<p>Does anyone know if there is a difference in the % of acceptances from the ED I and ED II pools?</p>
<p>I’m sure there is a difference, but the difference in acceptance rate would be a reflection of the applicants in each pool, not something that you could count on to boost or hurt your chances.</p>
<p>I think there’s a bit of misconception about early decision acceptance rates. Yes, Swarthmore likes the guaranteed yield of early decision. Yes, there may be a higher percentage of full-fare students in the ED pools. However, beyond all that, the early decision pools have many of Swarthmore’s best applicants. They have the stats (most Swarthmore applicants have stats). They also have Swarthmore as their first choice school, which usually means they’ve really connected, gotten to know the place, and will do a better than average job communicating their “Swatti-ness” on their applications. Of course, the acceptance rate will be high among this kind of pool.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to ascertain how much ED “helps” at all, much less differentiate between the two rounds. The tiny scale of Swarthmore’s numbers can skew things as well. That said: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/831548-historical-edi-edii-stats.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/831548-historical-edi-edii-stats.html</a></p>
<p>S applied ED and daughter applied EDII. I had to smile at this thread, because we did many of the same calculations to get a sense of his/her chances, but at the end of the day, Swarthmore takes who it feels will be a good fit. Swat chooses YOU, and it doesn’t much matter whether 291 or 2190 kids apply. The adcom picks through the application pile, however large it may be, to find unique individuals. So, as has been said many times here, show them who you are, esp through your ‘Why Swat’ essay.</p>