ED Schools for Fall 2020

As this year’s college application season approaches, students should keep their eye on colleges that offer the early decision option. There are plenty of colleges that are known to admit much of their incoming freshman class from the early decision application pool, but current events seem to indicate a greater early decision admit rate in colleges that share a certain characteristic: colleges with a historically high number of international students. 

Typically, colleges benefit from admitting more international students—in fact, often relying heavily on international students—because they tend to pay full tuition. However, because fewer international students are applying to U.S. colleges in the midst of the pandemic, schools face a projected loss in the number of its students paying full tuition. To make up for this decrease in tuition revenue, colleges will likely dip into the early decision application pool instead, meaning early applicants have a strong chance of seeing higher admit rates. If you need a quick reminder of the definition of early decision, check out our definition in “How to Make the ED Decision”. 

Higher ED admittance compensates for a decrease in international applicants and the ensuing loss in tuition revenue because many students admitted from the early application pool tend to pay full (or close to full) tuition. Of course, many early decision applicants still receive merit aid or need-based financial aid, but for colleges, early decision is generally a solid method to get more tuition revenue from the incoming class, especially considering many wealthier students tend to apply early.

So in which top colleges are we likely to see this rise in ED admit rate? Here are a few schools with large undergraduate international student populations (based on 2018-2019 academic year data) to consider:

• Carnegie Mellon University, with international students making up 22% of its student body;

• Boston University, with international students making up 21% of its student body;

• New York University, with international students making up 20% of its student body;

• Columbia University, with international students making up 16% of its student body;

• Claremont McKenna College, with international students making up 16% of its student body;

• Emory University, with international students making up 16% of its student body.

In other words, in these schools (and others with large international student populations) we anticipate that the number of international student applicants will fall as a result of the pandemic, and so colleges will look to the early decision pool to secure their freshmen class and bolster the amount of money coming in. Therefore, in colleges with a history of a large international student population, early decision admit rate will likely rise—keep this in mind as you consider your early decision options!