What the prom can teach you about Early Decision
Imagine the following scenario:
The prom is coming up… and there’s a girl you really want to ask. But you also don’t want to be completely humiliated if she says no.
So you do some recon.
You have one of your friends reach out to her to see if she’ll say yes to you. Once she tells your friend that she’ll definitely say yes, the risk of personal embarrassment is removed. Why? Because YOU ALREADY KNOW she’s going to yes before you even ask her.
In other words, she’s basically said yes to you ahead of time.
You’re confident that she wants to go to prom with you, so this makes you WAY more likely to ask her.
This, friends, is the concept at the core of Early Decision.
You’re not the only one worried about public humiliation. Colleges are afraid of this too. They don’t want to get turned down by the students they have offered admission to. Early Decision allows them to know AHEAD OF TIME if a student is going to say yes to them.
When the college knows you will 100% say yes, they are much, much more likely to ask you to dance. Um, I mean, admit you to their school.
But don’t just take my word for it. The data show that ED rates are significantly higher than Regular Decision rates.
(Or if you want to fully nerd out, delve into the Common Data Set for any given school.)
Colleges are concerned with something called yield, which means the percentage of students who accept their admissions offers. When they offer students admission under non-binding plans like Early Action, Regular Decision or Rolling, they have no idea if those students will say yes to them or not. They might offer 100 Regular Decision students a spot in the class but only have one accept. That’s incredibly low yield, and it’s an admissions office’s nightmare.
This is why colleges love Early Decision: they know they will get 100% yield.
Not every person has a friend who’s willing to do pre-prom recon for them, and not every college has Early Decision. Generally, ED is offered at schools that are more selective (and therefore more concerned about protecting yield). But if a school you are applying to DOES have Early Decision, you need to seriously consider it. If you don’t, you’re implying that there are a few other people you’re considering going to the prom with.
So, is Early Decision right for you? Check out this post to better understand the restrictions and obligations involved.
And maybe, put on your dancing shoes.
