<p>CerebralAssassin, I’m well-aware NU is need-blind. However, my conjectures are based on studies that ED favors the wealthy so I’m assuming the ED pool is wealthier on average than the RD pool (if it doesn’t, then shouldn’t you be advocating ED based on your own reasons then…because what’s the harm from your perspective?). If this is in fact the case, even if you don’t take income into account, you will inevitably end up with a wealthier group of admits (compared to RD admits). You’re right that many upper-middle class families still get financial aid but probably still less than low-income students. Even though they might not free up much FA for their lower-income peers (as much as wealthy kids might do), their higher stats will be able to compensate for their lower-income peers’ lower stats. If you lock in these high-stats upper-middle class students through ED (and high-stats wealthy students), the conclusion still holds that you will have more leeway to admit lower-income students. And like I said, low-income students who have NU as their top choice should feel comfortable applying ED since they will most likely receive a substantial amount of aid anyway. They will also get a stronger boost IMO.</p>