College applications are increasingly competitive, causing a great deal of stress to parents and students alike. This in turn leads to lots of questions about college applications strategy, and whether or not it’s worth applying to these schools at all, especially as acceptance rates plunge below 5%. We’re going to investigate this in this article, to determine when it is and isn’t worth it to apply to these schools, and how to maximize your chances of getting into a top college. We’ll look at Early Decision, Regular Decision, and mitigating circumstances to consider when creating your application strategy. Let’s jump right in.
Early Decision Strategy: Managing Risk
We’ve discussed Early Decision (ED) applications before; they’re one of the best ways to improve your chances of acceptance at the most competitive schools, providing a boost of two or even three times to your chances of admission. Of course, how impactful this really is depends on the school in question; at Yale, for example, early applicants had an acceptance rate of just 9.02%. While this is better than the regular acceptance rate of 2.75%, this is still not what anyone would describe as good odds.
In cases like this, where even the ED acceptance rate is at or below 10%, it’s often better to find a safer option to apply to early. ED applications are often viewed as a silver bullet of sorts; you only get one, so you have to make it count. It’s therefore better not to spend it on such a longshot, but instead on a still difficult but more feasible aim.
There are plenty of great schools that have more reasonable ED acceptance rates; these are often in the second tier of schools; not quite Ivy League or Ivy+, but more Ivy adjacent. NYU instead of Columbia; Vanderbilt instead of Duke; USC instead of Stanford. These are all good schools, nationally known and recognized, but are not yet so competitive as to make the odds disfavorable.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply to these ultra competitive schools at all; instead, you should measure the risk when you do so. Applying using the non-binding early action instead of the one-shot early decision for example. Or perhaps applying in the regular round, which we discuss later.
This advice assumes that your primary goal is to get into a top rated college, and want to maximize your chances of doing so. In these cases, it is safest to apply to a school with a higher acceptance rate ED, rather than risking your one silver bullet on such a risky prospect.
Managing Risk for Regular Decision
Of course, admissions only gets more competitive for the regular decision round, as this is when the vast majority of students apply. Here, however, risk can be spread out more evenly, and it is thus “safer” to apply to riskier schools. Indeed, applying to several reach schools in this round is standard practice for all students, not just those aiming for the most competitive institutions.
The key to managing risk in this round of admissions is building a balanced college list. We’ve discussed how to do this before, but here’s some quick tips in light of the colleges which can be considered ultra-high risk:
- Limit the number of schools with an acceptance rate below 5% to one or two one your list
- Look for other top schools which meet your criteria but which have slightly more reasonable acceptance odds
- Make sure to have a number of target schools on your list; only the most aggressive application strategies should have a list of all reach schools
- Have at least one safety, regardless of what else goes on your list
In addition, you can consider applying to a school using the Early Decision II (EDII) application. Much like ED, you can only apply to a single school EDII. You apply at the same time as regular decision applicants, but hear back sooner, and are bound to attend if admitted. There is significantly less of an admissions boost from applying EDII, but it is still better odds than applying regular decision.
As with ED, we recommend using your EDII application on a school which is merely a reach, rather than one of these ultra-high risk schools. There are other considerations of course, notably cost, but for the safest strategy, we advise avoiding schools with a sub 5% acceptance rate for EDII, especially if your #1 goal is getting into any top rated college, rather than a specific one.
Caveats: When Risk is Worth It
We have thus far focused on a general, unspecified case. A student who wants to attend a top college, but isn’t especially particular about where, and who has no other factors to shift their odds. We’re now going to discuss the cases where other factors can and should color this conversation, and how these can impact your application strategy.
Number One Choices
In some cases, a school is your number one choice, and no other will do. For some students, a school like Harvard or Yale is all they want, and they are more than content with the local state school otherwise. While we do not encourage this approach, we understand it. We warn of the risks associated, but if no other school will do, then using your one silver bullet Early Decision application on your sole top choice is worth it.
Still however, we often advise these students to build a more balanced list for the regular decision round, and to look into colleges they have not considered. We often see students fall in love with a college they had never heard of or considered previously, and be well served by it when they enroll.
Legacy Students
If you are a legacy student, that is your parents attended a specific institution, then you have significantly higher odds of acceptance than other applicants. This is not a guaranteed thing, but the acceptance rate for legacy students is usually over 20%, even at the most selective schools. You can read more about how and why legacy applications work in this article, but know that if you are a legacy at one of these hypercompetitive schools, it can still be worth you applying Early Decision.
Recruited Athletes
Getting recruited as an athlete is rare and difficult, and most high school athletes don’t make the cut. Those that do, however, receive a significant boost in their chances of admission to top schools. Many of these schools ask that athletes apply in the early round, to get everything sewn up quickly, so they can begin planning for the future. If you have been recruited as an athlete by a DI school, and have a pledge from a coach, you should apply to that school early. While admissions still isn’t guaranteed at the most competitive schools, your chances there are far higher than those seen by standard applicants.
A Note on Questbridge
We want to conclude with a brief note on Questbridge, as they have a slightly different method for handling early applications, and different associated risks. As we have discussed before, Questbridge is an application specifically for economically disadvantaged students, which combines a college application with a major scholarship, and is an opportunity qualifying students should definitely consider taking advantage of.
Questbridge offers its own version of Early Decision, to simplify how it works, students select up to twelve colleges, and rank them in order of preference. They apply to all of these colleges in the early round. If any of these colleges admits them, they are committed to attend. If multiple of these colleges admit them, they are committed to attend whichever of the schools they ranked highest.
This is incredible, and students eligible for Questbridge ought to take full advantage of it. The biggest limitation of ED is that it limits you to a single school. This is not the case in Questbridge’s system, thereby allowing you to more evenly distribute the risk when applying to these schools.
In addition, many colleges actively seek out applicants from Questbridge, as top colleges frequently pledge to admit certain proportions of low income students; exactly what Questbridge offers them. Questbridge does not offer official admissions statistics, nor do colleges break down admissions from the platform. That said, Questbridge applicants often have an edge when it comes to admissions, and this method of handling early applications only enhances it. If you have further questions about Questbridge, or applying to it, we encourage you to look into our Laurel Scholars program, which seeks to help economically disadvantaged students for free.
Final Thoughts
College applications are all about risk now, as rates drop ever lower and competition becomes ever greater. The pressure this creates on high school students is a terrible thing to see, and there’s no wonder; after all college matters greatly for the future, and a great college is the first step for the rest of your life. We hope that this article has fully explained how to navigate these newly extreme risks, and how to manage your college applications in spite of them.
We have a long experience of navigating these risks, and at helping students see how the specific strengths of their candidacy can help their college applications. Our mentors work with students to craft college lists tailored to their needs and desires, and help them manage the stress and risk which is inherent to the process. There will always be some stress and worry during college applications, but we know the steps to take to make it manageable for our students. Schedule a free consultation today to learn how we can help you navigate the admissions process.
