I agree with @hs2020dad that RD should not be discarded. For selective schools that offer ED/EA (esp ED), I believe the applicant pools have a much higher percentage of hooked applicants (mainly athletes, legacy) and more competitive applicants (higher GPA/test scores). I am in the camp that thinks the “bump” early application provides is biased because the difference in the applicant pools.
For seniors who don’t have the hooks or who are “average excellent”, RD gives them more time to prepare the applications (esp the all important essays). This is our first and last college application experience, we will find out soon…
@makemesmart Probably right for certain schools, true. Those of us with a kid who is not gunning for an elite school, they probably don’t have to worry as much. And if they are following the CC suggestion of aiming for schools where they are C top 75%, then they ARE the more competitive applicant. 
But, your point shows every situation is different.
I keep sticking my head in the sand, but it is time to get more active here. Any parents of kids still honing their college lists? My son has several good schools on his, but I would like to see a few more “reasonably priced” added to the list.
I hate that I can’t just write him a blank check! But he will need some aid and I’m hoping we can find some merit $ somewhere.
Otherwise I think we are on track to start the application process. I do have a question. He likes several schools, but his favorite right now is Northeastern. We have been to a regular tour, a dept presentation, and will be attending a “day at northeastern” on 10/12. He really loves it. Money might be a factor but aside from that, I keep hearing the stats “6200 applications for 2800 slots” playing over and over in my head.
He had a couple of tough junior year grades, but I’m still wondering if he is better off applying early action. It expresses interest, and I believe shows his first quarter senior grades. Or is he better off waiting so he can show first semester grades? He is just shy of their average GPA (4.1-4.8). He did well on ACT (35) so hoping that helps.
Any thoughts?
I have a question about the visits the colleges do to the high schools. Are these the people who read the applications? What is their role?
@NYC2018nyc
I believe most if not all of them are the regional AOs, which means they will be the reader of the apps for high schools from that region. So in theory, I guess it would be great if the kid’s colleges are visiting the hs and they get to meet the person who will be reading their apps, and succeed in leaving a great impression (of course, they might also leave a not good one). But, I somehow have a hard time to imagine that the AOs could realistically be expected to associate kids they met during HS visits with their apps.
@NYC2018nyc jumping in to just say that the reps that come to the high schools are usually the ones reading the apps first. For smaller schools, they will indeed remember your student if they make an impression especially if not too many kids show up. At our high school, S19 met with reps from Davidson, Carleton, William and Mary, Hamilton and many more. Sometimes only two or three kids showed up. The rep would take the kids’ names and give them her/his card. S19 always followed up with a quick thank you email. In a handful of instances, the rep responded and said to contact him if we visited and he did just that. So, S19 would even meet with them briefly again when we visited just to say hello and they asked to meet us too. He got in everywhere where he met the rep. So tell your kids to go to these meetings! And bring good questions and be on their best behavior. 
@mtemmd Your S20 has fantastic stats! I think you said he is at about NEU’s average GPA. They also say their middle 50% for the ACT is 33-35! Yikes, those are some serious stats for middle 50%. I’m not sure what kind of merit you can expect from NEU these days. They do say this on their website: “Students who are in the top 10-15% of our applicant pool are considered for competitive merit awards, including the prestigious Dean’s Scholarship. Recipients are awarded between $10,000 and $25,000 annually.”
Would an award between $10-$25K make NEU affordable? This would be the case where maybe a little upward trend may help, and waiting for the RD round may be prudent. Have you run the NPC for Northeastern?
Also, what I did for my kids was tell them what our budget is. We weren’t getting financial aid, so they need to get merit to make up any gap. I don’t think it’s fair to leave them in the dark…you can ask them to find some ‘reasonably priced’ schools, but does your son know what that means, exactly?
@mtemmd regarding Northeastern, in my high school’s experience it appears that the acceptance rate during EA was higher and more money was awarded (not finaid, but scholarships). Definitely something to consider. I can’t say that it’s an absolute fact, but certainly appears that way.
Best of luck!
@mtemmd I would go ahead and apply EA. It’s nonbinding, so you have nothing to lose.
I fully agree with @homerdog ! All of my kids attended local college fairs and school visits. Always emailed a thank you and post campus visit with follow up questions if they had any. There were schools where the admissions rep not only recognized my kids at senior year college fairs (they started going as sophomores) but emailed after reading their essays to make a connection between a conversation they had at school or a college fair and something in the essay. This obviously wouldn’t happen at a huge school with lots of apps, but this happened at great schools. The genuine personal connection is important. The admissions reps are professionals, some are really good at what they do.
@mtemmd Agree, your son has great stats. And just with what he has, I say early action is going to give him a bigger boost than another quarter of grades. You said “he loves it” and it seems he’s done his research about the school, which adds huge credibility to that sentiment. Go for it! @bigmacbeth gave good advice with regard to financials, it’s fair and straight forward.
Thanks all! I appreciate the input. To be clear about my sons stats, Northeastern says their average is 4.1-4.8. My son dipped from 4.07 to 3.98. A couple of tough classes in subjects that aren’t his thing. He is kicking himself but nothing to do about it now. He does offer some other good things…he is co-pres of 2 clubs, has 4 APs under his belt (4s and 5s) and is taking 3 more this year. I’m hoping it all helps.
He does have several other schools he likes, I’m trying to make sure he doesn’t lock in on one. But I do like the idea of the co-op with northeastern. He does too. He is looking at an International Relations major and I just feel like any humanities major will be well helped with work experience.
And yes we are being very straightforward about financials.
@mtemmd - About your initial question of whether to do EA or not for Northeastern given slight dip in grades in Junior year. We were debating about the exact same issue whose grades went southwards in Junior year second semester. The conclusion that we came to is to go ahead with EA for this particular univ.
Each situation is unique - in our situation, our school has strong admit record when applied in EA. They also defer large number of apps - so we thought the risk is low (i.e. we are hoping that he may not be rejected and if their concerns about junior year grades outweigh other factors they may defer and harm will be done). This is just our thinking and it can backfire - so do your due diligence. IMO you should consider your school admit record at Northeastern and if possible find out what cycle the admitted students applied (EA vs RD) and any significant differences in stats. Since your school is sending the first quarter results to EA colleges - the only thing that will add for RD is the availability of first semester grades and any other stat. In your case, he already has a good ACT - so not sure what else can be added between Nov 1 and Dec 30 (are there any significant competitions that he is participating in between - is it possible to improve the essay and/or recommendations by waiting: I think these should decide imho).
Good luck.
Another question. We have run NPC for northeastern (and other schools). I know merit aid is not guaranteed anywhere, but do NPC reflect possible merit? I am still a bit confused about them. I know they are not guaranteed accurate. Some ask for a ton of info, some less. It’s been a while but I don’t remember my son putting in stats for most.
About message 7173 above - realized there are too many spell mistakes which I can’t edit now: meant to convey that there is no harm in applying EA for our DS20 who had a similar dip in grades during junior year. ymmv.
@mtemmd I ran the Northeastern Net Price Calculator (make sure you use the one on the school website), which uses the CollegeBoard engine. The results DO show the “Northeastern University Award” merit in the results. I was surprised to see that my D20 supposedly would get merit at NEU. Her stats are not as good as your S20’s. So that may be good news!
Thanks! Fingers crossed! I’m trying to be open minded about all school possibilities for him. Even if his stats were perfect and we could write the check, there are still so many students applying for so few spots. So different from when I was his age.
Thank you hs2020dad. I will see what I can find out. I am leaning more toward ea. He does have a good essay. At least I think it’s good. He has had a couple of peer edits and I would like him to run it by his teacher and GC. He’s a good writer which is in his favor. And honestly the weak points in his application won’t be changed in the next few months.
I think I just want to make sure that it, and really all of the applications, as as good as they can get. I’m realizing how hard pushing that send button will be!
My S is applying ED through questbridge due to the chance at a full scholarship, without that chance he would not be applying ED to any school. He is also applying EA to a couple schools because of the chance of scholarships that are not available RD. He is still up in the air about which schools he will be applying RD though.
I sorta feel like our experience is a bit different than everyone that is posting though. Our school does not have Naviance, and colleges dont really visit S’s school. Duke is visiting our city and S is set up to go but its at 7:30pm and have been warned it will be packed. Had no idea college reps visit high schools, especially during school hours.
Is this happening at private schools or public schools as well?