Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

Last year on another college message board, I read about a lot of kids with stellar stats who applied ED and were deferred. Then, some of these same kids were waitlisted in April. I guess my question is about supply and demand.

I'm assuming that the top-25 schools can afford to string along their applicants with deferrals and waitlists. For these schools its a seller's market. But what about the relatively lower-ranked schools? Do so-called tier 2 and 3 schools string their applicants out like this just so the admissions people can guarantee that all beds are filled?

My daughter is planning to apply ED and I'm not convinced that that's in her best interests. It seems as though everything in college admissions today--especially at the better schools--is stacked very much in favor of the schools rather than the students. Do you people have any opinions on this ED mania? Sorry for the rant.

By David Hawsey on Thursday, September 27, 2001 - 09:58 am: Edit

No need to apologize, Martin. Your frustration is well-understood.

Forget the rankings and focus on which schools are better for your daughter, for personal, psychological, maturity, academic, and co-curricular reasons. Then focus on the investment you would have to make over the entire four-year period. Finally, ask the schools for specific evidence that, within the fields she is considering, your investment will pay a lifetime of rewards.

Now, on to your question.

Waitlists have a new trend among the Tier II colleges. Knowing they are being "used" as a backup school, and seeing that fewer people actually matriculate from this group, they have decided to either waitlist the Ivy-bound or deny them completely! It's true!

This means that your daughter could show great interest in these schools, apply early decision, and stand an excellent chance of being accepted. List a few of the college's direct competitors on her application (you can find this in Barron's Best Buys, and Princeton Review's Best 331 Colleges), but don't list any Top 25 unless you are serious about them. Her application might be flagged as a risky accept.

She could apply early action, which does not bind the student to an acceptance decision (non-refundable deposit as well). Or, depending upon the exact percentage of ED students that actually matriculated and were originally accepted ED, her best bet might be to get her application in right at the beginning of regular decision.

A little-known fact is that colleges with full residence halls often assign the best housing and first-choices to those who are accepted and then DEPOSIT on a first-come, first-served basis.

Hope this helps!

By Marylander on Sunday, December 09, 2001 - 12:40 pm: Edit

I see from other discussion sites that some ED colleges have sent out deferrals already--Dartmouth for one. Anyone else heard of any students getting deferrals (or thumbs up) from ED schools?

By Rhonda on Monday, December 10, 2001 - 01:35 pm: Edit

It sounds like your daughter might be applying ED to a 2d/3d tier school? If so, I think applying ED is fine, assuming you're willing to accept the possibility of less generous finaid and the risk that she'll change her mind by May. I think it's really the top top schools that are "stringing along" kids, b/c they know from the ED app that they are the #1 choice. A well-qualified ED applicant at a second-tier school may do pretty well at other second-tier or even top-tier schools in the RD round, so the ED school is taking a risk of losing him/her by deferral -- the top top schools probably have less of this kind of risk, since the applicant deferred ED would probably attend if accepted RD (since there just won't be that many "better" schools s/he gets into). This sounds a little convoluted, hope it makes some sense!

By Ed Norton on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 12:19 pm: Edit

From personal experience, Rhonda, I tend to disagree with the statement "...ED is fine, assuming you're willing to accept the possibility of less generous finaid and the risk..." My child was accepted early by a "we'll meet 100% of your demonstrated need" school, and they did just that. Our first-year package couldn't have been better and the next three were just as good, without increasing student loans.

I'm not saying that some schools don't leverage EDers to the schools' finaid advantage, but I think that an ED decision should not be affected by what "might" happen with aid. If a kid gets in ED and the money deal sucks, then "just say 'NO!'"