Does EA/ED/REA really help? In this video, Edward will be doing a statistical analysis of how accurate early acceptance rates are for Ivy League colleges. Hint: They're off. By a lot.
Something to mention is that there was talk of UPenn silently removing legacy for early, their definition on their website changed for legacy applicants as the new dean of admissions has been changing many things (including the definition of first gen for them). This year was likely easier for normal folk; however, this year had 500 more kids apply for UPenn ED, so don’t stress about it! The competitiveness is still strong as they balanced each other out.
Wow this is really cool! I didn't know about the first gen thing with Upenn. I'm applying RD as an immigrant student who only had one parent attend university, so this is interesting news for me.
Great video, I think you're right with all you're calculations. You did the right thing strategically by applying ED to UPenn if that's where you wanted to go. There is a slight bump applying early to UPenn. But even with applying early at UPenn there is still a 86% rejection/ deferral rate. All the best with your Regular Decision applications.
Actually this video has a lot of points to it that some folks in the comments section knowingly ignore. Most legacy students apply and get in through REA/ED, and atheletes mostly apply in the early round too. If you count these people out, the early acceptance rate at most ivy leagues or ivy league equivalents is only marginally better than or even no different from the regular acceptance rate. The only thing arguably good about applying early is to signal your strong interest in joining a specific institution, which may or may not be taken into consideration in the regular round depending on the school. I'd recommend taking your time to fill out the application forms, especially if your stats are objectively good enough to make possible admission to top schools and you don't have an exceptionally strong preference for a specific school. REA is probably fine, but I'd advise against applying ED unless it's your top choice. I don't see the point of applying ED to "play safe".
Not Northwestern not releasing their stats at all so idk what getting defer means and this year they seem to defer a lot more :(. Intl needing aid moment.
Good idea doing this calc but imo the stats are off because many LDC are also athletes so you’re double counting. REA different than ED so not as much downside so might as well try?
For UPenn, if you factor in the yield rate of the early accepted applicants who go elsewhere, this means more acceptances than spots open - and the acceptance rate is prob higher than your 8.75% calc.
This is a good point, and I apologise for the confusion. I say Ivy League in the video, but this video was meant to speak about T20 schools in general such as UChicago, MIT, and Georgetown which all have EA.
As a Penn alumnus and college admissions coach and expert, I hate to burst your bubble, but if you can't get into Penn ED, that bodes very poorly for your chances at peer institutions RD unless you change your approach to your RD applications. Good luck.
