"Its Time to Choose Your (Our) School"

morganhil
Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:44:31 +0000

I think you’re right, John. My son, who chose not to attend WesFest since he was an ED1 admit, says most of his classmates are gone this week, flying to the east coast to choose between the Ivies and top LACs at their various Pre-Frosh events. I am glad it worked out this way for him because he has used this interval since his acceptance to start planning and envisioning what Wesleyan is going to be like for him–a remarkable sign of maturing that was a surprise to see. He also has been able to choose classes that he loves for this final semester and get really deep into them purely for learning’s sake. One of the undersold advantages of Early Decision admissions is that you not only avoid this stress-packed, impressionistic decision-making in April on fit between student and college, but it also gives a young person four or five more months to get their head around the huge life transition that freshman year is. I would love to know if there are studies out there showing the relative academic success (and satisfation with the college) of early vs. regular admits, holding constant other predictors like SATs and such.