I think EA lets colleges do a few things - first it lets them market to students multiple times about applying itself. “Apply ED! Apply ED2! Apply EA! Apply RD!” It gives them multiple chances to get kids into the hopper.
Then, I think they do get to see what the applicant pool looks like to figure out where they might need/want to invest more time to get other kids to apply. “We didn’t get enough from Illinois, so let’s spend some time marketing there for RD.”
And if they accept a student, it gives them time to market to them to increase yield. The number of emails my D26 has gotten from RPI after getting in EA is astounding. But I do think it has an impact, even if it’s tiny percentages.
For a student, I think the advantages of finding out early are great, but I’ll say that one potentially underrated benefit of being deferred is the chance to add to one’s application. The LOCI at some schools can give quite a lot of space. And sending in another art portfolio piece, for example, may have some marginal benefit. At any rate, I do think there’s possible value even if you know you’re going to be deferred.
But you don’t know if overall there are fewer students even eligible for need based aid in the EA pool. That’s my point. The schools can be generous if history shows that a substantial number of affluent students tend to apply EA. Comparing awards is irrelevant for a family that isn’t getting any aid.
The 2 posters immediately above are welcome to continue their discussion via PM, if they so choose. But let’s move the conversation forward; College Confidential is not a debate society
They likely have an idea how likely each admit is to matriculate, based on how similar admits yielded in prior years. Of course, they can try to increase likelihood of matriculation with scholarships and/or marketing to the admitted applicant.
2 of the 6 schools that my D26 applied to had engagement and demonstrated interest as high on the list for consideration.
1 of those called there EA: Priority Application- and they pick most of the incoming class form this group!
Considering how much they say this- I am still seeing many applicants on other sites who applied RD surprised that they are waitlisted or denied out right. But I do think that this proves that they are not looking too much into this school if they overlook the obvious information provided.
The 2nd school outright says EA is for those excited about applying- so that I think indicates like you said- High interest and enthusiasm for this school.
Some colleges want to plan ahead. So EA is used a lot. University of Maryland, for example, accepts the vast majority of its incoming class in the early round.
There really is no wrong or right way to go about it.
For any of the schools on you students list- just do the due diligence to see if they give any preference to EA over RD.
If yes- then obviously apply in the EA round.
If no- then there is no issue waiting if that works best for y’all.
Though many would recommend at least a few applications thrown in with EA to just get them out of the way and to get a few early decisions in to help ease the stress a bit.
I was just looking at the school my D26 committed to-
EA applications are due the same day as ED1. And ED2 comes out before the EA decisions come out.
So as far as benefits to the school- They have all the info on hand for the main 3 groups of applicants. Before the majority of decisions go out. I am going to assume with the RD dates- they are getting the leftovers (if any spots are actually left)
But does it result in an admissions disadvantage vs RD, is the question? EA may not be as “fruitful” as ED but I know of two schools (our counselors have shared past data) where they offer all options and EA admits are higher than RD. One of those is notorious for trying to persuade EA applicants to shift to ED, but at the end of the day it still seems better to apply EA than RD there.
Truly not 100% certain and often not tracked this way - but what ends up happening at competitive yield conscious schools - think Michigan, Northeastern, Tulane, even my Babson… few people get admitted EA. And the stats do not tell you who got in from the deferred bucket. Finally, by the time the early crowd gets to April 1st, they are going someplace else anyway.
Actually, Tulane is one of the ones our counselors showed us. They had the stats that showed a huge majority of the class gets admitted between ED and EA, and there is little left for RD. In fact they specifically banged the drum on that one - if you are interested in Tulane, apply early even if you don’t apply ED. I am not sure if the EA stats are publicly available but I think they get common app data, and I think someone on these forums has mentioned being able to see that data as well but I don’t recall who that was.
Not sure what can be really drawn from Michigan with this year being the first time ED was offered?
To get in Tulane EA, you need to be on top end of the admitted applicants. ED, you need to be a reasonable applicant. Percentages do not tell the whole story, from my experience.
Not arguing. Just sharing my experiences with many applicants. I realize this is an opinion forum so anybody can feel any way they want. If an applicant is exceptional, it matters less. Michigan data point is staggering especially oos.
Thanks for clarifying. I do not agree that EA is better than RD (if the school also has ED) for those people applying EA. Sharing my experience with thousands of applicants that you should feel free to ignore.
As pointed out above, not a debate society. OP can perhaps ask their school counselor what they think as they will have statistics from how students at their school have done or if they have something like Naviance or Maia see for themselves (Maia at our school certainly backs up that EA at Tulane is a far superior choice to RD, with a number of EA admits but only denials in RD), as well as browse the past threads on schools of interest here to see how the EA vs RD decisions stack up, should they be interested in schools that offer both and if their own school data does not hold any clues.
