Answer 1

That depends on the school.

If you have on hand your GPA and, test scores, sign onto either Collegedata.com or, use Naviance. By looking up each college your are interested in on either site, you can see the % of students that were accepted ED over the years. The higher the %, the more likely that applying ED is a good thing but remember, there are many schools that will reflect a % that is equal to students applying regular decision so you really need to look up each school individually to be sure of whether or not ED status impacts your application and if so, by how much?

Keep in mind though that although the ED option is very tempting in order to have an answer before xmas if you got in or not you must, must, must be over the moon with the school. If you only apply just to have the process over, you are going to be accepted and expected to go there when maybe your heart is somewhere else so beware, be thoughtful, be reflective then - be aggressive and go for it!

Good Luck!

Answer 2

The ED application pool at all schools is going to be highly competitive, maybe more so than the regular app pool. Everyone is gong to have killer scores, outstanding activities, and very good grade point averages. You might have all of those as well, but be deferred to the regular pool. Having a history with the school helps ( interviews, campus tour , overnight stay, attended an Open House, the area rep knows you).Some schools take a large percentage of their incoming class from the ED pool which means there are fewer seats left in the class for those who deferred. Knowing the past history ( last 3 - 5 years ) of the school's ED pool is very important to you because you want to be able to match up ( at least SAT/ ACT, grade point average and rank) with those that were admitted and you. ED is a great tool for those students who are totally sold on one campus and have no doubt in their mind about the school. Using ED just to gain access to a competitive school may not be in the student's best long term interest. There is a big difference between a November senior and a May senior. A lot happens in those seven months that influence your thoughts about what school to attend fro the next four years.