Choosing ED1 or ED2

Colleges and Universities A-Z George Washington University
1

GW is my son’s first choice. He struggled a bit his freshmen year due to his dad being injured on a deployment but has rebounded very well.

Stats:
3.5 UW
3.7 W
28 ACT
-Has volunteered at VA, with JROTC, and at school, has 200+ hours
-Member of 4 clubs- one of which is a mentorship club where he helps 2 at risk freshmen; NHS; School Pep Club; Academic Bowl
-Brought back Debate/Forensic team- is President
-Boys State this past summer
-Student of the Month twice for HS out of 1700 kids
-Rotary Club Student of Month
-has taken/will have taken 3 AP, 6 dual enrollment, and 9 Honors classes by graduation

  • Squad Leader for JROTC (2years)
    -won award at regional summer program ROTC
  • Drill Team
    -Research assistant for humanities professor at UNC CH.
  • Excellent letters of rec from teacher and counselor
  • His Common App essay is fantastic
  • he is Native American (father is registered tribal member, he won’t be able to register until 18 per tribal policy)

When I say everyone loves him, it isn’t hyperbole. I am a school employee and kids/teachers/ other staff members tell me constantly how awesome he is. He really is. I got lucky to be his parent.

So alllllll that (sorry!) to ask this:
We will probably go test optional. His GPA is still iffy. But this is his first choice and he wants this more than I want to win the lottery and retire.

-If we do ED1, then these are his stats.
-If he waits for ED2, his GPA should go up significantly as he has 2 AP, 1 DE, and 3 Honors classes this year.

Is it worth the ED1 risk? Would that show the school how serious he is about getting in? Should we wait for ED2?

And what happens if he is denied ED1? Can he turn around and reapply for ED2?

(Asking because trying to figure out how to use ED best for him. He is also looking at American)

Full COA will be met by us.

2

I forgot- he has 2 years club lacrosse and will be playing varsity at the high school this year

3

Hi there! I work for admissions and applying ED1 vs. ED2 shouldn’t affect your son’s chances of getting in. We have the choice to give people more time to figure out their options and decide if their finances can handle committing immediately - students who apply ED1 aren’t considered more interested in attending GW than ED2. If you think waiting will help your son’s statistics then you should do ED2 and not worry about how it might look in comparison to going ED1. They really are considered equally! If he gets denied ED1, I’m not sure if he can reapply for ED2 (an easy question to get answered by contacting admissions), but he can 100% be considered again for RD. Based on what you’ve written about him, it seems like he would fit at GW very well - like many other schools we’re moving away from statistic-heavy consideration to more “holistic” and all-encompassing application evaluation.

4

Will his GPA actually change? Our high school doesn’t adjust GPA until the end of the year.

5

We recalculate at semester. Poor kid is in a funky situation as I am a counselor at his high school and am actually assigned to be his counselor. But luckily he is close to one of my colleagues who completes his application pieces for him.

6

In my opinion, I think his chances are pretty good. While his GPA and scores are in the lower 25%, his EC’s are quite good. If his interest in GW is as strong as you say and he’s able to convey that in his essay, that will help even more. I think the factors that will help him most, though, are his minority status and the fact that he won’t be requiring financial aid.