No shortage of Morty the Mule items through the bookstore. Several of my family members trade these and polar bears every year at Christmas. Seems it never gets old!
Thereâs no real way to know as the ED admits need to take themselves out of the RD pool. Thatâs part of the bargain.
2 Likes
On YCBK they explained it like thisâŠ. While there is no advantage in terms of getting a pass on the overall quality of the application, it is always better to show up when the buckets are empty, than when they are somewhat full.
8 Likes
William and Mary is one. They have ED1 and ED2. Last year they took 41% of the class ED.
3 Likes
Many state schools have rolling admissions. These schools take applicants until all slots are filled or classes start, whichever comes first.
The advantages to applying early are: 1) Popular majors may fill early. 2) Earlier applicants may have more scholarships and merit opportunities. 3) Honors college may fill up before the end of the application cycle. 4) Some schools start course registration as early as February. Thus students who commit early have the best chance of getting desired courses. 5) Ditto on housing. 6) For students who know the state school is the school for them, early acceptances offer peace of mind. The students are able to relax a bit and enjoy their last days as high school students.
9 Likes
Looks like more than 70 colleges have ED2: Early Decision 2: An FAQ and list of participating colleges. ETA Oops, realized you asked about state schools. These are all private.
2 Likes
I think itâs school specific. Some, for example, fill in EA and take stragglers for RD. Others may give a similar shot over various rounds.
So in this case Iâm not talking ED but same concept.
Interestingly, Va Tech had ED but dropped it. Not sure of the reason.
So sometimes schools volunteer this data, but many donât. Then ED (not EA) is asked about on the CDS, but it doesnât break out ED 1 versus ED 2, and some college refuse to report anyway. As a result, to my knowledge there is no comprehensive assessment available.
I note, though, that a couple things are clear. First, most colleges have a relatively low yield in RD. So, even when a lot of the enrolled students are ED, usually a large multiple of the admitted students are RD. To use a random example, Wesleyan in their last CDS enrolled 743 students. It admitted 424 ED, which probably yielded around 410 ED. To get the other estimated 333 students, it had to admit 1672 people RD, implying an RD yield of around 1 in 5. So while it enrolled more students ED than RD, it admitted nearly four times as many applicants RD.
Of course this is even more true at colleges that simply do not get that many ED applications to begin with. To use another random example, the University of Denver in their last CDS reported 1458 enrollees. It only got 183 ED applications. So, it couldnât fill most of its class with ED even if it admitted every single ED applicationâwhich it didnât, it admitted 151, which probably yielded around 145. To get the other estimated 1313 enrollees, it had to admit 13428 RD, implying an RD yield of less than 1 in 10, and nearly a 90:1 RD:ED admit ratio.
But again I donât know what this looks like at every college, particularly not EA colleges.
6 Likes
The reason they gave had to do with trying to make sure that as many qualified applicants as possible were encouraged to apply. ED would mostly be used by people with the financial means to commit to a potential full pay situation without being able to consider other options, and probably wouldnât fully represent the range of qualified applicants VT is hoping to attract.
I also suspect that because of their location, they have a harder time getting a diverse class, and have to work harder toward that aim.
OTOH, the âletâs admit 25% of our class in December and let the other EA applicants sweat until Februaryâ is also not a good look, if they intended that to be the ED replacement.
3 Likes
Whilst itâs hard to get the overall dataset for all colleges, it seems to be very helpful to check the READ/ED1/ED2/EA/RD/State School stats in detail (including excluding the athletes from the REA/ED count) to curate the right college application list. This is particularly relevant for students from high schools which place caps on the number of early applications and/or the total number of applications being filed.
D24âs high school has a cap of 10 college apps (UCs count as one), their class had the highest grades in the schoolâs history:
knowing 6 other straight A kids applied to the same REA college, several straight A kids didnât apply REA to that college although it was their #1 choice, on the premise the college has never accepted more than 2 kids from one class in their high school. Instead, they opted for a combination of ED1/ED2/EA (some with several EAs), and ultimately applied RD (after the 6 REA applicants got rejected) to their #1 choice school, which seems counterintuitive but is probably the best strategy
My opinion only. It is more important to look at your student and their applicationsâŠand apply to a variety of colleges with varying levels of selectivity.
10 Likes
So my two cents is that a lot of strategizing around ED and such is based on extremely dubious inferences not really supported by the actual evidence. I think outside of âhookedâ cases or scholarship cases where the college has made it known to you that you need to apply by a certain point for full consideration, people should really just stick to the basic rules:
(1) Only apply binding somewhere if you have done your research, including as to net cost of attendance, and are comfortable this college would be your top choice regardless of where else you might be admitted and what other financial offers you might receive. For many, this may mean not applying binding anywhere;
(2) For non-rolling early admissions, apply wherever you would like to know early as long as you are confident you are submitting your strongest application. If you are looking at REA/SCEA, understand that is likely a tradeoff in terms of being able to apply EA to other private colleges, or binding anywhere;
(3) For rolling or pseudo-rolling admissions, try to apply as soon as reasonably practical.
None of these concepts requires dubious inferences leading to dubious strategies people often end up regretting. And to the extent you might feel, say, peer pressure to do something different, I think often the best solution to the underlying problem is to take a second look at your overall application list, including with the understanding you will likely be best off if you can identify affordable colleges that you like, that you are well-qualified for, and that not all your peers like too.
16 Likes
@NiceUnparticularMan & @thumper1
Completely agree with your points
My original comment was from the perspective of an international applicant which is full pay. In D24âs case, critical drivers were
-
Applying to Canadian schools which donât have a holistic approach, and therefore have very good schools (Toronto, McGill) secured as safeties early in the process (although decision dates can be later)
-
Availability of an athletic hook, which secured admission to very good US colleges
Thatâs right. We have too many international students to have the shorter breaks - it doesnât make sense for them to fly home. Some of them would stay with a friend or family in the states, but some are stuck. So no short breaks for us, other than a four-day Easter weekend where most of the boarders stay on campus anyway.
2 Likes
This. It never ends. D19 still calls for assistance with gifts and plans. Although heâs getting much better. Itâs more for consultation at this point. He still values mama bearâs opinion.
3 Likes
Yes, non-US schools can be great options for well-qualified applicants to help alleviate the relative uncertainty of highly selective holistic review admissions in the US. In my S24âs case, he ended up applying to St Andrews, actually got a reasonably early unconditional offer, and that has definitely made it easier for him to approach US admissions with less anxiety.
That said, he also got in early to Pitt, which is a different approach but with similar virtues. Since Pitt is rolling he just needed to apply early, and Pitt is well-known in our feederish HS for not yield protecting our high numbers kids. He is now waiting to hear about Honors, but honestly he really cannot go wrong if he ends up choosing between Pitt and St Andrews, and that is a very diverse set of choices.
So personally, I think these are good examples (and there are many more) of how to sidestep the pressures that can lead to people doing things like binding applications they end up regretting. But you do have to do your homework and understand which schools like this would be good fits and very likely early admits for you, and then apply early enough to maximize your chances of actual early decisions.
9 Likes
Which in a way is a compliment. And to be honest, I get that he really just wants to focus on having a good time with the girlfriend. And they do a lot of fun stuff without us being involved, it is just restaurants where he seems to want our help.
That said, hopefully we get to the point where we can just be texting directly with the girlfriend, and cutting out the delays and possible miscommunications inherent to him engaging in shuttle diplomacy . . . .
1 Like
Congratulations! Where will she be attending?
6 Likes
Plural colleges? Multiple commitments to use that hook to âsecure admissionâ at multiple places? Thatâs not the usual scenario.
And if there is a commitment to just one school based on athletics, that other data you are seeking is irrelevant.
4 Likes
-
Does this affect you? Ottawa is capping international students in Canada: Get the details
-
If you truly have an athletic hook, isnât the process now successfully completed?
Congratulations if they are in order!
2 Likes