<p>My son has been planning to apply EA to his 2 safer schools (they b oth accept about 60%). Our thought was then we would hopefully know early that he had an acceptance or two. Now I’m wondering whether this is the same as stamping “safety school” on the top of the app. My son has 3.9 GPA uw, 2340 SAT, 34 ACT, good ECs, so it will be obvious that he’ll be applying to more selective schools as well.</p>
<p>Does the EA accentuate that, or does it probably make no difference? I know no one can give a definitive answer, but I’d be interested in opinions.</p>
<p>Having an acceptance or two in hand makes the waiting much, much easier to bear. Is there a way to show interest? An alumni interview, maybe, or applying for the honors program if they have one. An essay declaring how well they fit him wouldn’t hurt either (after all, safeties should be the most carefully chosen schools).</p>
<p>A school is only really a safety school if it makes no difference when you apply to it. If the schools your son has designated as “safety” schools have rolling admission, it of course is a good idea to apply early to get an answer early. If the schools have nonexclusive EA, one might as well make that EA application, again with the goal of getting a bird in the hand while other birds are still in the bush. But if you are worried a school will reject your son if the school thinks he thinks of it as a safety school, IT IS NOT A SAFETY SCHOOL. The only definition of “safety” school that makes sense for any particular applicant is a school that is a sure bet for admission–of course different applicants will have different schools that fit that category. </p>
<p>Please, for your son’s sake, be absolutely sure that his college list includes at least one affordable, desirable school that will definitely admit him, with no reasonable possibility of adverse discretion being applied to his application.</p>
<p>Definitely go EA for any school (when it is non-binding as EA always (?) is). Don’t worry that it stamps it safety school.</p>
<p>First, I don’t think it does.
Second, if it is a true safety, not one very closely competing (it hopes) with the elites, it won’t be expected to have the “Tufts syndrome” which leads it to reject kids who are “overqualified.”
Third, if it is a “Tufts syndrome” type of school, you can and should do as warbler suggests - show them the love: visit if he hasn’t, ask for an interview if he hasn’t, a good essay explaining “why X school”…</p>
<p>If it helps, I will give the example of my S (but there are many similar stories)- he was accepted to his 3 EA schools, whether super-safety, safety or match-safety. He received merit $$ from the safety and match safety - in good to excellent amounts. This is another reason to go early, because the common wisdom is that merit $$ can be more forthcoming to the early birds. S probably would have gotten merit at the super-safety, but he sent them a decline reply very quickly.</p>
<p>While some schools certainly have Tufts syndrome, rejecting kids that are over qualified and they think won’t come, most don’t. Lots of kids don’t go to the best school they get into for financial reasons. So if his safeties offer merit aid I wouldn’t worry a bit.</p>
<p>My D used a “priority early application” invitation and was accepted in June to one of the safety schools on her list. This was before we even had a chance to visit. As she put it “it’s nice to know I can go to college somewhere.”</p>
<p>We also found out last month she was accepted to that school’s leadership program, which is apparently very prestigious.</p>
<p>bethivt, do it. I wouldn’t think twice about it. The schools may <em>suspect</em> that their school is a “safety” based on your son’s qualifications, but they have no real way of knowing that, and like Suze I think that the vast majority of schools do NOT suffer from Tufts syndrome. Tufts probably doesn’t suffer from Tufts syndrome. </p>
<p>The only caveat is that the application can’t be slap-dash and sloppy. A genuine interest in the school needs to come through. But that’s just a matter of respect.</p>
<p>I’m quite happy my son applied to some rolling admissions “safeties” and has received some acceptances already. It makes for a much more relaxed environment. For what it’s worth he had visited one but not the other.</p>
<p>Thanks so much. All replies were really helpful for my last minute anxieties. I try not to put them on my son. He’s come to appreciate that you all sop up my anxieties so he doesn’t have to. I hope to help you in return some day.</p>
<p>There are very good reasons to apply EA to your safety schools. It gives them a chance to offer merit money. Often the schools in the safety group for the top students use merit money to try to lure top students to campus.</p>
<p>In addition to merit money, EA gives the school a chance to market themselves more aggressively to the top-caliber students they have accepted. They can entice the student with letters about special programs they offer, phone calls from current students or even from a college Dean. Sometimes it works – the “safety” starts to look pretty good, especially if the student is rejected from the top choice reach college in the spring. </p>
<p>So if anything, I think the schools are more likely to admit the EA students who seem to be using them as safeties, because “safety” or not, they have a sign of early interest and they are being given an opportunity to try to establish some connection with the student. </p>
<p>Later down the line, the school really doesn’t know whether it has simply been thrown in at the last minute because the student or an advisor thinks they need to round out their list.</p>
<p>Applying EA is a safety strategy, among other things. My son applied EA to any school on his list that offered it. Not only was his absolute safety, a free, on -line app an EA school, so was one of his reaches, Georgetown, and two matches. One of the advantages of EA is that it also can serve as a litmus test as to your judgement of where your student stands in the app processes. With my son, he was deferred at Georgetown, and accepted everywhere else. Which meant, that the only other apps he needed to send out were his reaches, and he could safely go to town on those. Heck, he was in 3 schools by mid December, he was really done with the process if he so chose. Had he only been accepted to his safety, it would have been a wake up call, that he had better reconsider his list and review his application materials with his gc.
My son was way in top 25% of the kids applying to the safety school. His stats were in line for Georgetown, and his safety accepts over 80% of its applicants. He got a nice scholarship offer from them, and he said he would not have been adverse to going there. He was an athlete, and the team there was a good match for him, and he liked the school. It would have virtually free for him to go there as well. I know kids who end up going to their EA safety because when accepted, they give it a closer look and like what they see. Throw in some nice $$$s, and the prospect of ending the entire college app process right there, and it can be tempting. Especially if your match and reach early schools send you outright rejections. That is why EA is an advantage to schools despite the non binding aspect of that program. Kids will apply to a school because it has EA even if it may not have originally been on their list. And if accepted, it may get consideration, and may be the kid’s choice. Statistically, I have heard, EA does help out the colleges in admissions that way.</p>