Posse does have separate ED application dates, since the colleges do not consider the Posse applications along with the other ED applicants. Posse finalists are not compared to the ED applicant pool. College AOs are building a Posse of 10 from the 20-25 applicants whose applications they have, and who they spend time interviewing.
My kid’s deadline for application submission was a week after the college’s ED1 deadline.
@MWolf Thank you for your responses, they provided rare clarity among so many speculations we’ve read and heard.
If you (or anyone else, of course) have any insight into it, could you please comment on the following:
The most selective college on the Possee Chicago list is Pomona. This also happens to be our D’s dream school so she has done everything she could to improve her chances:
@ArtsyKidDad That’s funny - Pomona was my kid’s first choice as well, but they paired her with her #2 choice, Middlebury (she’s from Posse Chicago as well). In the opinion of all of us now, Middlebury was a far better match for her, by way of character and temperament. They did match a very close friend of hers from school with Pomona, and the friend was selected by Pomona (it was a good Posse year for the HS).
So Posse considers the requests of the applicant, but also wants to maximize the chances of all applicants to be selected, and they want to provide each college with 20-25 potential scholars who are all really good matches. So they will also look to see whether the applicant is academically within the range (or demonstrates that they have the potential), and they look to fill the finalist lists with applicants whose interests, political leanings, etc, look to be a good match with the college.
Having academic within the range of the admitted students, or better, is always good, as is having a profile which matches that of accepted students. They also rely on what they know about the applicant from the interviews and the DAP 1 essay to figure out whether this person is a good choice for that particular Posse.
So having a high GPA will make it more likely that Posse will match your daughter with a partner college which is looking for students who can deal with challenging academics, like (from Chicago) Pomona, Cornell, and Middlebury.
When the college selects the 10 from the finalists, they are looking to build a team, so they are both selecting individuals, but not only based on their characteristics as individuals, but as parts of a team. So they may not select the individuals who would be at the top of their list as a regular applicant, if they do not see that this individual would make a good member of this particular team.
What I’m trying to say is that, while being a highly competitive applicant for Pomona helps, Posse is, most of all, looking for the best applicants for the 10 member team which they will be sending to Pomona. They are not looking for best 10 applicants, they are looking for the 10 applicants who will create the best 10 member team. of course, for that 10 to succeed they also should be good fits for the school.
It’s also important to remember that, with a 90% graduation rate across all partner colleges, Posse seems to be pretty good at matching applicants to colleges.
PS. while my daughter initially fell in love with Pomona when we visited (we have a lot of family in LA, so we visited SoCal colleges when we were visiting family). When she had to choose #2 and #3 on her list, she started to learn more about Middlebury. Being from Chicagoland, we had barely even heard about Middlebury. The more she learned, the better she liked it. She really loves being there, even with the Pandemic and all.
@MWolf Thank you, that’s a really good perspective, adding an important dimension to the whole process.
Middlebury is very high on my D’s list anyway - they take foreign languages seriously, and that’s something she feels strongly about, and that’s where her natural talent is. She wouldn’t be disappointed if they matched her to Middlebury. We visited - or rather drove through - on the stormy day the students were moving in this fall, and while there was no “wow moment,” it looked pretty and neat, and the nature around it is of course beautiful.
We also visited number 3, Oberlin, pre-COVID, offering very interesting combined programs with music for non-performance majors, she loved that too.
It’s just that POP - even virtual - creates a really strong bond, they make you feel you are already there, however deceiving that may be.
Let’s see where the chips fall…
@Momof0ne Thank you for your reply. So if the Posse partner school is a public, there will be auto admit?
@MWolf Oh, it makes sense now. Thank you!
BTW, anyone knows the ratios of each DAP? I was told there are about 1400 nominees at beginning at DAP1, then 200 go to DAP2. Then 25 finalists for each school. Is that true?
@YMBA6688 , Sorry if I confused you! Public universities in our state have to auto admit kids who are in the top 10% of their class by the end of junior year. So, my daughter (top 3% of her class) will be eligible for auto admission to one of the posse partner school which happens to be an in state public school. So, we put in the application because the school has a priority application deadline of Oct 15th for Engineering applicants. Also, the university does rolling admissions, we didn’t want to take any chances. Hope that answers your question.
It depends on the Posse. When my kid went through the process for Posse Chicago (2018), there were >2,600 students nominated to DAP1, and there were 300 finalists. I am not sure how many are selected from DAP 1 to go on to DAP 2, but considering that DAP 2 are individual interviews, and they go on for as many weeks as the DAP 1 group interviews, I would hazard that the number who advanced to DAP 2 was fewer than 1,300, but more than 600. So between 1/2 and 1/4, most likely closer to the latter.
Roughly 250 finalists decided that they were happy with their match and moved on to DAP 3, and 122 Scholars were selected for 12 colleges. The number of nominees has increased, so the numbers who are selected at each stage have likely changed, as have the number of finalists, since there are now 11 colleges partnered with Chicago Posse after Denison withdrew.
The only thing that is set is the number of finalists selected - 25 per college. Even the number of Scholars per college is not set at 10 - many Posses of 11 have been selected.
Oh OK. Thank you!
@MWolf Got you! Thanks alot!
If we have new SAT/ACT score or award, is it too late to call Posse for the updates?
Contact them.
This Posse discussion is really helpful, thanks. My 12th grader has a good friend who just had her DAP2 interview. I’m trying to provide some support to her, as her parents don’t speak English and didn’t go to college themselves, so this is a very new process for them. She asked a Posse volunteer this question, but the volunteer didn’t know the answer. Perhaps one of you do? The question: The Posse scholarship covers tuition, but not other expenses like room & board. This student’s parents are quite poor and she won’t be able to cover room & board herself. Do Posse schools typically provide financial support to Posse students over and above tuition to cover room & board for financially needy students?
As a posse nominee waiting on my second round results , I’m pretty sure that students can apply for additional financial aid from the school they’ve been admitted to. I might be wrong on this though so anyone can feel free to add on to my answer 
@Dave100 I think your child’s friend should be able to apply for financial aid to cover room and board depending on the parents EFC. If I am not mistaken, if you are selected for DAP3, you still have to complete the application that you would normally do for the college/university you are matched to. And if the university has a policy to meet 100% of the demonstrated need, I don’t see why she will not be able to apply for the additional financial aid. The student should probably have a conversation with the AO of the college or the Financial aid office.
The colleges which are full need-met will definitely cover the rest of her need, if her parents are low income. These are about half of all of the partner colleges, another 2/3 of the rest claim to meet > 90% of need, though I do not know what this means in this context.
There are also a handful which generally meet less than that, but, again, I do not know what they do relating to Posse Scholars.
First, she could contact the financial offices all of the colleges on her list, or even better, all of the college partners for her Posse City which do not meet full need.
However, if she advances to finalist and is paired with a college, there is a meeting between the parents of finalists and people from the college, as well as Posse people, so that they parents and student will have the info to decide whether they want to withdraw or not. “How can we cover the other expenses” is likely one of the most commonly asked questions, and there will be people from the college and from Posse who will be able to answer that.
What Posse city does she belong to, if you don’t mind me asking?
Thanks for these very helpful answers! (The Posse city is DC.)
The ED deadline is coming. Just wonder has there anyone received their DAP2 results? Or Posse only notify those who are finalists?
Per the email my daughter received after DAP2, Kids had an opportunity to change any of their college preferences till October 12th. And, they will be notified in late October if they have been selected to become a finalist. So, I am guessing that the matching process should have either started today or will start in a day or two.
My daughter has most of the application material ready for all her top three colleges ready except for one. She just has to finish one of the the common app supplemental essays for that university. Apart from that she also has another ED application filled up and ready to go as a backup including the ED Contract from her Guidance counselor.