What exactly is the Early Decision Program? Does it give any advantage?

[wannagotoFlorida!!]

Im wondering what the point of the Early Decision Program is. I go to school in TX, and would love to apply to Baylor as ED, but is that a smart choice? How does the EDP work, and what happens if you dont get in? Im assuming you can't apply to other schools, but thats really scary to only rely on one highly ranked school?

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[lumya]

Early Decision allows you to apply to one school and they will essentially review your app first and give you a response first. The benefits to this are that since you can't really apply anywhere else, if you get in, you only paid the cost for that one school.

The downside is that EDP only allows you to apply to one school and while you are allowed to apply to more if you are rejected, you are then sending your app in October, behind the initial wave of applicants. Because of this, most EDP programs will suggest that you meet with an admissions counselor before applying to determine your competitiveness.

EDP is very high risk and high reward. If you have a school you are absolutely in love with and are competitive for and you are comfortable with taking that risk of not getting in the first year (i.e. you plan on scribing or working research and don't mind having to reapply later), it might be an option to consider. However, you should meet with an admissions counselor at the school to gauge whether they think you have a fair shot or if it's a pipe dream.

 

[wannagotoFlorida!!]

Early Decision allows you to apply to one school and they will essentially review your app first and give you a response first. The benefits to this are that since you can't really apply anywhere else, if you get in, you only paid the cost for that one school.

The downside is that EDP only allows you to apply to one school and while you are allowed to apply to more if you are rejected, you are then sending your app in October, behind the initial wave of applicants. Because of this, most EDP programs will suggest that you meet with an admissions counselor before applying to determine your competitiveness.

EDP is very high risk and high reward. If you have a school you are absolutely in love with and are competitive for and you are comfortable with taking that risk of not getting in the first year (i.e. you plan on scribing or working research and don't mind having to reapply later), it might be an option to consider. However, you should meet with an admissions counselor at the school to gauge whether they think you have a fair shot or if it's a pipe dream.

Gotcha, i did not know that you could actually meet with school admission counselors to see if you have a shot. Would they actually help you do this? Wouldn't that be considered them looking at your application and kind of telling you if you might get in or not? If that makes sense?

 

[lumya]

Gotcha, i did not know that you could actually meet with school admission counselors to see if you have a shot. Would they actually help you do this? Wouldn't that be considered them looking at your application and kind of telling you if you might get in or not? If that makes sense?

So I only have personal experience with the admissions counselor I met with for a school I was considering doing EDP for (chose not to in the end). I met with him a couple months before the application cycle opened and he asked about my GPA, MCAT scores, and for a resume/list of extracurriculars and based off that he made suggestions based on what they usually look for.

The admissions counselor isn't unofficially giving you a yes/no answer on whether or not you'll be accepted - you would still have to interview and go through the whole process and there are a lot of factors that come into play. However, the admissions counselor can tell you things like: your GPA/MCAT is too low, you don't have enough non-clinical volunteering hours, they typically accept students w/ 100 hours more research, you need to get 50 more hours of primary shadowing to be competitive, ect. This way, you are making an informed decision when you apply EDP. If you know they typically don't accept anyone with your stats or extracurriculars, it's probably not a good decision to apply EDP.

It might be wise for you to set up a meeting now depending how many years out from applying you are in case there are areas of improvement that they can suggest.

 

[wannagotoFlorida!!]

So I only have personal experience with the admissions counselor I met with for a school I was considering doing EDP for (chose not to in the end). I met with him a couple months before the application cycle opened and he asked about my GPA, MCAT scores, and for a resume/list of extracurriculars and based off that he made suggestions based on what they usually look for.

The admissions counselor isn't unofficially giving you a yes/no answer on whether or not you'll be accepted - you would still have to interview and go through the whole process and there are a lot of factors that come into play. However, the admissions counselor can tell you things like: your GPA/MCAT is too low, you don't have enough non-clinical volunteering hours, they typically accept students w/ 100 hours more research, you need to get 50 more hours of primary shadowing to be competitive, ect. This way, you are making an informed decision when you apply EDP. If you know they typically don't accept anyone with your stats or extracurriculars, it's probably not a good decision to apply EDP.

It might be wise for you to set up a meeting now depending how many years out from applying you are in case there are areas of improvement that they can suggest.

Got it, thank you very much for the detailed reply. I really appreciate it!