<p>So I have a bit of a complicated situation. I'm a recruited athlete, and I was planning on applying ED1 for a while. The coach I've been in contact with was pushing me to apply ED1 back in November.</p>
<p>Basically some complications arose regarding the recruitment process, and I ended up applying ED somewhere else. I was deferred at that school, and now I want to apply ED2 to Bowdoin.</p>
<p>The problem is that the coach advises RD over ED2 in the interest of maximizing my chances, which I find very strange. </p>
<p>He says it's a tougher applicant pool, and that admissions doesn't care whether or not Bowdoin is your first choice. </p>
<p>If this were true, why would they even have the option for ED?</p>
<p>I know that if I'm accepted to Bowdoin, I'll definitely attend, and I want them to know that. What do I do?</p>
<ol>
<li>Because almost every other peer college has it.</li>
<li>Because it increases their yield.</li>
<li>Because many applicants want it. </li>
</ol>
<p>Many HS students look at the ED admit rates and assume their chances will be much higher under that option. What they fail to consider is that they aren’t comparing apples to apples. The ED pool may have a higher percentage of legacy applicants (whose stats actually tend to be higher than average) and recruited athletes. It will have more applicants who do not need aid; applicants from wealthier families may tend to have stronger stats and ECs, and come from more competitive high schools. So it’s hard to say how much ED, per se, is really boosting their chances. </p>
<p>I’d assume the coach knows things you don’t.</p>
<p>I can think of two possible explanations as to what’s going on here:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The coach could be playing it straight with you. ED2 is basically for applicants on the rebound from rejections or deferrals from the ED1/EA round. It’s entirely possible that a school like Bowdoin—a very good, very selective LAC–could be the second choice of a lot of very strong candidates who didn’t get into places like Yale or Brown in ED1/EA, and are now reasy to pledge their undying devotion to Bowdoin in ED2. If there are a lot of people in that situation, it could well be the case that Bowdoin’s ED2 applicant pool is stronger than both its ED1 pool and its RD pool.</p></li>
<li><p>On the other hand, the coach could be jerking you around a bit. I don’t know what the “complications” were in connection with the recruiting process, but if the coach was pushing you to apply to Bowdoin ED1 and you ended up applying someplace else ED1, he could be a bit miffed at you. More importantly, he could have gone out and found his second-choice recruit for that slot and is encouraging that recruit to apply ED2. He doesn’t want to tell you to just go away, in case recruit #2 falls through. But he doesn’t want to put you in competition with recruit #2 in ED2, because the admissions office will give him (at best) one slot between the two of you. Speculation, of course. But a possibility.</p></li>
</ol>