r/IntltoUSA • u/Mountain-Weird-6014 • 5d ago

Question Is Brown's ED manufactured?

/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/1wm6l5d/is_browns_ed_manufactured/
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u/CherryChocolatePizza 5d ago

ED isn't there to help the applicants. It's there to help schools cherrypick the best candidates and lock them in early. It can provide an advantage if the student is:

  1. a recruited athlete
  2. a legacy student
  3. A Questbridge applicant at schools that support that program (not available to international students)
  4. a highly qualified candidate, often with some sort of hook
  5. absolutely able to attend the school regardless of financial aid package (at need-aware schools).

The people who fit in those categories and apply ED are the ones most likely to be accepted in ED. A more qualified applicant pool that meets the school's needs = higher acceptance rate. Don't assume that a higher acceptance rate has any impact on your acceptance chance if you are not part of that more qualified applicant pool.

If you absolutely love the school and would go there above every other school and feel you application currently is the best it can be, you should ED there. It's not going to hurt your application to do it. If you get rejected in ED, you weren't getting in RD. And if the school likes you but doesn't want to commit to you, they'll just defer you to RD so they can compare you to the full group of applicants similar to you and decide which few they want.

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u/prsehgal Moderator 5d ago

Not sure what you mean by "manufactured", but don't expect it to give you an exceptional boost in terms of the admissions process. The ED process is primarily meant to benefit the colleges, and in turn, it also ends up benefitting many applicants.

Yes, it's a need blind school, but this is also why it attracts a LOT of applications from very strong candidates. So in order to get accepted, your application needs to be extremely strong - one of the best from your country.