Anonymous
Post 03/06/2025 19:32     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:Correct. We learned the hard way. No EDs to LACs for my #2 DC!


What did you learn?

Because we learned the opposite lesson. Older sibling applied to all RD and got shut out of all LACS save one; they only have a few hundred spots each in RD. Sibling, unhooked, non-athlete, white, male applied to a LAC ED and got in. We weren't going to take the same risk twice.
Anonymous
Post 03/06/2025 19:25     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Correct. We learned the hard way. No EDs to LACs for my #2 DC!
Anonymous
Post 03/06/2025 19:21     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In our school, there is 1 admit at Middlebury Hamilton Wellesley level of LAC each. Zero ED admits for all top LAC. About 6-8 goes to SWAP level in the RD round.


Wellesley and Middlebury are in the top tier of LACs.



Wellesley yes, Middlebury no.


Somebody has a bone to pick.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 23:12     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't advise people EDing at a LAC unless that school is his absolute first choice.
There are a number of schools where ED makes a real difference. These include Chicago, Northwestern, and Duke.

Please! Don't ED at LACs. If you really prefer LACs, and you don't have a dream school, just RD so that you are not limited to one single choice. When you have acceptance from several LACs, your kid can then compare and visit to make a decision.


You shouldn't apply ED anywhere unless it is your absolute first choice.

And if you have an absolute first choice and it is affordable and they offer ED, you should apply ED.

No reason to make it more complicated.

Not how game theory works, so follow this 10-20 years passed advice, and you hurt your chances.


You can't use game theory in college applications, because there is no way to know the chances any individual applicant has. Will not work.


No, you compare the individual applicant to the general applicant numbers for that situation (say, ED1) and then you tweak. Part of the tweak is your major, gender, particular high school data etc.

Or if you instead want to be a white, unhooked ED athlete to Williams on the justification that, after all, “there is no way to know the chances” you actually have, do go right ahead. But I can assure you, those chances suck: have fun in RD.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 15:10     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't advise people EDing at a LAC unless that school is his absolute first choice.
There are a number of schools where ED makes a real difference. These include Chicago, Northwestern, and Duke.

Please! Don't ED at LACs. If you really prefer LACs, and you don't have a dream school, just RD so that you are not limited to one single choice. When you have acceptance from several LACs, your kid can then compare and visit to make a decision.


You shouldn't apply ED anywhere unless it is your absolute first choice.

And if you have an absolute first choice and it is affordable and they offer ED, you should apply ED.

No reason to make it more complicated.

Not how game theory works, so follow this 10-20 years passed advice, and you hurt your chances.


You can't use game theory in college applications, because there is no way to know the chances any individual applicant has. Will not work.

Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 14:48     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't apply ED to a LAC because there are very few spots in the ED rounds that don't get assigned to athletes, FGLI/Questbridge. So you're essentially locking yourself in without really gaining an admission advantage.

If you love the LAC, there's a low risk to just waiting until RD rounds where you can compare and contrast more options (including multiple LACs).

If you like multiple schools, and want to apply ED somewhere where you do get an ED advantage, pick from your top schools one that has a larger ED pool of spots.

Questbridge is completely unattached to ED admission.


Not true, they ED.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 14:33     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't apply ED to a LAC because there are very few spots in the ED rounds that don't get assigned to athletes, FGLI/Questbridge. So you're essentially locking yourself in without really gaining an admission advantage.

If you love the LAC, there's a low risk to just waiting until RD rounds where you can compare and contrast more options (including multiple LACs).

If you like multiple schools, and want to apply ED somewhere where you do get an ED advantage, pick from your top schools one that has a larger ED pool of spots.


agree with all of this!



Except that there is a risk, since many LACs fill 50-80% of their class ED.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 14:28     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't apply ED to a LAC because there are very few spots in the ED rounds that don't get assigned to athletes, FGLI/Questbridge. So you're essentially locking yourself in without really gaining an admission advantage.

If you love the LAC, there's a low risk to just waiting until RD rounds where you can compare and contrast more options (including multiple LACs).

If you like multiple schools, and want to apply ED somewhere where you do get an ED advantage, pick from your top schools one that has a larger ED pool of spots.


agree with all of this!
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 13:45     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't apply ED to a LAC because there are very few spots in the ED rounds that don't get assigned to athletes, FGLI/Questbridge. So you're essentially locking yourself in without really gaining an admission advantage.

If you love the LAC, there's a low risk to just waiting until RD rounds where you can compare and contrast more options (including multiple LACs).

If you like multiple schools, and want to apply ED somewhere where you do get an ED advantage, pick from your top schools one that has a larger ED pool of spots.

Questbridge is completely unattached to ED admission.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 13:41     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
I wouldn't apply ED to a LAC because there are very few spots in the ED rounds that don't get assigned to athletes, FGLI/Questbridge. So you're essentially locking yourself in without really gaining an admission advantage.

If you love the LAC, there's a low risk to just waiting until RD rounds where you can compare and contrast more options (including multiple LACs).

If you like multiple schools, and want to apply ED somewhere where you do get an ED advantage, pick from your top schools one that has a larger ED pool of spots.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 12:58     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:agree, most of LAC spaces go to athletes (recruited or tip), questbridge and FGLI.

it's much better to use your ED on a bigger place (NYU, Emory, Chicago, Tufts, etc.) depending on profile/interest.

I feel like we wasted ED1 for DD on a top LAC.


Agreed.

Also agree with PP who said Northwestern or Cornell make more sense than a top LAC if you have a strong profile.


Not if you want to attend a LAC.
Anonymous
Post 03/04/2025 12:57     Subject: In general, ED at LACs does not provide any advantage
Anonymous wrote:agree, most of LAC spaces go to athletes (recruited or tip), questbridge and FGLI.

it's much better to use your ED on a bigger place (NYU, Emory, Chicago, Tufts, etc.) depending on profile/interest.

I feel like we wasted ED1 for DD on a top LAC.


If you want a LAC why would you apply to NYU?