Having trouble deciding on ED

College Search & Lists
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One school I like is Princeton (because of the undergraduate focus, arts resources, campus, & I could see myself doing a big creative project for the thesis) but would applying early there be futile? I read that they defer the vast majority of early applicants, and there might be other students at my school who apply early there with legacy or higher weighted GPAs than me. Does anyone know what sorts of students have gotten in early there? (I have very good but not perfect grades, 1560 SAT, but would apply undecided and I’m not sure what I want to do after college… I like writing, art, music, nature, but my application doesn’t have 1 “spike”. I have done unique things though)

I feel hesitant to apply early to other schools where ED is binding (as opposed to REA) because there is not a school I am “in love” with as of now, but also I don’t want to waste the opportunity of early decision.

I know I’m not asking a super specific question but was wondering if anyone has advice or wisdom.

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First off, it’s June - so you have time - and things change.

Secondly, no one needs to apply ED. It’s a choice, and if you aren’t in love with a place or your parents aren’t sure they want to pay for a specific place, then ED may not be for you. If you can go to school for $20-30K a year, are they ok paying $100K?

It’s hard to pinpoint who gets in - especially at a school with a low single digit acceptance rate. At my son’s public school, the one Princeton attendee (and maybe admit) wasn’t in the “top 25” - which is what they ranked - out of about 650 kids. At the same time, my daughter’s valedictorian had a 4.0, 10 or 12 APs, a 36 ACT, and was 0 for 16 in the top 20, got into NYU full pay and ended up at U Tennessee.

That you are hesitant to apply binding tells me all I need to know - there’s no reason to apply ED - or even REA/SCEA.

There is no opportunity wasted. Schools use Early Decision as a marketing tool. FUD is Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

Look at a school like Wash U - they hammered my son on ED (and me as a parent). They admitted 3,951. But 1,217 were admitted early. So if 1200 of those students attended, they still had to admit about 2,750 more to get the other 650 kids that enrolled. So there are lots of non-ED opportunities and don’t forget, many ED are athletes or other invited kids like Questbridge so even those percentages are inflated.

There’s a lot to think about from desire to budget - but also know, colleges are businesses and they are “marketing” and manipulating to get you to apply binding.

For some, it’s fine - but for those hesitant, it’s a heck no - because your mind may be changing in regards to budget or desired environment, major, preferred size, weather or more - and at 16/17 years old it’s perfectly normal.

So at this point, I wouldn’t be thinking - ED - based on what you’re saying. Check out the rules from any REA or SCEA to ensure they don’t impact the rest of your apps.

Good luck.

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What opportunities? You just answered your own question. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I had a friend’s daughter have this same question and I helped her apply to college. She with some advice didn’t apply ED. She still got into her schools Georgetown EA and Michigan EA and really all her schools EA.

Find a school that has a great fit and that is affordable for you and your parents.

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First, as you probably know, REA at Princeton and ED at many other schools (Wash U or others) are basically the same thing. Princeton REA yields at ED levels and if you do get in, you are extremely unlikely to get into an equivalent school EA or RD. And you wouldn’t go anyway, it seems, because you seem to want Princeton most. You can still apply EA to top state schools if you want.

My point is - based on the numbers, assuming you can afford it and you are top student, Princeton REA does make the most sense IMO. They are enrolling half their class from REA and that is significant.

As an aside, I am not happy with the ED (including REA) trend. On the other hand, the admissions advantages for some kids are hard to ignore. With four months left, if you truly like it best, do not let fear of your classmates get in your way. You do not have to attend, remember.

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If it helps, I am pretty skeptical ED provides a generic “opportunity” to all applicants.

I think where it can be a very good idea is if your top choice is the sort of college that might practice yield protection, and you are qualified enough that it is plausible you might be a “victim” if you applied RD.

The basic question is whether they would think you would very likely get offers you preferred, in which case they might like you in theory, but waitlist or even reject you thanks to thinking they can’t get you. And if that isn’t possible, because they are your favorite, you can prevent them from doing that by mistake by applying ED.

LIke, suppose you told me your top choice was Tufts. I don’t know the rest of your profile, but a 1560 is well above even their 75th SAT (1520). So again without knowing anything else, we can imagine you are a plausible risk to be yield protected if you RD at Tufts. So, you ED instead.

Then maybe Tufts doesn’t actually want you, and you get rejected, or they are not sure, and defer you to RD. But maybe they do, and there you go. You get to end the process early and go to your favorite college.

By the way, though, if you apply ED and Tufts doesn’t actually want you—why would applying ED help? I think that is what people sometimes want to believe, that applying ED will take someone a college wouldn’t normally want to admit and will turn them into an admit. But that makes no particular sense from the college’s perspective. ED admits make sense when they know they want you. If they know they don’t, they just reject you, and if they are unsure, they can defer you.

OK, so EDing a college which is your favorite but might yield protect you can be a good idea, but you don’t have a college like that, not yet at least. So for now, I wouldn’t be considering ED anywhere.

You are right REA at places like Princeton isn’t the same thing, which is basically because Princeton isn’t ever going to think it has no chance of landing you, 1560 or not. But if it works, then either you are done early, or at least you can cut your list to just colleges you might like better than Princeton.

As a final thought, there is of course ED2. Like if you REA Princeton and they reject you, maybe at that point some college with ED2 does stand out to you as your favorite. Or not, that’s fine too. But you don’t have to decide this now, and in particular I would again discourage thinking of ED2 as something that makes you more desirable, as opposed to avoiding them yield protecting you.

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