It sure FEELS like this right now. But lots of kids do just apply RD. There is a frenzy now, but many kids on here have applied to 6-8 schools already and they can only attend one. So I hope this becomes more apparent with time, that applying RD is still a thing. The scholarship deadlines are unfortunate, and I wish that were not the case. My S has a school on his RD list that has a 12/1 deadline for scholarships. He won’t know yet about his ED and EA schools by then, and there is a supplement for this school. So I am hoping to even get him to apply to this school that might be a great fit (we have not visited but it sounds great). Right now he is still recovering from the early deadline so I can’t even mention this now.
I do think testing should ideally be done by the end of junior year so that you can choose schools appropriate for your test scores, or decide to go TO. And the financial piece ASAP too.