“Completely agree and most highly selective colleges’ early decision acceptance rates are not much better than regular decision when you strip out all of the “hooked” applicants.”
It varies a lot from school to school. True at some schools, not true at others.
ED is not much of a boost, for example, at certain Ivy/Nescac schools where a lot of the ED admit spots go to athletes and legacies. Like Brown or Dartmouth.
But applying ED at other selective schools is a recognized advantage for an unhooked applicant. Like Duke, Vandy, NW.
And slightly lower down the selectivity ladder, ED can be HUGE. Look at Lehigh. 22% overall admit rate. 61% ED1 admit rate; 33% ED2 admit rate; 19% RD admit rate.
That’s not athletes and legacies; that’s a clear ED advantage. If you want to get into Lehigh, you’re crazy not to apply ED.