How much does it help your chances to apply early decision?

Poeme
Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:22:42 +0000

ED will help make the process less of a crapshoot for a well qualified applicant because the pool is smaller. In regular decision, the decision may seem very random (although there always are subtle reasons for everything) just because there are so many more applicants than there are spots. However, this is not to say that applying ED guarantees one to get into Penn or that people who do not get in aren’t accepted at other great schools, including ivy leagues, during rd. I know a kid who was deferred and then rejected who got into regular decision Brown for example.
In my experience (in the sciences) I don’t really see much of a difference in the people admitted ED vs. the people who were admitted RD. One of the ways I think that applying early helped me personally is that since I went to a very competitive public high school that sends over thirty applications to Penn every year, I was able to stand out among a smaller group.