Effect of ED

Colleges and Universities Amherst College
#1

<p>To what extent does ED benefit an unhooked applicant (no legacy, athletic recruitment, or URM--unless Asian is for LAC).</p>

<p>The ED acceptance rate is about twice the regular rate, but I'd guess this figure would be statistically skewed because of the large number of legacies, donors, and athletes that are encouraged to apply only ED. </p>

<p>The only benefits I can think of by applying ED are--
--guarantee of yield (for them)
--guarantee of absolute interest (for them)
--my application being read amongst a smaller pool, thus more attention.</p>

<p>I'm pretty confident that Amherst is my first choice, but want to know how beneficial ED is for someone not coming with hooks.</p>

#2

<p>Also, ED doesn't permit applicants to compare financial aid packages, which is a plus for the colleges.</p>

#3

<p>True, but that plus is moot by the fact that the student can void the binding agreement is not enough, as per common app. rules. Amherst, I doubt, has to deal with that, though.</p>

#4

<p>The top LAC's (Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst) are, indeed, need blind, but the amount of financial aid can vary, hence the advantage of comparing packages when financial aid is a concern.</p>

#5

<p>If Amherst is for sure your #1 choice, then there shouldn't be much harm in applying ED. It gave me peace of mind at a time when everyone else was scrambling and panicking. And even if the acceptance numbers are a little skewed because of applicants with hooks, I still have the feeling that ED gives an edge. Considering deference still leaves you in contention for RD, the risks involved are quite low.</p>

<p>The one regret I have was not being able to apply to other schools to see how I would have fared. Just something nipping the back of my mind.</p>

#6

<p>At Amherst, you can approximate your financial aid with their online calculator: <a href="https://www.amherst.edu/offices/financialaid/calculator%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://www.amherst.edu/offices/financialaid/calculator&lt;/a> . Probably worth doing if you will be applying for financial aid in the early round.</p>

#7

<p>I won't be applying for FA, so that's not really a problem. Does anyone really know if its worth it for an unhooked applicant?</p>

#8

<p>If you aren't applying for financial aid and you are 100% certain Amherst is your first choice, you may as well apply early. I'm not sure if ED applicants have better odds, but the acceptance rate difference is large enough that it seems to confer some advantage.</p>

<p>The difference is comparable to that at Swarthmore, which is similarly sized and comprised with about the same acceptance rate, and which claims to consider ED as a positive factor.</p>

#9

<p>It would be nice to see the ED acceptance rate if you backed out the athletes, legacies, URMs (hooked candidates). I would bet that the resulting ED acceptance rate is closer to the RD acceptance rate without these candidates.</p>