Colleges Where Applying Early Decision Helps

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The numbers are a bit misleading because apparently, college athletes apply Early Decision and are usually accepted. Including athletes in the percentage of students accepted who apply Early Decision may explain part of the higher acceptance rate for Early Decision relative to Regular Decision.

Elana Joram of IA 1:23PM October 23, 2011

ED and EA acceptance rate

daniel of MA 7:08PM September 27, 2011

I am a college counselor at an international school in Bangkok, Thailand. I have been helping students get into their dream schools for the past 6 years. One element of the ED issue that is rarely understood is the fact that ED applicants tend to be what we in the industry call "self-selecting." This is simply the fact that students who choose to do ED tend to be much more careful about where they apply (for ED). As a result, the students who apply through the ED program tend to be a better fit for that specific college. This is not always the case for students applying for Regular Decision. We all know that it has become common for students to throw in some "Hail Mary" applications during Regular Decision. A significantly smaller number of students will do this for ED. Therefore, they have self-selected themselves as appropriate candidates for that school. This explanation isn't to undermine the statistics, but rather to put them into context and to encourage students to take advantage of the ED program...at an appropriate college.

Jemison Foster 2:19AM March 08, 2011

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buchen muenster of 4:45AM April 07, 2010

Going to one of the top 20 universities is more likely to bankrupt you than to advance your career. If you are from a middle-class family and you borrow the money to go there, you will not finish paying off those loans until you are 40. That's money you could have used toward a home mortgage. You cannot absorb the wisdom of the ages in 4 years and employers know that. So it's not going to open that many extra doors of opportunity, especially in the era of job exportation to China and India. From a dollar-and-sense point of view, a less-expensive second-tier university is a much better investment.

Gary of NC 6:20PM December 14, 2009

I have nothing against ED pograms,and in fact one of my kids was admitted to his college this way. However, don't take those acceptance rates at face value. Most recruited athletes are heavily encouraged to apply ED, and legacy applicants also get more of a boost when they apply ED, so when you see that higher acceptance rate, remember a lot of those students are going to be athletes and legacies. A more accurate picture of any ED advantage would be if the colleges would publish the acceptance rate for *un-hooked* applicants. It may well not look much different than the RD acceptance rates. In any case, the percentage will be far lower than what you see from these boilerplate numbers.

Sharon of OR 9:59PM November 18, 2009

I have a daughter who is a junior in college and went early decision. She was accepted to her first choice school and we all still really believe ED did enhance her selectivity. I also did significant verification with the school's Financial Aid Dept to verify they didn't take our home equity into their factoring of Expected Family Contribution.
There are a few new sites that have become more robust in the past year or two that I have learned of that contain data worth using if you are about to hit the ED box on the Common Application, etc.
One is CollegeData.com. Within the same, students input most all the info critical to their common ap data (including SAT II scores, AP scores, level of classes taken - or anticipated - throughout the 4 years, public / private, rank in class, weighted and non-weighted GPA, extra-curricular activities, years, leadership, awards and honors). While one still doesn't know the character traits, recommendations and essays, with hundreds and hundreds of students inputting their data as well as all schools applied to (and their responses), its not too difficult to find suitable matches to size up your application.
The other is http://www.go4ivy.com/services.asp. They charge a fee, but will tell seniors their chance of acceptance and sophomores and juniors where to focus and do more research. For about $15 per school, that's not a huge investment (if focusing on just a few).

Steve of CA 4:55PM November 09, 2009

I've worked with elite high school students for several years, and while doing so have often been told that their counselors argue the advantages of early decision.
However, admissions officers say (and sometimes print on their website) that the standards do not vary between early and regular admission. This, of course, seems eminently sensible. Why would you want to admit an inferior candidate early rather than waiting for a better candidate in the regular admission period?
So, while the statistics offered by USNews may seem meaningful, like those which produce the seriously flawed college rankings, they are not.
It is virtually impossible to calculate the probability of success on early admission without knowing in the greatest possible detail about every individual student application. Because the pool of candidates in early admission is not identical to that in regular admission, without knowing the differences, statistics reveal nothing at all.
Early admission candidates are, for the most part, much more likely to be excellent matches for the college they have chosen. They have the scores, recommendations, and other evidence which is likely to get them admitted.
In the early admission period, the student has almost always made a very careful selection of a school that seems likely to offer admission. There is little reason to aim for a school that may be too selective, since that will almost certainly result in a deferred decision.
In the regular admission period, on the other hand, there is no reason not to apply for several schools which are desirable, but perhaps out of reach. After all, an application to the ten top schools might result in one acceptance.
This shotgun approach is normal in the regular period, and so can produce higher failure rates and/or multiple acceptances from less selective schools.
Knowing statistics, without knowing the underlying actions which produce them, leads to ignorant decision-making.

Fredric Dennis Williams 12:27AM November 06, 2009

this is my first time to read this report about early decison rate, before i always think that ED can help us to get a admission successfully, but from this report it is not always like this, but one rule is real, as ealier as possible and more chance to get the acceptance. hmmm it seems a little contradiction, but soemtims everything survive in this way, anyway hope this report can give my some hints to help me to get more information about the situation in applying universities in the USA.

Rita 11:56PM October 08, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:
Although I don't fully understand the process of Early Decision vs Early Action (except that one is Binding and the other is Not) the issue that I see is with the data posted – for example, Carnegie Mellon Univ. or Miami University (Oxford, OH) actually show lower acceptance rate from Early decision than Regular. Is there an anomaly in your data or simple typo?

Simon D. of CA 3:14PM October 05, 2009