Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:32     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Do not panic.

Do not ED2 anywhere that your DC is not sure about provided that you have done all the necessary demonstrated interest shpil for the RD round.

Looks like you already have safeties in bag. The rest will come.

Good luck!
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:29     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:No Scoir data on JHU so don't know if it's an option or not. USC is already on the list (EA). Would be v happy at USC. Not sure about WashU - didn't like location. Emory is a possibility. Thanks for the advice.


Have you visited USC? If not you might squeeze a visit in. Other than Harvard, I am not sure I believe any of the colleges on whether they consider demonstrated interest. Also if there are any application updates to be made worth doing so
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:29     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here - they want a college with strong English/humanities program. Pref. near a larger city (Cornell the exception). Probably no southern schools. Possibly want to do pre-med also. Need flexibility on major. Thought that with Cornell going test required, that would help having a good SAT score.


Cornell is not the right school for English/premed. Most of the Cornell premed are housed in CALS, not CAS.
JHU would be a perfect fit, but it's a long, long shot.
WashU Emory are possible options, but ED2 and RD get a lot more difficult.

For RD I would consider USC, they still take a lot from the RD round. Decent premed.


USC has a 10 percent admit rate EA.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:27     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So the GPA is low(er)? They are only top 30 percent? Did the counselor advise ED to Cornell?? That seems really odd and a waste of ED. You have to go down the ranks like Tufts BC EDII. Add U Rochester Case Western Pitt to the RD rounds.


I kind of agree with this. The "40% to top 30 schools" is probably WAY inflated by hooked kids.

If Cornell was a denial then I would do something similar ED2 (WashU, Emory, Tufts) and then make sure you go to Rochester, CWRU, in RD.

In my experience with a decent but not top 10% kid from a "top private" who got deferred from a lesser Ivy last year---RD was pretty bad for top30s. They got into 2 of 20+ schools in the top35. A lot of deferrals and denials.
You don't want to get shut out. Maybe sure they have a lot of matches and safeties in RD and I would definitely ED2. My kid did not and we regretted it.



Seriously?? “Lesser ivy”?!? I’m pretty sure that attitude shone through the app and was a turn off for the AO. Maybe that school doesn’t like snobs.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:24     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
No Scoir data on JHU so don't know if it's an option or not. USC is already on the list (EA). Would be v happy at USC. Not sure about WashU - didn't like location. Emory is a possibility. Thanks for the advice.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:12     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:OP here - they want a college with strong English/humanities program. Pref. near a larger city (Cornell the exception). Probably no southern schools. Possibly want to do pre-med also. Need flexibility on major. Thought that with Cornell going test required, that would help having a good SAT score.


Cornell is not the right school for English/premed. Most of the Cornell premed are housed in CALS, not CAS.
JHU would be a perfect fit, but it's a long, long shot.
WashU Emory are possible options, but ED2 and RD get a lot more difficult.

For RD I would consider USC, they still take a lot from the RD round. Decent premed.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:11     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
ED is despised by a specific type - those without the ability to take advantage of it. There are usually two reasons for this:

1. There kid does not have a clear first choice.

2. Those who aren’t poor enough to get need-based aid via the NPC but can’t or don’t want to pay full price.

However they are still quite entitled and used to getting their way and they are stomping their feet that some people have an advantage they don’t - ED.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:07     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:OP here - they want a college with strong English/humanities program. Pref. near a larger city (Cornell the exception). Probably no southern schools. Possibly want to do pre-med also. Need flexibility on major. Thought that with Cornell going test required, that would help having a good SAT score.


Could ED2 to WashU as English major but do not mention anything about being pre-med (that will doom the app since they are saturated with pre-med applicants)
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:06     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses. They have a couple of safeties in the bag already. Waiting on some EA's in January. Our school does not have that many athletes (usually 2 or 3). Legacies possibly a few more.

Kid wants medium sized, not Liberal Arts type school (didn't like Amherst, etc.) Did like Emory, but not sure about ED there.

Has 4.3 weighted and all 5's on APs from junior year. That puts them in top 30% of class. Small school with about 90 graduating each year. I think JHU will be a long shot (don't they want top 10% of class?)


At a school that size, class rank seems like relevant as a few kids can drop you a long way. My child goes to a similar sized school and I think the school conveys a general sense of things but no real rank as it is useless. Though most schools that size these days also don't do APs.

Unrelatedly, I agree with others that ED2 is evil. The process is already difficult enough. It just further complicates things. The only kids it benefits are those who have two top choice schools. They get rejected ED by their top, so they can apply ED2 to their second choice. It feels a lot like settling. The kids I feel worst for are those who are deferred ED and thus have to decide whether they think they will get in or should go ED2 elsewhere, rather than being able to wait and see how everything shakes out.

The obsession with managing yield has really made this process awful as they are all looking for creative ways to game the system.


Yes, ED works for kids with 2 interchangeable top schools. After his ED1 deferral, my DS got up the next day and completed his ED2 application without a second thought.

But I don’t anyone should apply to a school ED unless they love it unequivocally.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:05     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
OP here - they want a college with strong English/humanities program. Pref. near a larger city (Cornell the exception). Probably no southern schools. Possibly want to do pre-med also. Need flexibility on major. Thought that with Cornell going test required, that would help having a good SAT score.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 14:04     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
What do they want to study in the humanities? I think an undecided general humanities application to a top school is a long shot. Kids can change their major, but for top schools they need an authentic story backed by their demonstrated interests (activities) to stand out in applications to top schools.

Also, since they are not afraid of the cold, consider McGill.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 13:57     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Cornell is weird this year. It used to take a large number ED from our school. This year they took zero. Even legacies got deferred. I almost think they may have a different admissions policy this year.


ED rounds were awful at Ivies/T-10s this year.

Brutal.


Our privates (2 of them) haves had the best year in years. It has been ridiculous.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 13:56     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
It’s not crazy the more I think about it. You say they send 40% to top 30 schools, but Cornell is a top 15 school. What percent do they send to that level? 10-20%? Then you have to assume that half of the percent of people getting into top tier schools are not in the top x% of the class - athletes, URMs, development cases/board connections, legacy, etc. Top 30% is probably not going to cut it, though SATs definitely help. I’d look at schools SATs are required - Purdue would be a good safety unless applying for engineering.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 13:55     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I believe ED2 is predatory, if not a scam. Limited selection of schools and acceptance rates are not much higher than RD.

Do they have a balanced list of schools for RD? I would definitely reach out to your school counselor for advice on RD list/strategy.



I don’t understand what’s predatory about it. What’s the downside?

If the school is genuinely is your kid’s top remaining choice, what’s the harm in checking the ED2 box? If you get deferred, you’re no worse off than if you just kept it RD. And if you get denied, you know sooner rather than later and can pivot away mentally.

If the school is not your kid’s top remaining choice, it’s up to you whether and how you want to play the odds. Drop down to a safer choice ED2? Take a shot at a higher school, knowing the odds are low? Or stick with RD across the board?

You have options, and it’s a completely personal choice, 100% in your control. Nothing predatory about that, IMO.


Because the college admissions process really shouldn't be about "playing the odds." But unfortunately, that is what it is. Kids should be trying to find the best school for them. Unfortunately, it has become a miserable process with too much focus on gaming the system, both by the applicants and the school.
Anonymous
Post 12/19/2025 13:55     Subject: Advice needed after ED rejection
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Understand that all of these schools are single digit admit rates and in ED, they are taking their athletes and legacies. An unhooked kid should not be applying to Cornell ED and your college guidance should have told you that (ask me how I know, LOL...BTDT)


This advice is not quite correct.
My unhooked, public school kid got in Cornell ED for engineering. No legacy, non-athlete. No national awards.




DP: but let me guess, your DC was ranked higher than top 30%? No way an unhooked 30% ranked kids get into T10 engineering from any public HS, not even TJ


Correct, not top 30%. School is unranked, but I'd say top 5% in terms of rigor/GPA.