Autumn for the Fairfield Warde Mustangs brings the first day of school, lunch in the courtyard, and football games.
Mustang seniors however, are presented with Naviance, the Common App, ACT and SAT final scores, and wonder of what new school they’ll be attending next autumn.
An application process that has grown more common over the past several years is the Early Decision Application. An ED application comes with a mutual agreement between the college and the school that, if accepted, the student will attend that school.
“Among all colleges with early decision, their regular admit rate was 50.7 percent, but the rate for early decision was 62.3 percent,” according to Inside Higher Education, a leading digital media company serving the higher education space.
ED presents an advantage for students that are sure of what school they want to go to.
“I thought it was the most competitive college that I was applying to so it just gave me better chances,” said Senior Brooke Armas on her ED admission to Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. “Statistically the the acceptance rate went from 47% for regular decision to 80% for early decision.”
So what makes a Warde student so set on a college?
Many Warde students place a lot of value the environment and student life at their school, especially after coming from a school like Warde.
“Bucknell was my favorite school and I didn’t get the feeling I got there anywhere else,” said Maggie Burns, on her recent ED acceptance to Bucknell University. “I thought about Bucknell everyday from the day I applied to the day I got in. I checked my portal everyday just in case.”
Students also compare their schools to their others
“It was my top choice. Aesthetically and campus wise,” said Armas. “I definitely was between a couple schools but PC was the lead runner out of all of them.”
Students value the way that the Early Decision process gets responsibilities out of the way. After the early process, many seniors had several more schools to apply to. The ED process gives seniors to reflect on high school and truly enjoy their last few months at Warde.
“I’ve never felt happier in my entire life,” said Burns. “I think it was the most stress I’ve ever gone through and having that weight lifted off my shoulders just felt amazing.”