay that offended the admissions officers.

Several LACs offer ED 2 with a submission deadline of January 15th.

OP:Are you willing to name the small LAC which rejected your son's ED application ? Nobody will be able to identify your son & some posters, myself included, might be able to recommend similar schools to consider.

Be careful with this advice. Some schools don’t give out deferrals like hotcakes. Only 10% of Pomona ED gets a deferral and it means they are really considering your application for admission. Getting rejected doesn’t mean much other than you didn’t fill one of their curated seats that year.
-Pomona mom

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Because your son was rejected in the ED round without being deferred to the RD round, there may be a problem with his application package such as a poor teacher recommendations or an essay that offended the admissions officers.

Several LACs offer ED 2 with a submission deadline of January 15th.

OP:Are you willing to name the small LAC which rejected your son's ED application ? Nobody will be able to identify your son & some posters, myself included, might be able to recommend similar schools to consider.

This is school specific. Many are very clear that they reject most ED applicants and defer only a small number to RD. When a kid is rejected ED, that means the school did not see them as competitive for admission, which happens to lots of kids without there being any “problem” with their application (other than that there were many that were better or more aligned with the school’s priorities).

And remind him that one only looks in another's bowl to ensure that it is enough for that person. Envy is a happiness killer. Further, if he had applied to that school, it's possible that his friend would not have gotten in and he would have - and is he truly wishing that his friend be in the position he is in now? Instead, be happy for his friend and know that he will find his place.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED-ing to the bigger school isn’t a sure bet either. I am also surprised he wasn’t deferred, but better to know now than to “hope” until March. Good luck to your son.

OP: The fact that your son was outright rejected--and not deferred to the RD round--should be your real concern.

At my kid's school, a huge number apply to Johns Hopkins. 3 got in ED, but at least one very high stats kids was flat-out rejected. Who knows why. He seemed to fit the profile of admitted kids just fine.

JHU admissions officers do read both application essays and teacher recommendations. Either source can have a significant impact upon one's candidacy for admission. Same for disciplinary issues.

Of course, I assume there were differences at the level of recs or essays. But superficially the crop of kids applying looked very similar, so a rejection rather than a deferral did sting. Just another data point about how arbitrary it can seem in the end.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1 You either ED at your top choice, or don't ED and hope you get into your top choice. He would be haunted for life not knowing if he would have gotten into his top choice by ED'ing to a backup school and having to go.

Most kids don’t have a top choice school. And no one sane is “haunted for life” by getting into a good school in ED.

I think it is incumbent upon parents to keep kids from getting too emotional about this process. There are many good schools in the US. Try to take it down a notch. Make pros and cons lists. Every school has them, even the top ones. Discourage putting any one or two schools on pedestals.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1 You either ED at your top choice, or don't ED and hope you get into your top choice. He would be haunted for life not knowing if he would have gotten into his top choice by ED'ing to a backup school and having to go.

Most kids don’t have a top choice school. And no one sane is “haunted for life” by getting into a good school in ED.