Mid-Year Updates From Colleges

Happy New Year! This is the time of year when some colleges send out a summary of their Early Action/Early Decision application numbers. In particular order, except how they are stacked in my inbox, here are some numbers for you!

Dartmouth College
1675 Early Decision Applicants (6.7% increase)
469 Admits (that is 40% of the entering class)
482 Denied
683 Deferred

Brown University
3100 Early Decision Applicants

Georgetown University
6700 Early Action Applicants
14% of the Applicants were Admitted

Duke University
3180 Early Decision Applicants (a 25% increase!)
797 Admits (nearly 47% of the incoming class)
691 Deferred

Stanford University
6948 Early Action Single Choice Applicants
748 Admits
593 Deferred

Boston College
5500 Early Action Applicants (a 4% increase)
2300 Admits

Stay tuned for more stats as they come in and for some Visi specific numbers!

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Some Early Stats About "Early" Applications

Visitation seniors submitted about 250 applications for November 1 deadlines (a number that is consistent with the past few years). If that sounds like a lot of applications, consider what the admissions offices are sorting through:
Princeton received 3547 applications in their first year of offering a Single Choice Early Action plan.

Duke received 2716 Early Decision (binding) applications. That's a 23% increase over last year.

Hopkins received about 1440 Early Decision applications. That's an 8% increase.

Dartmouth received 1800 Early Decision applications. That's a 2% increase.

UVA is reporting a whopping 11,415 applications for their Early Action deadline!

We will post more stats as the news comes in!

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The Home Stretch

It's hard to imagine that October 10th is really the "home stretch" of college applications. Really, it's the home stretch of Early Action/Early Decision. After that first application is in, it definitely gets easier as you go. Promise! Your counselors are burning the midnight oil getting recommendations and forms done. And responding to emails. Lots of emails. And reading essays. And meeting with colleges. And writing blog posts.

If you are have a November 1 deadline, you should be

• Finishing up your Common Application or School Specific Application
• Essays should be fantastic (don't rush at the last minute!)
• Speaking of essays, I've been reviewing a few and I want to urge you to be aware of the slippery slope of ending up with a "McEssay" (remember the examples our UVA speaker gave?)

Sometimes less is more with the college essay. Don't give up and send in something now that would be better if you did a little more work on it. On the other hand, try not to wait until 11:59 on October 31 to submit your November 1 application. The system will be slow and quirky at that time. And you'll miss all the Halloween fun. Okay, back to work.

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A Reminder About Early Action at Boston College

We just received a reminder from the Director of Admissions at Boston College about their Early Action policy:

Boston College respectfully requests that students applying to a binding Early Decision program not apply through our Restrictive Early Action program. They are permitted to apply to other Early Action programs, including those of Georgetown and the University of Notre Dame.

FYI, this is Georgetown's Early Action policy also. This is a good reminder that you are responsible for reading the fine print about the admissions policies at procedures at each of the schools on your list. We try to check and doublecheck each transcript request that comes in, but ultimately you need to make sure you are in compliance! If you have questions, see your college counselor.

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Early Decision Stats for 20 schools

I think Early Decision could be described as the best of times and the worst of times. I won't get on my soap box here about all of the angst that this policy creates in the admissions process for families and students. 

I had FOUR discussions with students today about ED and the question everyone wants to know is: Will applying Early Decision to a college help me get in? The answer: maybe. In my experience, Early Decision usually will not help you get into one of the highly selective "reach" schools on your list if you are not in the range of students who are typically admitted to that college (note that I said "usually" - sometimes this does work.) However, Early Decision may enhance your chances of getting into a school that is a great match for you (you have the GPA, scores, and strength of program similar to students who have been admitted in the past), but the college is so darn competitive in the Regular Decision process that all bets are off.

If you are confused, maybe this piece from The Daily Beast will help. I'm not sure how long the link will work, but the article, Top 20 Colleges Which Love Early Decision Applicants, breaks down the ED and RD acceptance rates at 20 schools. Thanks to the mom of one my seniors for sending this along!


http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2011/09/05/colleges-which-love-early-decision-applicants-photos.html

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