I’m a rising senior who is considering applying to Pomona College early decision this fall. I’m not gonna list all my stats and extracurriculars, but I’m wondering if anyone has any insight regarding how much your chances increase at Pomona if you apply early decision and you’re a legacy applicant. My dad graduated from Pomona in the 80s. I’d love to go there too.
Region: Mid-atlantic
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Race: Pacific islander, white
GPA: 4.22 W ~3.85 UW
Rank: My school doesn’t rank but probably in top 5-10%
ACT: 34 (Math 36, Science 33, English 35, Reading 30, ELA 31)
Most important extracurriculars: Varsity tennis captain, founder and president of JSA chapter, run soccer ref program at my school, 4 years debate club
If you’re sure Pomona is your first choice and it’s affordable for you, then I don’t see any down side to applying ED. The stats are: Pomona ED1/ED2 187 out of 891 (21.0%); Pomona RD 554 out of 8155 (6.8%)(Yield,415=56.0%).
At an event last year, alums were told (warned?) that the admit rate for Pomona legacies was under 15%, so they apparently don’t get the big bump that they do at many other colleges (and the bump they do get is more than likely due to factors other than just being a legacy). As for whether you should still apply ED: what @Corinthian said. Also, if you intend on playing tennis for PP, you should definitely contact the coach through the athletics website.
You also have the diversity advantage as you list you are hispanic. Between being hispanic, a legacy, possibly recruitable athlete and from what you list of your stats good ACT and Gpa I would think you have a very good chance of getting in. I will be honest, without the diversity factor or recruitable athlete factor not sure if you would get in. Being hispanic(diverse) is 100 percent a leg up in the college admissions process.
@Corinthian Do you know the breakdown of Pomona admits from ED1/ED2 (of the 187)? Do you know if there are more applications for ED1 than ED2? And if the accept one more than the other??
I’m under the impression that the admit rate is higher for ED1 than ED2. I’ve gotten that impression from @nostalgicwisdom but have never seen an official breakdown. I’m guessing it’s because it’s a stronger pool and includes more recruited athletes than ED2, but that’s just a guess.