Understanding the pros and cons of applying Early Decision

Parent Cafe
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<p>I’m a new member of this community. I have two children. My daughter seems to have a preference for attending a LAC that has a strong English and Creative Writing Program. Since she seems to know what she wants should she apply ED? Will this greatly improve her chances of getting in to her first choice? We would like to receive financial aid but we are middle class, don’t have a great deal of debt anymore and may not qualify for aid. On the other hand, I have not been able to save very much for college. We live in a very small house and we otherwise live modestly (no vacations, etc). Our city has one of the highest crime rates in the country and the high school drop out rates for African-American males is also one of the highest in the country. I’ve spent my extra money sending my children to private school although I am a product of the public school system here. </p>

<p>Considering my situation, what are the pros and cons of applying ED?
P.S. My D took the SAT at age 12 and scored very well on the verbal but poorly on the math. She’s not a senior yet. She would prefer a college curriculum that didn’t force her to take a bunch of math and science courses. She wants to be a writer or a lawyer. Thanks for your advice.</p>

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<p>ED is appropriate only if your D is absolutely certain that her first choice is where she really wants to be. Don’t do ED just for the “bump” at a school she’s not in love with. Kids change so much between September and April that if she’s not totally convinced in September, it may no longer be her first choice in April.</p>

<p>As far as financial aid is concerned, the problem with ED is not so much that you’ll get less financial aid from that particular school, but that you can’t compare financial aid packages. Some schools may give you more and some may give you less. Some may give you more grants and some more loans. Applying ED means you basically get what they give you.</p>

<p>Another issue is whether your d will qualify for merit aid at her ED school. Some believe that ED students get less merit aid because the school doesn’t have to “woo” them to come. I know of at least one school that actually has a separate “pile” of merit money for ED kids and a different one for RD kids. Ask the question bluntly at the ED school she’s considering (again, if they have merit money and if she’d likely qualify).</p>

<p>Finally, remember that ED, like the rest of the process, is not a sure thing. Once the ED application is done and sent in, don’t let your d sit back and relax. She should continue working on the rest of her applications as if the ED school didn’t exist, and be ready just to push the Submit button if she gets deferred or rejected. She doesn’t want to be rushed into completing other applications (particularly the “Why this school?” essay) during the last two weeks in December, while she’s still dealing with deferral or rejection. And if she does get in, she just doesn’t submit them. (I saw with my d’s friend that this can be a real issue - one of her friends is going to her least-liked safety school - which she got in rolling before the ED decision came out - because she couldn’t deal in December with being rejected from her ED school, so her other applications were sloppy.)</p>

<p>Does she know where she wants to apply yet?</p>

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<p>

There are 2 instances of the word “seems” in your post. That in itself should be an indicator that it would not be a wise move to do ED. My advice is never to use ED to improve your chances, because most often it does not. Besides that, decision time is 10 months away, and most 18-year-olds will change a lot/learn a lot in that time. With both of my kids, we asked the question, “would you rather be able to choose from 5 schools in April, or be locked into the one you thought was perfect in September?”</p>

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<p>My daughter applied to college ED, got in, and has no regrets.</p>

<p>She considered it strategy – a way of distinguishing herself from the mob of other highly qualified applicants from her high school and our general geographic area, which sends vast numbers of highly qualified kids to college. Also, she was a legacy at the college she chose, and it is generally believed that, at least at this particular school, the legacy preference applies primarily to ED applicants. She chose a college where she had a good likelihood of getting in anyway because she had seen several friends apply ED to reach schools and not get in, which she considered a waste of their one and only ED bid.</p>

<p>W have no financial need, so comparing aid packages was not an issue.</p>

<p>I must say, though, that I was comfortable with her ED decision primarily because the college she chose is large, diverse, and very much like the other colleges that interested her. Even if her tastes had changed during her senior year (for example, if she changed her mind about what to major in), the same school would have met her needs. This might not be true at a small college.</p>

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<p>Argh… </p>

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<p>That is a red flag for me. Your D needs to compare finaid packages unless you are prepared to spend nearly $200,000 for her ED college. If you are not, and you suspect that you will not qualify for much need-based aid, don’t tie yourself down with an ED application.</p>

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<p>My D would like to apply to Amherst ED. However, I am beginning to understand the logic of not going this route.</p>

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<p>Has she visited, done an overnight etc.? My D’s best friend loved Amherst on paper, applied and got in (not ED). Then in April she visited and felt that she could not be happy there. It is a small school with it’s own special culture.</p>

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<p>use the finaid calculator on collegeboard. It should give you a rough idea of your family efc, and whether you are ‘middle-class’ enough to be full pay.</p>

<p>Definitely concur with chocoholic – the rural LACs need to be visited to get a feel for the college community, particularly if considering ED.</p>

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<p>If you are sure to require financial aid, don’t go ED. Period. The differences in amount (and shape) of aid provided by supposedly need-blind (doesn’t exist), 100%-of-need schools, claiming to use the same EFC calculators, etc. can be quite astonishing (it can amount to at least as much or more tha a full year of attendance at a private college, paying full freight.</p>

<p>There are many schools now upfront about saying the same thing on their websites.</p>

<p>(I’m not sure whether you consider yourself “middle class” because of your values/culture set or because of your income. Middle-income in the U.S. is under $55k/year; for the average family, to be able to afford full freight at the prestige private colleges, your annual income would have to be above $165k/year, putting you in the top 3% of all U.S. families. The top quintile starts at around $100k.)</p>

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<p>I agree with the posters who said if she’s going to commit to ED she NEEDS to visit the school first. That said, Amherst is probably a “safer” ED choice than most in that if it doesn’t end up being the perfect fit your daughter anticipated it is part of the 5 college consortium, so she’d have a lot of options regarding classes to take and places to take them. Also, Amherst (the town, not the school) is a great college town with lots going on in the area and tons of students. I’d think it would be hard not to find a group to fit in with there.</p>

<p>As far as applying ED…you might be interested in this report to secondary schools on the Amherst College website:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.amherst.edu/admission/important_info/secondaryschoolreport10.pdf[/url]”>http://www.amherst.edu/admission/important_info/secondaryschoolreport10.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Briefly, they accepted a little less than 19% of all applicants for the Class of 2010, and 123 out of 393 ED applicants (31%) enrolled. If I understand ED correctly, anyone accepted is obliged to enroll. I’m assuming of the 393 ED applicants, 123 or maybe a very few more were accepted. So, applying ED seems to help an applicant’s chances.</p>

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<p>Others might disagree with me, but I think the only kids who should even consider ED are those who come from families who can afford to pay ANY amount for college.</p>

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<p>Or at least the full cost of the college they are applying to ED, which is a known quantity and is obviously less than “ANY” amount up to infinity.</p>

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<p>“So, applying ED seems to help an applicant’s chances.”</p>

<p>We don’t know whether applying ED helps an applicant’s chances, or being wealthy enough to afford to apply ED (or being a recruited athlete) is what has that effect.</p>

<p>(There are stronger schools in the Consortium than Amherst for creative writing, and even stronger schools outside of it that are significantly easier to get in.)</p>

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<p>Just on the FA front, I would say that a person in your position should never apply ED as you will have no options to EITHER compare or negotiate FA packages. Be aware that FA packages vary widely between colleges. FA calculators are fine for geting a gross estimate of your EFC, but when it comes to a FA package, how much and whether it’s grants or loans depends heavily on how much a college wants your kid. </p>

<p>Here is our scenario for this year, we are upper middle class, on the cusp of qualifying for FA and my D is a high scoring URM. She was accepted to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown and Amherst. The Brown and Amherst FA packages were 20k/yr less than H & P (Y was inbetween). After requesting a FA review, Brown came close to matching H & P. We didn’t ask Amherst for a review because at the time it wasn’t one of my Ds top choices, but I don’t doubt that they would have found the money to match. </p>

<p>I also know an AA student this year who applied ED to Amherst, was accepted and received no FA; the parents have no recourse.</p>

<p>Is the possible small gain in acceptance worth gambling on FA? I agree with mini: no, never, forgetaboutit.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t recommend it; outside of the financial issues, just from reading various threads this past year, it seems that there are so many interesting options available at all sorts of colleges - the choices seem endless, really, it seems a shame for a student not to explore a bit, visit some colleges, establish some preferences, create a nice list, and apply so that there are a few nice choices come April/May.</p>

<p>From reading other threads, it seems as if applying ED is appropriate - and the families end up very happy and STAY very happy with the outcome - only in very select situations - the student loves the school, is 100% committed to attend, and the finances are in place to pay for it.</p>

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<p>As a student, If I had to do it all over again, I would avoid ED like the plague. I applied ED to my current school, because was I pretty confident that I would get accepted and I knew for sure that it was the one school we would definately be able to afford. I got in and had sent the deposit when I got an enticing offer from another school the very next day. At first I really wanted to take it, because the grant made the two schools almost the same in price, but the second school was still a bit more money. Unfortunately, trying to get out of the ED would have been complicated and would have been frowned upon by both schools, so I stayed put. Looking back, I am glad I went to my ED school because the second school was smaller than I wanted and generally wasn’t the type of school I really truly wanted to be at. I was only sorry that I didn’t really have the option of reconsidering or even seeing what other options may have come along because I had a kind of tunnel vision for my ED school. OTOH, I applied ED becaue I was 100% sure we could afford this school, and that may not have been possible with the other schools I was accepted to. </p>

<p>So, I guess I really haven’t swayed you one way or the other on this, but that is my ED experience. Be 100% sure you will be able to afford Amherst and will be satisfied with whatever kind of work-study/loan/grant combination they give you. And be sure any other offer that may come along won’t make you doubt Amherst as the first choice.</p>

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<p>I agree that ED favors the wealthy. That is why I included the “seems,” since it is impossible to really tease out how much of an advantage a less-privileged applicant might have (if any). Still, my gut feeling is that it would help ANY strong candidate who would have a good shot at being admitted anyway since the school knows they can count on that applicant to attend if admitted. The same report I looked at showed that Amherst got only about half of their admitted applicants to enroll, so they’re losing quite a few students to their competitors. I don’t think weaker applicants should consider ED hoping that it would get them into schools they’d otherwise not have a chance at, but for strong applicants it’s hard to say what the best strategy is.</p>

<p>I’m tempted to just go along with those who are advising you to steer clear of ED. On the other hand, if my first-choice school had offered ED, I really would have wanted to apply ED and it would have been hard for me to accept that it would have been an impossible option for me. I wanted to do anything and everything to help my chances. Since money was an issue, I was relieved that my first choice school only offered EA. As things turned out, it was the school with the “worst” FA package, but they were all pretty close, so it wasn’t enough of a difference to affect my choices. Which, perhaps, just provides more evidence in favor of EA/RD. Good applicants should not need to apply ED to end up with good results.</p>

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<p>Just for the sake of argument, I’ll give a slightly different perspective:</p>

<p>I don’t think there’s any question that, at schools that offer ED, an ED application is more likely to succeed than an RD application. Schools are willing to take a gamble on a student, but more willing if they know the student will come. This advantage is probably greatest at the level slightly below the tippy-top colleges. At the very top – which includes Amherst – their applicant pools are strong enough and their expected yields high enough that they may not care much about ED vs. RD. (The numbers still suggest there is some advantage.) But at the Kenyons and Colbys – places that should interest your daughter, too – which are competing for many of the same students as Amherst, I think (and I think the numbers suggest) that the advantage is pretty big. Farther down the food chain, an ED application may effectively guarantee acceptance, but that may not matter so much if the school would be a safety with an RD application.</p>

<p>So I think it’s wrong to say “Don’t apply ED for the boost in chances.” It’s a legitimate strategy decision. Your child has to like the college enough to be happy about going there, but doesn’t necessarily have to be madly in love after visiting every other college in the universe. Personally, I’m a big believer in the adaptive capacity of 18-year-olds, and I think that in most cases a kid will be happy with a decent ED college, even if hypothetically there might be some slightly more perfect institution out there. It’s perfectly legit for a kid to say “I’d go to Yale over Middlebury if I got in, but my chances at Yale are low enough, and I like Middlebury enough, that I’m willing to forgo a shot at Yale to boost my chances at Middlebury.” Lots and lots of kids do just that, and they do it because it’s rational. </p>

<p>Another advantage of ED, not much discussed in this thread yet, is that if it works it makes like better for a kid instantly. Christmas vacation (with RD deadlines looming), February and March were not great times for my kids their senior years; ED kids got to enjoy life a lot more.</p>

<p>For all of the foregoing reasons, most sophisticated private schools I know strongly encourage kids to select an ED school and apply to it. And that helps with their overall success in college admissions, and improves the quality of life for everyone.</p>

<p>You’ll notice I haven’t discussed financial aid yet. Everyone is right: if you are sensitive to differences in aid packages, your child shouldn’t apply ED (and that’s not fair). But before you make that decision, you ought to look carefully at the college’s aid history and try to get a sense of whether you can live with the likely package (and whether $3-5,000/yr. more from a different school would change your daughter’s choice). Not everyone makes the same judgment on that. Also, some schools (not Amherst) do have significant merit scholarships that get awarded to ED students.</p>

<p>ED is pretty much the norm in the tony-LAC world, but you should also be aware of EA schools (no commitment to attend if accepted) like Georgetown and Chicago and the rolling admissions programs at most public universities. These give you some of the benefits of ED (maybe a little boost, maybe a little peace of mind, access to merit scholarships) without the downside.</p>

<p>So . . . my bottom line is nowhere near as negative as most of the posts above. It’s something to think about. But, if your creative-writing kid is mainly focused on Amherst, you are not very far along in your process.</p>

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<p>This thread is so helpful. To add more facts: 1) I am not wealthy; 2) Economically, I’ve just moved to “upper middle” class; 3) My D is African-American; 4) My D has just been diagnosed with ADHD and a LD in math (the psychologist did not recommend medication but suggested we ask for more time on tests which we have not done because D finishes tests on time);5) the school principal and the teachers don’t agree with the diagnosis although the vice-principal was the one who asked us to test D; 6) I’ve just hired a math tutor for D; 7) D is a talented vocalist, actress and writer; 8) She is very afraid that this recent diagnosis is the kiss of death for her so she thinks that applying ED would level her playing field.</p>

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<p>This is exactly what my daughter did (although the colleges had different names). It requires a certain style of kid, though, to do this happily. Some young people would forever regret not knowing whether or not they could get into Yale. Those kids should not use this strategy.</p>

<p>And, as everyone is saying, it only works if you’re not going to get financial aid anyway. If my daughter had been a candidate for financial aid (which she was not because my husband and I both inherited significant chunks of money when our respective parents died a few years back), ED would not have been a realistic option.</p>