All of my top choices are SLAC/NESCAC schools with <15% acceptance rates and with at least 1/3 of the student body being athletes. I’ve seen a lot online about how the true acceptance rates for ED are less than half of the published ones because of the number of recruited athletes. I would like to ED to show my interest and to get an earlier response, even if it doesn’t help the acceptance rate much/at all. Does anyone know if ED will hurt my chances?
For reference, I was using that document from Amherst that says they recruit a maximum of 157 athletes a year (67 slots and 60-90 coded) and their CDS has about an average of 190 applicants admitted per 700 applied for ED each year, which when athletes are factored in gives about a 6.5% acceptance rate for non-athletes. Does this mean it’s possible chances are actually lower for non-athletes that apply ED, or do some of these coded athletes get rejected and not all will apply early?
IMO if you: 1) have an absolute top choice; 2) that college appears affordable; and 3) you feel your application is as strong as it can be (ex. your essays are well developed, no huge awards/achievements expected that may move the needle for admissions) then I see no downside to applying ED.
FWIW my D applied ED to her top choice (a LAC) and was thrilled to be accepted in December and be done with the process.
For me 1 and 3 are definitely true, I’m not expecting anything for the next few months, I just have to wait to see how my financial situation pans out for now. Thank you for the clarification with chancing, though, I wanted to know if ED was something I can consider if the financial stuff works out.
It will not hurt you. And if you are deferred to RD or end up on a WL, they know you have a good chance of saying yes if admitted, so it could help down the road.
You may be better off waiting to RD if you need 1st semester senior grades to show improvement. Some students are in this camp and will have a demonstrably better application 4 months from now. Many will not.
I don’t think ED’ing to a SLAC will hurt and may help. Depending on the school, it may have more or less of an impact. That being said, only apply ED if the school is your favorite and you are sure you can afford it (run those NPC’s).
Piggy- if you are off to a rocky start senior year (AP Euro kicking your %^& a bit, having trouble finding the right balance between EC’s, work, sleep and homework) then take the pressure off yourself and apply RD.
If you’ve started strong senior year and have hit your stride, I don’t think there’s a downside to ED if your choice is affordable.
So far, senior year has been okay, so I guess I will see how my financial situation plays out and how much I can handle between grades/ECs/essays before I fully commit. Thank you!