Colleges that offer both ED and EA

[Papa Chicken]

While researching for another recent thread, I noticed that Ohio Wesleyan offers both ED and EA, and that their acceptance rates seemed a bit counterintuitive to me, with EA being greater than ED. So, I pulled out my trusty USNews report & database, and found all (I may have missed a few) colleges & universities that offer both ED & EA. I count 29 altogether.

A few observations....no apparent geographic clustering...well spread. For the most part, EA is timed just after ED. Of the schools that offer any type of early admissions, these schools, for the most part, are below the top academic tier, with a few notable exceptions like Rice. No public schools. And finally, as the list below will show, there appears to be a fairly well-defined dichotomy between the college group where ED acceptance is much higher than EA, and vice versa.

COLLEGE / ED / EA / ED-EA
Dickinson 69% 52% 17%
Marlboro 77% 63% 14%
Monmouth U 83% 71% 12%
Duquesne 93% 82% 11%
Wells 100% 92% 8%
Depauw 91% 85% 6%
Roanoke 54% 50% 4%
Bentley 63% 60% 3%
Babson 52% 50% 2%
Rice 30% 28% 2%
Nazareth 85% 84% 1%
Washington Col 79% 79% 0%
Kalamazoo 86% 87% -1%
St Olaf 82% 83% -1%
Lawrence 82% 86% -4%
Ohio Wesleyan 86% 93% -7%
Centenary of La 82% 90% -8%
Lake Forest 67% 79% -12%
Earlham 82% 95% -13%
U of Miami 44% 62% -18%
Wash & Jeff 21% 39% -18%
Siena 59% 77% -18%
Tulane 35% 55% -20%
Wittenberg 69% 92% -23%
Converse NA NA
Wabash 75% NA
Gordon 94% NA
Hampshire 62% NA
Elon 68% NA

So, I'd suspect that the qualities of applicants in each institution's ED and EA populations must have something to do with why EA would have a higher acceptance than ED. Prior to seeing all of these numbers, my intuition was that ED acceptance rate should be higher than EA due to applicant commitment & yield management, but that assumes the ED & EA populations are identical.

So, does anyone want to take a stab at why such polarization of ED-EA differences?

Back to the basics, I also find it interesting that schools offer both early entry methods. Any comments here? Just another way for colleges to get more applications? Anything else going on here, like colleges in the process of shifting from one method to another?

[interesteddad]

I don't know if this enters into the calculations, but I recognize several schools (like Dickinson) that have an EA notification for their merit scholars program. Their goal is to snag high-stat kids. The deadline and notifications are just after the ED dates. I think that Emory's Emory Scholars program also might fall into this category.

[calmom]

Just speculating with a few observations.

Since ED favors the college, there is no incentive for a college NOT to offer ED. So it makes sense to offer it in addition to EA no matter what.

Because of the perceived ED advantage, it is very possible that at some schools the ED pool is weaker, populated by many students who are using it strategically to get into a reach school. The school may follow a practice of deferring many of these students, so lower ED admit rates may not necessarily reflect the true percentage who are rejected.

Yield for ED is close to 100%, but yield for EA may be much lower - especially if a lot of EA applications are coming in response to aggressive marketing/recruitment tactics. So a higher percentage of EA admits might also reflect the expected lower yield numbers -- that is, the college admits 60% of EA knowing that only 1/3 (or 20% of the overall EA pool) will come. This gives them the ability to offer more spaces to the EA pool -- but the actual class breakdown in terms of percentages who came in with ED vs. EA vs. RD may be very different.

[eulenspiegel]

I can imagine a very good applicant applying to some of these schools EA (in effect as a safety) but not ED.

[Papa Chicken]

is this what's going on with Tulane?....2nd-choice school, so as calmom notes, they need to accept many EA to assure some will accept?

[twinmom]

Emory doesn't call it EA, but it does seem to be very similar in nature. Actually, if I recall correctly, the Emory Scholars application was due at the same time (if not before) the ED application.

[Papa Chicken]

interesteddad-- I just looked at the Emory scholars program you mentioned...they don't call it "EA", but they let you know if you made it to semifinalist for merit aid by January, with final decision in April. I'll check out a few of the ED/EA schools to see if this merit aid hook is part of their plan. thanks.

[twinmom]

Papa Chicken - University of Rochester has a similar merit aid/early acceptance program.

[katwkittens]

Yep, Emory Scholars Program had an early app due date, extra essays, and extra recs. Georgia Tech has the same type of thing for their Presidential Scholarship, an early app due date. Washington and Lee has an early date of 12/15 for their George Washington Honor Scholarship.

I am sure there are more but can't remember any more right now.

Kat

[interesteddad]

Papa, regarding the Emory Scholars. Technically, you are not accepted early. However, my hunch is that being named a "semifinalist" is probably a pretty good indication of an acceptance in April!

Furthermore, my guess is that they name a very large number of students as "semi-finalists" to keep them on the hook. Think of it as an EA program with a kicker. It's a recruiting tool.

I would be interested to see if they have ever awarded an an Emory Scholars deal to a binding ED applicant....

Actually, if I recall correctly, the Emory Scholars application was due at the same time (if not before) the ED application.

It's right around the same time as ED applications. I can't remember for sure. It's either the same date or maybe two weeks later on December 1st.

[twinmom]

ID: My daughter is an Emory Scholars semifinalist and was accepted early with a complete "Congratulations" acceptance package. She was not an ED applicant.

[katwkittens]

Same with my son twinmom, in his scholars semifinalist packet was his acceptance to Emory as well. He also did not apply ED.

Kat

[GoBlueAlumMom]

S. applied EAII to Kalamazoo. This latest round of decisions will be mailed out Feb. 15th. Admissions told S. at his interview that merit aid offers are mailed out no later than two weeks after admit letters. ED letters mailed Dec. 1st, EA I on Dec. 20th, with merit aid offers following each round.

[bluebayou]

I-Dad:

Emory makes it clear in the process that Scholar semis are IN.

Papa:

In an info session at Tulane, the Dean of Admissions (Whiteside) came right out and strongly told everyone in the audience to apply EA and not ED. His stated reasoning was that EA was "win-win"; but, added, that his comments notwithstanding, Tulane still receives ED apps.

Just guessing, but perhaps Tulane has had problems in the past with EDers backing out?

[eulenspiegel]

Presumably the reason to apply ED when EA is available is that it really is your first choice school and you think it may help in admission to be bound to enroll.