ED Penn (CAS) / Dartmouth - Difficulty?

absentions
Thu, 17 Apr 2014 05:00:15 +0000

I disagree with the statement that it’s more difficult to get in ED than RD. pmsleepy’s reasoning is what colleges say to make it seem like ED and RD are the same difficulty. ED gives you a slight boost for sure, I would say (maybe not at schools like Harvard, which defer like everyone).

As for the difficulty of Penn/Dartmouth ED, I do agree with all the other posters that the decision to apply to a school ED should be based on more than the acceptance rate. However, I’d like to try my best to answer this question by sharing my experiences. I was rejected from Penn ED (CAS) and accepted to Dartmouth RD. I don’t know much about Dartmouth’s ED process, but I did do a lot of research on EDing Penn and do know that Penn accepts almost 50% of its freshman class from the ED pool. So clearly, ED gives a considerable boost. That said, this does not mean that you’ll have a high chance of getting accepted (which is kinda what I had hoped for when I applied). After getting a flat-out rejection (not even deferral!!!), I perused the results thread and was shocked to find all sorts of randomness in the acceptances and flatout rejections. I think that Penn looks for a certain type of student (not sure what that type is because I honestly was so sure that I was perfect for Penn).

I also don’t think that Dartmouth’s applicants are self-selecting (at least not any more than Penn’s). The students who apply to Dartmouth won’t be any more qualified than those who apply to Penn (at least to my very limited knowledge). I would say that Dartmouth’s higher ED acceptance rate is straightforward. If it’s higher, it’s higher, not because of some self-selection.