<p>UVa, along with Harvard and Princeton, are probably going to do some form of a likely program, at least for athletes. I imagine they’ll keep the regular “likely letter” (letters went out in Feb at first) for “normal” applicants with good applications (not necessarily athletes). </p>
<p>As far as EA goes, I don’t think it’s going to address the concerns that the Board of Visitors has with low income students and applying early. It would address the concerns of people who can’t easily afford college and would like to compare offers in case they get a way better one, but I’m not exactly sure this was the main criteria that this decision was aimed at. Low income families should get aid through AccessUVA so it stands to reason that this would not really be the problem the ED dropping was aimed at. It is a benefit nonetheless, don’t get me wrong. </p>
<p>I don’t know if it would be better for them, I don’t really have that information and I’m not too convinced that anyone categorically does. Personally, I think it could conceivably go either way, although based on my experience, I would lean somewhere towards the side that says it won’t make a really big difference in the actual incoming class. I think it could make a difference in the applicant pool, but yield wise, I’m not all that sure. The top students at my school, many of whom didn’t apply ED (some did though…depends on if they were ready to be locked in to a predictable decision) are basically waiting on their UVa decision (almost certainly yes, since we’re in-state) and Ivy decisions (almost 100% certain to be nos, although sometimes you hit a strange patch of luck). Therefore, it’s going to be UVa in the end anyway. I know a few people who went for the private schools on UVa’s level of competitiveness, and gained admissions, however these schools are so much expensive than UVa that isn’t reasonable for most families to justify them over UVa, whether they have the means to afford it or not. Common sense tells you that if you can get the same education (and a better one in some cases!) for less, then applying to a very expensive similar school JUST because they have ED is not all that prudent. I really can’t imagine people are going to make that decision just because they can’t apply to UVa early, and for all but the very tippy top students, significant merit aid (enough to make those schools a better deal than UVa) is hard to come by. </p>
<p>Based on the reasons for the decision, I think that dropping ED to instate EA would be sort of pointless. EA won’t solve any of the problems they aimed the decision at. I’m not trying to say that EA won’t make UVa more competitive, I’m just speaking to the odds that they’ll decide to use EA (as early as the next year anyway).</p>