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@Ash0318
9 answers, 3 votes
 • 4 years ago •
Admissions Advice

Factoring in ED in admission chances

Is there any way to accurately factor in the impact that applying Early Decision has on admission chances to a particular school? It's not a criteria on your chancing engine, but for some schools ED can have a dramatic impact. For example, Middlebury College has a 17% overall acceptance rate, but it's ED acceptance rate has been between 45-50% in recent years. Other schools such as Bates, American University, Holy Cross (and many others) have a much higher acceptance rate for students who apply ED. Obviously, some of this is accounted for by 1) a potentially more highly qualified applicant pool for ED, as well as 2) athletic scholarships and 3) legacy admits that tend to apply early decision. But, those factors don't completely account for the wide discrepancy in the two admit rates at many schools.

Is there a recommended way to calculate the percentage "boost" that applying ED might have for a particular school - a formula or some other way factor in the potential benefit (or lack thereof) to applying ED?

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3 answers

2
@chxm33
269 answers, 259 votes
 • 4 years ago[edited]

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2
1
@maplecreamcookies
expert
203 answers, 394 votes
 • 4 years ago

It's difficult to determine how much ED will impact each individual person at each school. That being said, while controlling for factors such as profile strength, students generally have a 10-12% better chance of getting in ED, 6-8% for restrictive early action, and 4-6% for EA. You may find this post helpful: https://blog.collegevine.com/does-applying-early-decision-increase-my-chances/. Hope this helps, and good luck!

1
[🎤 AUTHOR]@Ash03184 years ago

Thanks!

0
@DebaterMAX
905 answers, 735 votes
 • 4 years ago

So ED usually attracts more elite/high level applicants than regular decision so how much of a boost is received is hard to calculate. ED also depends on how many apply ED and how many school X will admit. But I’d say for ED assuming you are above the near the top of the mid 50% in SAT and GPA or exceed middle 50 you have a boost relating to 10-25% of what your current chance is.

50% chance to school is now 55-63%. Be aware this is heavily rule of thumb and differs from elite schools to less competitive schools.

Hope this helps and comment if you want clarification

0
[🎤 AUTHOR]@Ash03184 years ago

Thanks - good advice. But, I wanted guidance on the ED boost based on each college's stats. Many schools' ED admission acceptances are 2 or 3 times as high as regular admission (Holy Cross, Middlebury). And, other schools there is hardly any difference between regular and ED acceptance rates (ie, Carleton). Plus, it also is relevant to factor in what percentage of each entering class is filled via ED. A goldmine of data that could be used to determine an individual % boost for each school

@DebaterMAX4 years ago

Try looking at the common data set for schools and look and see how many are admitted ED.

[🎤 AUTHOR]@Ash03184 years ago

Thanks!

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