A Second Chance: Early Decision II
Early Decision (ED) notification dates are just around the corner, typically the middle of December. Students who are accepted in this round can take a sigh of relief that their anxiety-ridden days of the college application process are now over!
For students who did not apply in this ED round, or those who do not receive an ED acceptance letter, hope is not lost. Numerous colleges offer Early Decision II with a January application deadline and notification in February – almost two months prior to the regular decision notification of late March/early April. Just like ED I, ED II is binding: if a student is admitted, they must accept the spot.
A student may have numerous reasons for applying ED II. Here are just a few:
More time to improve SAT/ACT scores
More time to solidify college preferences and assess financial needs
Have an opportunity to submit strong grades earned during senior year (whereas ED I applicants are usually evaluated on the basis of their academic performance through junior year only)
Colleges usually accept a higher percentage of ED applicants than Regular Decision applicants. For example, Dartmouth has a 20 percent acceptance rate in the ED round vs a 5 percent acceptance rate in the Regular Decision (RD) round. Likewise, Brown has a 14 percent acceptance rate in the ED round vs a 3 percent acceptance rate in the RD round. These acceptance rates are seen across the board at the Ivies and other top colleges.
So now that you have an idea of why students might opt into a school’s ED II track, what’s the advantage for colleges to offer ED? Because ED is binding, colleges know that students they accept will attend — increasing their “yield” (the percentage of admitted students who attend) — an important indicator of a college’s desirability and one that can have a significant influence on a college’s ranking. Effectively, ED II (like ED I) offers colleges a second chance to grab guaranteed enrollees. Even though ED II isn’t as powerful a booster for your chances as ED I, it’s a strategy we’d still consider with our students.
If your top-choice college offers ED II, it’s definitely worth considering applying early. As always, you should check to see if your top-choice colleges offer an ED II option, as not all schools do.
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