@4junior I don’t know how many ED1 applicants were admitted as Jans. I had a chat with my son’s college counselor who spoke to an admissions rep at Hamilton and she mentioned that Hamilton “loved” my son, but his ACT score gave them pause. I"m assuming that that is why he was admitted as a Jan. His acceptance letter stated that Hamilton understands that a January admit is not for everyone, so they were releasing him from the binding ED commitment. He has until May 1st to let Hamilton know if he’s coming or not. Question, you said your D applied ED1 to Midd with a Feb. option. Does that mean that Midd allows you to choose a Feb. start date? It was also stated somewhere, maybe his acceptance letter, that some first year students actually choose to start in January at Hamilton. Perhaps some students view a Jan start date as the opportunity to have a mini gap semester. But it is nontraditional for the most part and certainly not for everyone. Best wishes to your D!
@4junior, Hamilton, Middlebury and many, many other highly selective colleges are doing the same with regards to Jan admissions. Once you get to RD, many highly selective colleges are now telling acceptances that it is contingent upon taking a gap year, so apply for the Class of 2022 and matriculate in 2023.
While ED has an advantage for all applicants, the ED chip is largely a misnomer at most schools as its dominated by hooked applicants - that said it sounds like it helped @123France gain admission to a great school, so all good!
None of the Jan admittances at Hamilton feel any different once they join the rest on campus after a Fall semester in London.
Middlebury gives one the option to state that both are acceptable after being waitlisted, not certain about the initial submission.
@123France The system at Midd is very different for ED applicants, on the app you check one of 3 boxes: Sept only, Sept or Feb, Feb only. They get many who apply Feb only because they really want to take some time off but not a full year, for some it is a very appealing choice. Midd does not give an option like Ham’s Jan program, you are totally on your own. No courses taken elsewhere count for credit so you take 4 semesters at Midd. All Febs start in Feb and graduate together in Feb in a big ceremony.
D’s CC said applying to Midd as Feb or Sept would open up more slots and ‘fit her profile’. Just simple number of spaces - not that it is a lesser acceptance (although Midd was a reach for her). She did, and then really regretted it. While she was sad to not be admitted to her ED1 choice she was happy to not have to honor a commitment she regretted making. That said it is great for many kids and by and large all the Febs we have spoken to (a lot) really feel that being a Feb was great. Some say the first semester was really hard but then once they got to campus and they loved the school they were happy they did it. There are a lot of testimonials and resources on the Midd site.
Its interesting that the school reached out to your CC and discussed scores, perhaps at that juncture CC opened that door as he knew it might nudge the admit. If your son loves the school and is open to that experience then it might be a perfect thing for him. Since he would be with other Ham students he would really be beginning his college experience, just in a different locale. Best of luck!
Meant “matriculate in Fall 2019” as part of the Class of 2023…
@Chembiodad I believe there is a BIG difference between how it is handled at Midd and at Hamilton. ED kids should be able to opt in - I know of no other school that offers a delayed or off campus start to ED applicants without the applicant saying they are open to it PRIOR to submitting their ED app. We can agree to disagree on that if you like, my opinion on this is not flexible.
While I hear you re the ED advantage being largely for hooked applicants that is less true for ED2. ED2 is simply a way of saying I love you and Vassar is a school that really cares about that - esp since the matriculation rate from our school is a small percentage of admitted students. On another thread here someone said that the basis of the interview process at Vassar is to raise ‘red flags’ and gauge applicants interest and report on whether you think that they will attend of offered a spot. I truly believe in this case an ED2 app would have been a boost, and her counselor said that in person and in writing.
Waitlist can be even worse.
Our DD’s, who were both WL’d at Middlebury as well as several other similar schools, were given the option in July to stay on the “Summer Melt WL” at Middlebury or matriculate, as planned, to Hamilton in mid-August. They were already working on class scheduling at Hamilton, so we all agreed that it was best to move on…
@4junior that’s interesting about Midd. My son would want to graduate in May, 2022, so he would definitely do the program in London since the credits will transfer. He’ll also be with most of the other Jan students. He’s thinking about majoring in econ and comp sci. @Chembiodad , my son was not a hooked applicant but his CC highly suggested applying ED1 to give him a better chance, primarily due to his ACT score. His GPA, on the other hand, puts him in the top 10% of his class. Big disconnect between the two. He also showed a great deal of demonstrated interest in Hamilton. He went up for Junior Preview Day, had a very nice interview and sat in on an economics class. I’m glad he’s my youngest! It’s almost over!
@4junior, understand that this is personal, but this is not an unusual practice - it is hardly different than applying ED and being Deferred to RD. ED2 is also full of student-athletes as all don’t get through the gate in ED - that’s the difference in having a tip vs a slot.
As @123France noted, son had scores that gave them pause but they saw something they liked and now he has until May to decide, so that’s not a bad outcome as all of these highly ranked schools have way more highly qualified applicants than they can admit.
@123France, son sounds like a great fit for Hamilton - all of the current Jans are on campus and a week in our DD have said everyone has blended right in!
@Chembiodad I never heard of a summer melt WL. I know summer melt happens, but schools actually maintain a summer melt WL? I would think that that would be nerve wracking for a student! Sounds like your DD’s made the choice that was appropriate for both of them. According to your posts, they’re both very happy at Hamilton.
@4junior my son’s CC reached out to the admissions rep at Hamilton after ED1 decisions were sent out. That is when she found out that they weren’t thrilled with his ACT score. We kind of knew that they wouldn’t be thrilled with it going in, though.
Regarding the ethics of the policy, the alternative to a January offer to some ED applicants would seem to be a denial (or perhaps a deferral to RD). In the sense that choice would seem to be better than no-choice, Hamilton’s practice seems to be one that can greatly help some applicants (those for whom Hamilton is a true first-choice school) while not materially hurting others (who can elect to treat the January offer as a denial, should they so choose).
U of Chicago, and many other schools, gap year option for WL’d applicants - its called the “Z List” http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1979549-uchicago-wait-list-gap-year-option.html#latest
@Chembiodad I think much of my anger is that I had no idea that this was a possibility and while D is still in school I cannot imagine that she did (and is in midterms so I will not bring it up).
Angry that D’s counselor did not make clear that possibility, but I understand thats a private matter not involving these boards.
Angry that Hamilton buries the link to January Admission in 12 point greyed out text in a sidebar on a desktop. On a mobile (the primary method people in their teens use to access information) its not even visible unless you open a generic dropdown named ‘navigation’ that probably has a less than 5% click rate. I design websites for a living and I know how much control there is to surface and bury information and how much knowledge there is about the predictability of UI paths. They are not making that information easy to find.
It was not discussed in D’s interview OR tour OR info session (unlike Midd which was extremely upfront about it every channel: tours, info sessions and on the website.)
For a school that bases the two pillars of its brand promise on communication skills and kindness I am seeing neither in the way they deal with this topic.
And regarding the statement (sorry I don’t know how to make those grey quote boxes)
“it is hardly different than applying ED and being Deferred to RD”
You can’t have your cake and eat it to. That strongly implies that Jan is a lesser admit.
While I agree that
“all of these highly ranked schools have way more highly qualified applicants than they can admit.”
many of these students (as you know from personal experience) have more acceptances than colleges they can attend. Hamilton has a relatively low yield and I am sure they are losing some highly qualified candidates over they way they handle this. It would be so very easy to fix it by having it be an opt in system like Midd. They could fill their slots and boost their ED app numbers. Kids could ED with passion and the confidence that they would not be offered the crazy irony of a spot but not one they want during an ED cycle.
Yes, they are really happy!
Sounds like your son will be as well if he chooses to attend Hamilton - the Freshman students on campus get tortured by Hamilton College tweets of Jans having fun in London!
The “Summer Melt WL” was a second WL Middlebury offered in mid-June or early July to a reduced number of applicants.
Regarding the actual figure, as far as I can tell, Jan admits comprise ~8% of first-year students.
@4junior, I think you are misreading these two schools as both Vassar and Hamilton have the same academic profiles, the same admission rate of 24% and the same yield rate of 34/35% - neither of these are low as compared to other similarly ranked LAC’s.
Vassar - 23.8% Acceptance Rate and 34% Yield Rate - https://admissions.vassar.edu/about/statistics/
Hamilton - 24.2% Acceptance Rate and 35% Yield Rate - https://www.hamilton.edu/about/just-the-facts, https://www.hamilton.edu/admission/apply/standardized-testing-distribution-of-scores
Middlebury has a slightly lower Acceptance Rate of 20% and a slightly higher Yield Rate of 40%, but academic profiles are the same for all - http://www.middlebury.edu/admissions/start/profile
Middlebury has been a pioneer of the Jan rotation program with 100 participants, so 2x Hamilton.
Hot off the press - a record # of Hamilton College Applicants totaling 6,238 (and increase of 10% from Class of 2021), and the ED I Acceptance Rate drops from 44% to 29.5% based on a 71% increase in ED I applications.
Maybe these schools should build another dorm and drop the whole Jan admit thing. It’s driven by a lack of housing right? They use rooms for Jan admits, that juniors going abroad vacate - right?
Does Colby have Jan admits? They didn’t mention it when we visited, but I thought they experimented with it a few years back.
Looks like Hamilton may target a slightly lower test score for Jan admit to protect yield. maybe they figure if they give a super high scoring kid the Jan option, they will turn it down as they may get some other great offers. For lower scorers (though 30 is still excellent! 95-96 percentile), maybe they think that Ham will end up being one of the better offers the kid gets and so will take the Jan option.
Thanks, @Chembiodad! 647 ED1 applications and 191 admits. My son should be proud. I’ve forwarded your link to my son and his CC.
@wisteria100, yes housing demand due to study abroad is the reason that Middlebury implemented and others have followed - seems like a great way to maximize dorm utilization.
Not certain that we can make that assumption regarding yield for Jan’s as last year’s acceptance rate below a 1400 SAT / 31 ACT was only 11.5%, and I would suspect it will be even lower this year.
@Chembiodad
Admit percentages being similar is only part of the story, as you know.
I trust D’s counselor for guidance on this. He has 30 kids under his charge and is very aware of each of those kids as well as the schools they are applying to. Hamilton is classified as a Match on D’s list, Vassar a Reach.
Vassar has a 15% admit rate for females, as has been posted on these boards several times.
I trust the red and green dots on Naviance giving me a very clear visual picture of where she stands in the landscape. The median admittance student stats at her school are higher at Vassar, and that is for males as well as females so for her theres even more difference. (Hamilton admits the same percent of males and females, female yield is lower). There is also a stark delineation between green and red (whereas some schools like Wesleyan are all over the place). I feel confident that I am assessing my childs chances at each school properly and know that my read is the same as her counselors, those figures may not apply to all applicants.
Honestly most people think of Vassar as more selective. It has more name recognition, more history and this conveys more prestige to a layman even if its on a subliminal level. (It also has a load of naysayers who find it ‘weird’ or ‘insufferably liberal’.) There are a few threads detailing paths of WesleyanED1, VassarED2 and then in RD asking about Hamilton vs other options. We can agree to disagree on this one too, ok?
I understand that your daughters love Hamilton and I am happy for you that they do. But I feel like any mention of negativity relating to Hamilton is countered by you very strongly. I feel that can hinder the discourse on these boards and I also feel it makes it harder to hear your points.
We knew all these things about Vassar and D still decided to ED2 Hamilton. She loves the school. We do not need to spend more time boosting Hamilton. I know I have been attacking them in this thread, and strongly. I also feel much of what I have said could be read as constructive - if you can set aside the fury in my voice 
Midds Feb program is a very cohesive and well thought one, it is much more than a solution to a housing problem. Kids spend 100% of their time in the Midd academic enviriornment. I for one would not like to have my daughter spend 1/8 of her college courseload at the institute Hamilton partners with, located 45 minutes outside of London. I spent much time researching the academics of colleges D is applying to and did not sign up for that school. Call me a snob or whatever, but that does not work for me. Nor does no food plan and cooking her own meals, she’s not ready for that.
In addition we are a family seeking significant financial aid and the London partner caps aid at a whopping $2,500. Hamilton aid does not travel for that program like it does for other study abroad. That, along with the ancillary costs of spending a semester in London, make it unworkable for us. Since admissions are need blind and D attends a fancy private and our family does not fit a typical aid profile I doubt the AD will think of us as high need when considering her for the program. I have done all my net price research and expect to be able to afford Hamilton in the US, but not that program abroad. On that point alone I feel the system Hamilton uses is unfair to FA candidates in the ED rounds.