As mentioned several times above, ED is a chance to lock in early to the place you want to go. It is a luxury good that affluent families can attempt to purchase before the store opens to the general public.
The trick to ED1 and ED2 is the ability to rank the schools you are interested in and live with the notion of “lost opportunities” or “what might have been”.
Funny enough this conversation came up last night at dinner.
We have 2 children who have gone through the application process. I have toured Bowdoin 5 times. Maine has been a vacation spot for us for years, so we literally jump-started our eldest search early with a tour after Sophomore year…just to see what a college campus was like. Loved it (the kids liked it OK too). Junior year tour, interview visit…no application (ED I at another school).
Our second child was down to Bowdoin and 2 other schools for ED I. Too hard to differentiate after Junior year visits, so we embarked on a 3 overnight tour (5 days) at the 3 schools. Bowdoin visit was great (including time with a high-school friend who was a freshman)…but eventually, the application was for a better fit elsewhere.
Fast forward to dinner last night…“do you ever wonder how things would be if I went to Bowdoin”?
No…was the answer. I never think about it, because it’s not a decision that was ours to make. EDI at Bowdoin could have been a rejection, at which point EDII at another school might not have been successful.
You have to make your decisions before the applications and accept the results from your strategy. That includes athletes, who litter these forums with their rejections after an “early read” or positive vibes from a coach. ED is asking someone to marry you. Thinking about who you might have married had you been single after that is pointless (unless you decide to get divorced and start over again…an option).