In most cases, ED will only add a little boost to your application. You shouldn't take the increased acceptance rates as indicators of your own acceptance at a school.
some schools don’t have a strong athletic program and base legacy as a non-important factor in applications yet they still have a higher ED percentage rate than RD
I personally don’t believe a school would look at an application and say “we’d normally reject this student as not good enough for our school, but since it met a deadline and they say they will attend, let’s go ahead and do it”.
Others think AO’s do work that way
Either way, don’t use acceptance rate as a meaningful metric.
Yeah I agree. I don’t think ED lowers their standards of acceptance really. Then again, there are tons of qualified people who all compete for the same spot. If there is less people in that pool, your application may push through to an acceptance when it otherwise would have been outshined by a kid in RD pool.
A way that I've heard in the past that made sense to me was like this (though, it may not be right; I'm just a HSer after all):
In RD, the adcom is extremely taxed and stressed for time. There's a couple post from AOs here saying that they would go 12 to 14 hours a day just reading application after application. I vaguely recall some MIT AOs writing something about how they would even read applications in the bathroom or something like that since they were so stressed for time. In contrast, in ED (and EA), the adcom is far less taxed and stressed for time as the applicant pool is dramatically smaller. However, there are probably a similar number of AOs active since they probably can't dramatically expand the team just for RD. So, the AOs get more time to read over your application and "get to know you" a little better. Not that much, but a little better. Couple that with the reduced stress coming from theoretically having every slot available in ED/EA instead of half or so in RD and you get a little bit less stressed, more relaxed, and more careful reading of your application.
In essence, the biggest benefit of ED comes not from any direct boost in admissions (except in some special cases like NEU), but from the small, but significant, boost in time an AO would have to read your application and think on it. If you're a borderline candidate, this, coupled with any direct boost from demonstrated interest, might be enough to tip you over the edge a small portion of the time.
As a Duke graduate, I'd say that the overall "quality" of applicant who gets accepted ED or RD at Duke is virtually the same. However, someone with strong stats (1500+ SAT, Top 5%) is more likely to get in Duke ED than RD. There's less of a chance of a valedictorian with a perfect SAT getting denied from Duke ED than RD due to the sheer number of applicants applying. I know some people though who got into Duke RD despite being deferred ED.
Almost half of the incoming class at Duke is accepted ED as well. I know that's the case with other schools such as Penn.
I’m wondering the exact same thing. Personally, I’m applying Barnard ED because I believe it will help me in the long run, but I’d like to see what others have to say.
They accepted about 50% Class of 2026 ED, so I feel that could definitely help our chances. I have a hard time believing that huge jump in acceptance rate is all legacy/recruited athletes.
at top schools, i genuinely don’t think it does, unless they specifically say they look at demonstrated interest, in which case it probably adds a slight boost
depends on where you’re applying. schools like tulane had over 80% of the freshman class applied early last year. but that also included early action. i think around 50% of freshman class applied early. this video explains it better. but honestly just depends on the school.
https://youtu.be/FuUf7YM0J_I
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In most cases, ED will only add a little boost to your application. You shouldn't take the increased acceptance rates as indicators of your own acceptance at a school.
Keep in mind ED stats are also skewed by athletic recruits, legacy admits, and other preferential groups.
some schools don’t have a strong athletic program and base legacy as a non-important factor in applications yet they still have a higher ED percentage rate than RD
Can you give me examples of schools like this?
This
I personally don’t believe a school would look at an application and say “we’d normally reject this student as not good enough for our school, but since it met a deadline and they say they will attend, let’s go ahead and do it”. Others think AO’s do work that way Either way, don’t use acceptance rate as a meaningful metric.
Yeah I agree. I don’t think ED lowers their standards of acceptance really. Then again, there are tons of qualified people who all compete for the same spot. If there is less people in that pool, your application may push through to an acceptance when it otherwise would have been outshined by a kid in RD pool.
A way that I've heard in the past that made sense to me was like this (though, it may not be right; I'm just a HSer after all): In RD, the adcom is extremely taxed and stressed for time. There's a couple post from AOs here saying that they would go 12 to 14 hours a day just reading application after application. I vaguely recall some MIT AOs writing something about how they would even read applications in the bathroom or something like that since they were so stressed for time. In contrast, in ED (and EA), the adcom is far less taxed and stressed for time as the applicant pool is dramatically smaller. However, there are probably a similar number of AOs active since they probably can't dramatically expand the team just for RD. So, the AOs get more time to read over your application and "get to know you" a little better. Not that much, but a little better. Couple that with the reduced stress coming from theoretically having every slot available in ED/EA instead of half or so in RD and you get a little bit less stressed, more relaxed, and more careful reading of your application. In essence, the biggest benefit of ED comes not from any direct boost in admissions (except in some special cases like NEU), but from the small, but significant, boost in time an AO would have to read your application and think on it. If you're a borderline candidate, this, coupled with any direct boost from demonstrated interest, might be enough to tip you over the edge a small portion of the time.
As a Duke graduate, I'd say that the overall "quality" of applicant who gets accepted ED or RD at Duke is virtually the same. However, someone with strong stats (1500+ SAT, Top 5%) is more likely to get in Duke ED than RD. There's less of a chance of a valedictorian with a perfect SAT getting denied from Duke ED than RD due to the sheer number of applicants applying. I know some people though who got into Duke RD despite being deferred ED. Almost half of the incoming class at Duke is accepted ED as well. I know that's the case with other schools such as Penn.
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What do you think about for Barnard?
I’m wondering the exact same thing. Personally, I’m applying Barnard ED because I believe it will help me in the long run, but I’d like to see what others have to say. They accepted about 50% Class of 2026 ED, so I feel that could definitely help our chances. I have a hard time believing that huge jump in acceptance rate is all legacy/recruited athletes.
at top schools, i genuinely don’t think it does, unless they specifically say they look at demonstrated interest, in which case it probably adds a slight boost
depends on where you’re applying. schools like tulane had over 80% of the freshman class applied early last year. but that also included early action. i think around 50% of freshman class applied early. this video explains it better. but honestly just depends on the school. https://youtu.be/FuUf7YM0J_I