The information above is significant as the rates of admission fall to new lows for RD applicants. Hopefully, potential Class of 2023 applicants, at the very least, understand how this impacts them.
Emory admitted 18.5% in total of 5,135/27,759. If you deduct the 503/1,623 ED1 (Emory College only), you get 4,632/26,136 or 17.7%.
With a 31% admit rate for ED1, that translates to a very significant ED1 bump in chances. This should be treated as valuable information for anyone applying for the Class of 2023. While ED1 appears to close to double one’s chances, it could be significantly greater than that because the RD applicant pool is probably stronger because many first choice Ivy League applicants are applying to Emory as a backup.
The uptake from all of this if you really want to be an Emory student, apply ED1. Emory defaults to a needs based aid as opposed to many others, which provide merit aid first. You can back out of your ED1 if the finances don’t work, but go to the Emory website to get an estimate of your expected contribution first. In this respect, Emory places high value on students motivated to attend Emory, which should not be confused with demonstrated interest (calling admissions department, visiting, etc). You can debate all you want whether this is “fair” (ED1 advantage), but it’s real. Maybe there is a correlation of whether this impacts GPA .1 in favor of ED1or 100 points in SAT score. I would still think ED1 applicants fall in the 25/75 percentiles of grades and GPAs, but there is a bump within that group.
If I were a junior now in HS, I would start a process that needs to end by November 1, 2018, the date ED1 applications are due. Visit your top schools now, study for your AP exams (scores count for places like Emory), and make a decision about what school to ED. If you have a 3.9 UW and 1550 or more SAT, then you can afford to sit out ED1 process, at least at Emory and shoot for your Ivy.