How much does EA/ED really help at top colleges?

Lindagaf
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 12:27:33 +0000

OP, I agree with your assessment. It does depend somewhat on the college. It is widely understood that applying ED to a college such as Harvard is necessary for athletes and legacies, and for unhooked applicants, if you have a stellar application, it might be a small advantage, only because there are fewer apps to compete against. At the very top colleges, ED generally is not helpful for someone who isn’t already a very strong applicant.

I would caution any student from applying to a school with an under ten percent acceptance rate ED, if they are not already very strong. It’s a wasted ED card otherwise. And bear in mind that some of the tippy tops have SCEA, rather than ED. It isn’t a binding decision, but you are still shooting yourself in the foot if you miss the opportunity to apply to other colleges’ as non-restrictive EA. Bottom line, you need to be an exceptional student to apply ED or SCEA to any tippy top colleges. Yes, being hooked helps, but a hook will not cause an admissions committee to forgive an otherwise lackluster application.