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My teacher, who is an expert in college admissions, said that most colleges claim that their admissions officers don't give special consideration to early decision applicants. They explain the higher percentage of accepted students by saying that more "qualified" students tend to apply early than regular, so there are more that get accepted. I hope this is not right--because I will be struggling to get in to my ED choice otherwise. Any thoughts?

By Smorealum (Smorealum) on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 03:47 pm: Edit

Read the Atlantic Monthly stories 2001-2003 on this for a different take.

By Crnchycereal (Crnchycereal) on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 04:34 pm: Edit

Your teacher is correct to a certain extent. Yes, the high admittance rate reflects the overall strength of the early applicant pool, which tends to be very self-selective. On the other hand, early DECISION does have an added advantage in that it's basically a binding contract and a guarantee that they will get your tuition money! Therefore, colleges have more incentive to accept ED applicants because they get more money. On the other hand, EA is non-binding and thus doesn't have this stipulation. Therefore, high acceptance rates amongst EA applicants are probably more due to the quality of the applicants.

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 04:44 pm: Edit

In some respects, ED applicants are more prepared - clearly, they've managed to get an application out by November 01, not January.

However... let's be realistic. If it's ED, not EA, the college is guaranteed to get you. Let's say the school gets 15,000 applicants total (ED and RD). Now, they might accept 3,000 of these to fill their class, expecting that about 1,500 of them will come. With me so far? Now, of those initial 15,000 applicants, you probably have about 1,000 that aren't qualified, and maybe 500 that are shoo-ins (amazing students, athletes, legacies with parents being trustees or similar). So, 15,000 minus 1000 unqualified minus 500 superqualified gives you 13,500 applications left. You now have 2,500 slots left. With me? So, as the school keeps selecting students, you might get 2,000 more rejected and 500 accepted... so it's 11,000 applications for 2000 slots. You can see how the applicatons remaining to slots available gets pretty large... I mean, by the end, there are probably tons of applications for a handful of slots. Now, these people are all in the middle - let's say 1400 SATs, decent high schools, tough courseload, a few solid ECs. There is often no rational way to pick between these kids.

Now, if you are that kid, and you apply early, you have one advantage over the other RD kids: you have to come to that school. So, all of a sudden, you have a small advantage over 5,000 students who look the same as you do. Think about it... they know that they aren't wasting an acceptance on you, they know you are enthused about the place. While you aren't going to get in if you aren't qualified, I think it would certainly help to apply ED if you are average for the school.

By Kkgirl06 (Kkgirl06) on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 08:11 pm: Edit

Enosis, it is definately NOT TRUE that those who apply early are always more qualified than the regular applicant pool. Several sources (i.e., "The Early Admissions Game: Joining the Elite" by Avery et. al.) assert that Early Acceptance applicants are generally MORE QUALIFIED than the regular applicant pool. However, Early Decision applicants are generally LESS QUALIFIED than the regular applicant pool.

EA=more qualified applicants (than average)
ED=slightly less qualified applicants (than average)
You'll be happy to know this seeing that you have applied somewhere ED.