early decision programs

[AerobixChica]

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Hey everyone. So i was wondering if anyone could clarify this whole early decision thing. From my understanding, you are tied to that school until october. Does this mean you get an extremely late start, if you get rejected, to apply to other schools? or are you allowed to at least apply elsewhere but if you get accepted to your ED choice you must attend? And what kind of applicant benefits? To be specific, im really interested in Stonybrook. Im in state, and below average (3.65cgpa, 3.4sgpa..no mcat yet..good ecs). I was wondering if its in my best interest to apply EDP to show I really really want to go there, or just apply early so i dont lock myself out of other schools. Any advice is much appreciated!!

 

[funkydrmonkey]

Hey everyone. So i was wondering if anyone could clarify this whole early decision thing. From my understanding, you are tied to that school until october. Does this mean you get an extremely late start, if you get rejected, to apply to other schools? or are you allowed to at least apply elsewhere but if you get accepted to your ED choice you must attend? And what kind of applicant benefits? To be specific, im really interested in Stonybrook. Im in state, and below average (3.65cgpa, 3.4sgpa..no mcat yet..good ecs). I was wondering if its in my best interest to apply EDP to show I really really want to go there, or just apply early so i dont lock myself out of other schools. Any advice is much appreciated!!

Usually you need to be a superstellar applicant to apply EDP. And yes, if rejected it is a REALLY late start....

 

[scottyT]

Hey everyone. So i was wondering if anyone could clarify this whole early decision thing. From my understanding, you are tied to that school until october. Does this mean you get an extremely late start, if you get rejected, to apply to other schools? or are you allowed to at least apply elsewhere but if you get accepted to your ED choice you must attend? And what kind of applicant benefits? To be specific, im really interested in Stonybrook. Im in state, and below average (3.65cgpa, 3.4sgpa..no mcat yet..good ecs). I was wondering if its in my best interest to apply EDP to show I really really want to go there, or just apply early so i dont lock myself out of other schools. Any advice is much appreciated!!

To be honest, you're probably better off casting a wide net. But, for the part I bolded, why don't you just speak with the school directly and ask them if you are a good candidate for their EDP. I would advise doing this after you have an MCAT score though as the information they can give you will be limited without knowing your score.

Also, I've heard of schools bumping a good candidate into the normal admissions pool if the committee decides to not admit via EDP. So, you don't really limit yourself at the school in question ... just all the others if you have to do a late app.

 

[rama kandra]

You will have to withold all applications until you know from your ED school. I used to think this was the money, getting in early and saying bye to interviews/costs. However, this is NOT college admissions, its far more competitive and getting in early means you are usually an excellent candidate to begin with.

I got off the idea b/c you will have to submit your other apps in October which is late, but not terribly late. This is more a problem for rolling admissions schools which already started filling the seats. I'm from NY too and I think Stony Brook is the most competitive of the state schools to get into. I'd love to go to Downstate myself, and considered ED but the risk is far too great if I don't get in. I will be applying regular to every school and not putting all of it on the line.

Your stats are decent but I would not do ED to Stony Brook, maybe Upstate or Buffalo? Good luck, but ED is no cakewalk.

 

[AerobixChica]

thanks for all the info..i was afraid of that! I guess I could email the school, but it would be a huge risk to have to wait until october. I was originally planning to apply broadly to a ton of schools to play it safe so thats probably what Ill do. They really should let you apply elsewhere and just be forced to go to the EDP school if you get accepted!!! But oh well

 

[rama kandra]

yeah college admissions has Early Action which is basically able to let you apply to wherever youd like, but also to one place that gives you admissions that is non binding. I don't think that system would do well for medical schools, b/c adcoms would be swarmed with EA folks who applied broadly too. Way messier.

 

[AerobixChica]

yeh ur right...who wouldnt apply somewhere EA if you could

 

[NotAndrew]

If you apply as soon as possible to the regular decision then you can hear back as soon as October 15. With just applying as early as possible you can apply to as many schools as you want whereas you can only do one with the ED and you will be really late in the cycle if rejected.