<p>Hi everyone. This is my first ever post on College Confidential so I hope it's in the right spot!</p>
<p>I am trying to decide whether or not I should apply to Pomona College early decision. It's my first choice, I believe I'm a strong applicant, and I'm worried that I'll be denied RD even with my qualifications because the acceptance rate is so low (13-14%).</p>
<p>I've been doing some research on EDI and EDII at Pomona and have found that the acceptance rate for those who apply early climbs to around 20-22%. Is this true?</p>
<p>Are there any benefits to applying EDI (deadline Nov. 1) versus applying EDII (deadline Jan. 1)? i.e. Are EDI applicants more likely to be accepted than EDII applicants because the school receives EDI applications first?</p>
<p>I visited Pomona my sophomore year have been in love ever since, but I am TERRIFIED of the commitment that comes with ED. Has anyone else applied ED? How did you get over that fear of the binding commitment? I'm also very interested in Wesleyan University, btw.</p>
<p>If you love Pomona that much and are 100% sure that it’s the place you want to be for the next 4 years, then I would say apply early decision. If you’re even a little unsure that you might change your mind, I would say apply regular decision. I think the fear of binding commitment would go away once you got accepted and knew that you were going to a school you love. As far as ED I and II go, I don’t think there would be a huge difference in acceptance rate. Possibly a small difference, because EDI would show that you know right now that Pomona is the school for you, but EDII is just as binding, so if you don’t want to do EDI then EDII would probably give you very similar chances.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your reply! I think I’m going to wait until the EDII deadline and then decide what I should do. It’ll give me more time to think :)</p>
<p>Yes, Pomona ED admit rate is in the 20’s, so there is an apparent statistical advantage, but you also must remember that recruited athletes and other hooked candidates are accepted disproportionately in ED, thereby driving up the rate relative to RD. Nevertheless the conventional wisdom is that there is some strategic advantage to going early. On ED 1 vs 2, data available for other colleges suggest an advantage for ED1. Off the top of my head, I do not recall seeing any data specific to Pomona’s ED rounds, but I would believe there would be some slight ED1 advantage. </p>
<p>All that said, my advice is to put the strategy aside and go with your heart, as the post above noted. If you are NOW reasonably sure Pomona is your #1 (and you are a competitive candidate) then go ED1. If you need more time to contemplate, which is completely understandable, and can figure out your #1 by late December, then go ED2.</p>
<p>I believe that the ED2 admission rate at Pomona is hardly any greater than the RD rate. As I recall, I derived this from the overall ED statistics for a recent year, and the ED1 stats for the same year. I got the stats from the NYT column about college admissions.</p>
<p>On the assumption that you wouldn’t have a better chance ED1 than ED2, I concluded that the higher ED1 rate was entirely due to athletes, legacies, etc. and that there was no ED advantage at Pomona.</p>