Does applying ED or even EA create an advantage at high ranked colleges? Colleges like to deny it, statistics like to support it. Here are some admission figures from the new USNews annual figures. The figures are given in order of admission percentage rate for ED (or EA where applicable) and then the RD rate:
Colleges with ED:
Princeton 32/10
Penn 34/18
Duke 36/23
Columbia 30/11
Dartmouth 30/17
Cornell 44/24
Northwestern 50/28
Johns Hopkins 59/28
Brown 29/15
Vanderbilt 48/37
Emory 60/37
Carnegie Melon 53/41
Williams 38/17
Amherst 39/19
Swarthmore 45/24
Wellesley 61/36
Carleton 41/27
Pomona 31/19
Haverford 44/28
Middlebury 38/24
Davidson 45/25
Bowdoin 30/24
Claremont McKenna 29/21
Rice 30/17 (Rice also has EA with a 28% admission rate)
Tufts 45/26
<p>This is an example of someone being fooled by statistics.</p>
<p>The only reason (might not be) the numbers are so much higher ED/EA is because the applicants are self-selecting. Many who apply to their first-choice top-tier college are extremely well qualified, resulting in the higher number of acceptees.</p>
<p>Is it truly the only reason? Self selection might play a role but a qualified candidate in the middle of the acceptance range will have an improved chance of gaining acceptance ED. Perhaps it will not be proportional to the variance in acceptance rates between ED and RD, but it definitely helps applying ED.</p>
<p>No, it’s definitely not the only reason. Many colleges like demonstrated interest (obvoius from an ED) and would accept some less qualified people they would not have accepted in RD.</p>
<p>OK, maybe I shouldn’t say “less qualified,” but there are other reasons adcoms will never admit.</p>