Anonymous
12/12/2025 09:07
Subject: Re:My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
This. DC applied ED to a top choice reach school. She also applied EA to any schools on her list that offered it and already has multiple offers/likely letters. We made sure every school on her list is a school she would be excited to attend. ED decision comes out next week. She is nervous/excited and I'm sure will be disappointed if she doesn’t get in but she also knows has great backup options if the ED school doesn’t work out. We’ve been talking up the schools she got into (with great merit) and how she’s in a no-lose situation at this point.
This was our approach. Favored a few schools over the others, got into one of them ED2, along with several EA schools that were pragmatically chosen, and would have been happy to attend one of them.
It helped that our DS got into a target with merit the same day he got deferred ED1.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 06:47
Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's always a risk, never a sure thing.
Right, and since there are few seats at a LAC, you need the ED if that school is your first chance.
Just move on.
The odds of getting into sélectives schools are low.
Exactly this. ED can help you stand out among multiple apps from your school (worked for my DC). But never any guarantees when talking about highly rejective schools.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 06:41
Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
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 sounds like, “I wouldn’t do it again because I didn’t get in.”
Anonymous
12/12/2025 06:39
Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
SLAC are not worth the money or ROI. They did you a favor. Remember at large universities they have things called: College of Arts and Sciences. There is the liberal arts college you need.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 06:30
Subject: Re:My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
This. DC applied ED to a top choice reach school. She also applied EA to any schools on her list that offered it and already has multiple offers/likely letters. We made sure every school on her list is a school she would be excited to attend. ED decision comes out next week. She is nervous/excited and I'm sure will be disappointed if she doesn’t get in but she also knows has great backup options if the ED school doesn’t work out. We’ve been talking up the schools she got into (with great merit) and how she’s in a no-lose situation at this point.
Anonymous
12/11/2025 23:46
Subject: My DS is regretting applying ED to a very small LAC ...
Anonymous wrote:It's always a risk, never a sure thing.
Right, and since there are few seats at a LAC, you need the ED if that school is your first chance.
Just move on.
The odds of getting into sélectives schools are low.