I’ve been having a really difficult time deciding whether to switch my app to EDII instead of RD for Pomona. I initially applied to Brown ED and was deffered, and I only started doing heavy research on Pomona after I had already submitted my ED app to Brown. I would still love to attend Brown, but I feel like I would regret not applying EDII if I get rejected from Pomona when RD results come out.
What I want out of a school:
small class sizes/easy access to professors
collaborative student atmosphere
students who like going out/to town from time to time
good internship opportunities
good alumni network for jobs out of college
a sense of community
good English and environmental science programs (for me, Pomona’s interdisciplinary environmental analysis major beats environmental studies at Brown)
research opportunities
a decent amount of parties (lol I’ll need a break from the mountains of work I’ll get)
physically active student body (just so I can exercise with friends)
I also had an on campus interview at Pomona that went really well.
Would switching my app from RD to EDII for Pomona increase my chances to the point where my results from Pomona in the RD round would be different from the EDII round? I don’t even know if I can still switch my app from RD to EDII anyway, but I’d appreciate some input!!
Pomona’s EDII acceptance rate is like 14% so there’s really not much of a boost at all. I’d recommend just sticking in with RD. If you were to get in EDII you’d most likely get in RD too.
@preppedparent I also sent a quick email to admissions asking if it was even a possibility to change my app from RD to EDII. If they can’t switch it then I guess I’ll have my answer.
That was the right thing to do. ^^^Hope they let you. Let us all know. I’d be interested in the answer. Brown and Pomona are like communities. Can’t go wrong at Pomona. For women, the admit rate is lower than for men. So when nostalgicwisdom says EDII not much of a bump, not sure that’s true.
@preppedparent Pomona already got back to me (!) and said that I could still switch my app to EDII but it would have to be within the next day or two since they’re starting committee review very soon.
Would you have any regrets about not being able to choose Brown if you were accepted to Pomona? If yes, then don’t do ED. Have you ever visited Pomona? Did you see yourself being a student there?
Based on your list of priorities, I’d say Pomona is a better fit for you overall than Brown. It’s a richer school per capita, and the average student has access to more research and internship funding than at Brown (I just looked it up at both schools and compared). We’re known for our distinguished environmental analysis program, and our graduates do exceptionally well. Pomona also sends more grads per capita to English graduate programs (it’s ranked #7th out of all colleges and universities) than Brown. Classes are smaller at Pomona (0% over 50 students compared to 11% at Brown), and I can’t think of a school more collaborative. But you should think about the location, the general Ivy prestige, Brown’s arts/music/humanities emphasis vs. Pomona’s math/tech/stem emphasis, and the Claremont Colleges vs. a mid-sized university.
Both are truly fantastic colleges, and if you believe that you’d have a comparable experience at either, I don’t think you’d have any regrets applying to Pomona EDII. But only you can decide your own priorities.
If you don’t switch and you don’t get accepted RD to Pomona you’ll always be wondering "what if I had ".
If you do switch and get into both Pomona and Brown and have to drop Brown, there’s no loss since Pomona is excellent and you’re happy about going there.
Seems there’s potentially more to gain than to lose from doing it.
Just want to point out that OP sent his email inquiry on a Sunday afternoon or evening and heard back from Pomona admissions in a couple of hours. That sort of responsiveness is very typical of Pomona and continues as a student. My sophomore D emailed several Pomona professors during Winter Break and heard back from all of them within a few hours, and in one case within 10 minutes.
Hi, I applied to Brown ED as well (and got deferred) and I’m having similar thoughts as you (I’m not acting on them however) but for example, I wish I had done Tufts ED 2, but for me, a lot of those thoughts came just because I got deferred and had to start applying to other schools… like my love for Tufts skyrocketed after I sort of thought Brown wasn’t an option anymore… I don’t know what I’d do if I were you. If you really think there’s nothing wrong with Pomona and that Brown and Pomona had nothing extremely different, then go ahead. Good luck!
@Corinthian yeah, Pomona’s quick responses from all its faculty makes it feel like they really care about their applicants and students. Once my rep emailed me back three minutes after I emailed him!!
Treat a deferral as a rejection. Your odds are really slim now. If you clearly prefer another school among your remaining choices and don’t need to compare FA offers, ED II makes sense.
@ap012199 that’s good news! Agree that deferral from Brown not worth holding out for–I’d go for Pomona. Seems like your chances are better here to get into one of the two top schools that you love!