Is applying ED/EA extremely competitive for selective schools?

GolfFather
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 17:23:39 +0000

Part II

And so, what the “ED = Better chance” people are saying is – if I’m a D student, with no ECs, and an 800 SAT score, I have a better chance of getting into a school if I apply ED.

That example, of course, was said with tongue firmly in cheek.

But that’s is what is being proposed. That somehow, I have a better chance of getting swept up in the fishing net with the other applicants simply because it’s ED.

It just makes no logical sense.

Or, think of it this way.
You’re a fly on the wall and can hear everything everyone in the admissions committee is saying.
They’re looking at an application folder and one of them says “Well, this student’s application is just so-so. If this was RD I wouldn’t admit this person. But, hey, it’s ED, so let’s let him in.”
See how absurd that sounds?

My opinion: just like the study basically said: The pool of ED applicants is “better.” The entire pool taken as a whole, not everyone in the pool.

If I jump into a pool of Olympic swimmers, most of the swimmers will get picked to swim in the Olympics. But my chance of getting picked is not any higher.