I have no idea what is happening with the seniors at D24’s school, but last year in D22’s school with the exception of certain Ivy League schools (where many accepted students were hooked in some other way), plenty of unhooked candidates were accepted in the Early decision round at highly selective colleges and universities.
Most of D22’s classmates seemed to have at least one acceptance in the early rounds (ED1, ED2, EA, and REA/SCEA) though some went on to apply to others. The college advisors strongly encouraged everyone to apply early to at least one school. I think well over 50% (maybe 60-70%?) already had at least one option by January/February though not always their first choice.Obviously those who applied ED were completely done with the process because their acceptances were binding. Most kids who had a REA acceptance were also done --school discouraged kids from continuing to apply elsewhere if they had an REA acceptance. So unless it was a financial aid issue, both those groups were done by winter.
Maybe 30% of students from D22’s class were still waiting to hear from the regular decision round. Those were mostly kids who were deferred or turned down from their ED or EA applications as well as some kids who were accepted EA to colleges that weren’t their first choice, but they wanted to put in some RD applications as well. Overall, the strong advice from the college office was to identify schools that you love and apply to those schools in your early round in hopes of a one and done experience. With the exception of kids who needed financial aid, most kids did not put in additional regular decision applications.