I read Selingo article with interest. As pointed out, the frenzy applies to T50, top SLACs and “public” ivies.
Someone on Reddit pointed out that kids are fishing for offers (given holistic evaluation) and fishing for aid (no Central process). As long as these things are true, taking away ED is not going to fix anything. Kids are still going to shotgun to fish for aid and offers.
Some kind of FA clearing house(w/o merit muddying the waters) would be great - FA and admissions already work independently of each other. So it is so hard to use a program to tell a family their FA should the kids be accepted,
I’ve been reading the Reddit/a2c with interest. Seems dominated by international and domestic shotgunning students who apply without regard to any FA calculator. This is a logical approach because of the unpredictability of the process. One international seeking full aid did not get in anywhere last year with enough aid, rewrote essays, applied to 60+ with fee waivers and is into 2 top SLACs with full aid. As long as kids hold out a scintilla of hope and have these examples, the shotgunning will continue. Selingo ignores this.