yjs1210

I was gonna apply as ED
but I guess cmu doesnt like ppl who are passionate about its school??
ED = High 20s
RD = Mid- high 30s
I mean.. this is significant chance difference
shouldnt it really be the other way around???

elaslawek

For early decision, they meet 100% financial need. For regular decision, they use the remaining $ they have and do not promise to meet 100% need.

midwesterner

They have an odd policy where you can only apply to one of the colleges through ED, but, if rejected, you can apply to others in RD. I think this skews the acceptances - the ED's may tend to be concentrated in the most competitive colleges, and reflect those overall accceptance rates. The deferrals are all allocated as RD acceptances, even though some may have applied to one college ED. You just can't compare it to systems that are more straightforward.

kevin521

Wait, if you get rejected in ED in say SCS, can you still apply for the SCS school in RD?

busdriver11

No, kevin, you can't do that. You can apply for up to 5 colleges (including one ED) on your original application. It is all on the same application, not a separate one for ED and RD. If you get turned down for your ED college, they will not consider that college for RD. But they will then consider the other ones for RD. It is a strange procedure, they told my son to rank order the colleges, then when he got turned down for ED he had to rewrite his essay taking out that ED choice, and add a letter asking to be considered for RD. But that was the procedure last year, I don't know if it was changed. It was kind of bizarre, and he had to keep calling the admissions office for details-it was not obvious. Call them for questions, they are very receptive.

nospam66

ED applicants may get deferred to RD. For those, you get 2 chances.
Also, ED is not available to certain programs.