<p>According to Colgate's website, decisions on ED II apps "are made within four weeks of completion of the application." Does this mean that if I apply under the ED II plan in mid-December, I will receive a decision by mid-January? Or does this policy not start until the deadline of Jan 15th?</p>
<p>Edit: In the FAQ portion of the site it states "Candidates may apply for Early Decision Option II by January 15 and will be considered on a rolling basis beginning January 1." Does this mean decisions will begin to be released Jan 1st, or that they won't begin to look at apps until then, meaning that the earliest date I am guaranteed a decision by is 4 weeks later?</p>
<p>That’s a lot of dates to make sense of! The main idea, though, is that the Admissions people will try to tell you within four weeks if you are admitted or waitlisted or not. The clock starts ticking from the time they get your application, so all the other dates are not that relevant, I think. </p>
<p>The January 1st date refers to when Colgate starts to look at early applicants in the Option II pool. It could take weeks to decide, of course. </p>
<p>Relax! It’s kind of fun applying to college, isn’t it? You’ll hear and let’s hope it’s good news!</p>
<p>ED students are generally somewhat better students who have already chosen Colgate (or another school) as their first choice while regular pool students are still “fishing” for the right college and will later turn down all but one of the colleges which accept them after they’ve decided in the spring of their Senior year. </p>
<p>ED students are generally more focused on a particular college which is one reason why colleges kind of like them a lot! ED students due to their focus and their typically better stats (than the regulars) are more likely to be admitted (naturally) so their admit rate is higher. This misleads people into thinking that just anyone has a better chance in the early pool of applicants. No, no, and no. The higher admit rate is due to better grades and scores and so forth, not due to applying early. </p>
<p>Generally, I think it’s better to apply widely and keep thinking about where you most want to go to college throughout your Senior year. Then after you’re admitted to a few schools, you can decide which one appeals most to you. Which school you were sure you’d love in September, you may no longer love in April. You grow up, you change, your views of colleges change, too. </p>
<p>This is not the popular approach lately, but I think the popular approach lately – which is applying early to one school – is totally nuts for most kids who don’t really know what they want in their junior or early Senior years. If they do know for sure where they want to go (and that seems unlikely for most students) then applying early to the one school makes sense. Often it works for technically minded students who want to go to a school like MIT or students with some other specific interest that matches a particular school. And, of course, there are the athletes who get recruited early by colleges. </p>
<p>How most students would know which school they are sure they want to attend without looking at a lot of colleges and knowing a lot about themselves (do you really know yourself?) is a bit of a mystery. </p>
<p>So, again, I think the regular application pool while you think it over for more months is the best route for most students. And you also end up with the fun of “turning down” a few colleges – which is a bit cool if you think about it!</p>