bettyandbob Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 If you know your first choose and you know how you will pay for it (not dependent on merit aid), early decision makes sense, however, I've started to hear it is significantly harder to be accepted early decision. Is that correct. Dd would be in the middle of the applicant pool for test scores and GPA. I think it's likely she will have a much stronger transcript in terms of types of courses taken than many applicants, particularly in her chosen major at this school. Dd was working on this application last night. 2 of her 3 essays were awesome. Im going give her comments on the third later. I'm do glad she's gotten started on this stuff. I'm just wondering about strategy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 If you know your first choose and you know how you will pay for it (not dependent on merit aid), early decision makes sense, however, I've started to hear it is significantly harder to be accepted early decision. Is that correct. Dd would be in the middle of the applicant pool for test scores and GPA. I think it's likely she will have a much stronger transcript in terms of types of courses taken than many applicants, particularly in her chosen major at this school. Dd was working on this application last night. 2 of her 3 essays were awesome. Im going give her comments on the third later. I'm do glad she's gotten started on this stuff. I'm just wondering about strategy. If you look at the stats, the percentage of kids accepted ED is greater than the percentage of kids accepted RD at most schools. However, imo, that stat is misleading because the ED round includes many students who have already been offered a seat at the school and applying is simply a formality. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Generally, a higher percentage of students are accepted early decision than regular decision. I agree that this can be a bit misleading because the early decision pool is made up of self-selected students who are highly focused on that specific school. The regular decision pool will have many more casually done applications. If passed over for early decision, the student app goes into the regular decision pool anyway, right? I agree that if paying for the school is not a concern and it is the student's first choice, early decision is a fine way to go. However, I also think that it is best to gently dissuade students from having a single "dream school" such that they would be crushingly disappointed to go anywhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 It's not just the students who are highly focused on getting in, but the athletes, legacies and those with really strong admissions criteria who are admitted ED. You really have to check the stats for each school as for some it's a distinct advantage to apply ED and not so much for others. It's also important to know that while some ED non-admits are deferred to RD, others maybe simply denied and out of the running. Check each school's policy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 If she's certain the school is her first choice and it's affordable, I see no reason not to go with ED. It's not a guarantee of acceptance, of course, but it does seem like most (competitive) schools are putting more emphasis on getting their classes via ED than RD - most likely due to having a better grasp of yield. Some schools also offer perks to ED acceptees. U Rochester allows students accepted via ED to choose their dorm. All others get luck of the draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Except for Georgetown (which is actually EA, not ED), all schools I know of take a much higher percentage in ED. Georgetown usually has a lower EA rate than RD rate. It's an anomoly though. UPenn last year had a 25% acceptance rate for its ED round. Not only that, but they filled almost half the slots for their incoming freshman class through ED. I think filling around 40% in ED is pretty common. I would go for it with the caveat of continuing to work on other apps while she waits for her decision. I agree that many hooked applicants (legacies, athletes, URMs, and children of large donors), but I still think that odds are better in the early round. However, better to be up-to-speed on other apps if she is denied or deferred from her ED choice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 I've never heard of a school that was harder to get into via ED. The only session we've been to for a highly selective school was Vanderbilt. The speaker brought up ED on his own and was vocal about it improving your chances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/early-admission-rates-for-class-of-2019/2014/12/18/67db5036-86c4-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html As I said, above, Georgetown is an anomoly. It is also EA, not ED. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBM Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 I think Caltech is also harder to get into early. Not sure, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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