Early Decision

[Mandy22]

I am thinking about applying early decision for admission for 2009. Here is my question:

When you apply for college early decision, it gives you a better shot of getting into a certain school if your scores are a little weaker than the normal applicant to that school. Is this the same concept as applying ED to med school? What are the benefits? Thanks.

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[deuce924]

I am applying early decision to a school right now. The benefits of the program are that you save a lot of time and money if you get in. The cons are applying late to other schools if you don't get in. The best thing to do is maximize your chances of getting into that school. Different schools have different criteria on what makes you competitive for early decision. My advice is to talk to the Admissions Committee at the school and see what they think about you applying. Give them a run down of your stats and why you want to go to that school and they should have some insight on what you should do. Good Luck.

 

[drizzt3117]

I am thinking about applying early decision for admission for 2009. Here is my question:

When you apply for college early decision, it gives you a better shot of getting into a certain school if your scores are a little weaker than the normal applicant to that school. Is this the same concept as applying ED to med school? What are the benefits? Thanks.

Talking to adcoms is a good idea because they'll usually be pretty straightforward about the chances of applying ED at their school. Generally though, I would say as a weaker applicant, you should be applying broadly and shouldn't even consider EDP as an option unless you were only applying to one school for financial reasons. Many EDP candidates are candidates that would get in anyways in regular decision but want to know early to alleviate pressure. The cons of ED are obviously being way behind the curve timewise if you don't get in.

 

[Concordia]

Definitely talk to the admissions office.
From what I know, EDP is more competitive as far as the applicants are concerned. So if you don't consider yourself to be a strong applicant (or if the admissions office hints that you are not a strong enough applicant) don't do EDP. If you are competitive though, go for it--it saves you time and money. Plus, you know well ahead of time if you will have to sit out a year.

Word of warning though, it may depend of the school, but I felt really rushed during the entire process and many times berated myself for applying early. Don't procrastinate the AMCAS process. Be prepared that you will have very little time to do your secondaries (I had only 2 weeks) so line up your LOR writers as soon as you can and ask them to start writing early (especially b/c some people can take forever). And if there is anything that you feel is still missing from your application (research, volunteering, shadowing), do it now.

Good luck

 

[TheRealMD]

Unlike in normal admissions, the admissions office will give you your chances if you go EDP.

That being said, EDP is usually for stronger, not weaker applicants that have a good desire to go to one school. Because they usually set a cap for how many people they will admit EDP (maybe 5-10% tops), you are competing for very few spots.

They say that an EDP applicant usually would have been accepted during normal admissions anyway (thus why weaker applicants shouldn't try EDP just because they are weaker and want to get it over with/save cash).