<p>Hi,
I was deferred this year in the ED 1 round. Looking at the inside admissions blog at Pomona, I found out that there was a 44 percent increase in the number of applicants for ED1 from last year. However, I don't know the exact number of applicants that applied. The blog also mentioned that 94 students were admitted. Does anyone know how many students applied this year? or how many students applied last year? That would be beneficial towards calculating the acceptance rate. Thx</p>
<p>If you look at this post from the Inside Admissions blog: ['Tis</a> the (Reading) Season - Pomona College](<a href=“http://pomona.edu/admissions/blog/posts/11-8-13-reading-season.aspx]'Tis”>http://pomona.edu/admissions/blog/posts/11-8-13-reading-season.aspx) you find that there were “about 700 early decision applications” this year. </p>
<p>This source includes 2013 data:
<a href=“2013 College Acceptance Rates - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com”>2013 College Acceptance Rates - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com;
<p>Thx a lot. Based on 700 applicants, the acceptance rate was 13.4 percent then.</p>
<p>This is a complex issue to decipher from a counting standpoint. Let me first start by saying that we’ve got several different views into Pomona’s ED stats over the years. The admissions blog is a new one. The annually reported “common data set” (CDS) is another, but that totals ED1 & ED2 (plus adds Posse & more), so its not possible just from CDS data to tease out ED1 statistics. 2nd, I believe the interpretations made above on the blog reported “700” and 44% increase are incorrect; I’ll explain below.</p>
<p>In prior years, the NYT posted ED stats for a laundry list of colleges as the season progressed. In cases where a school had ED1 & ED2 (many just have one early round), the NYT data would discern ED1 numbers in initial reports. Here is my write-up for last year’s Pomona ED1:
[quote]
ED1 stats from NYT </p>
<hr>
<p>Applicants= 298
Acceptances= 79
acceptance rate= 26.5% (about the same as last year)
slight increase of apps from last year’s ED1</p>
<p>source:
<a href=“Early Admissions Statistics 2013 - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com”>Early Admissions Statistics 2013 - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com;
<p>from the '12-'13 CDS (section C), 734 applied last year (ED1+ED2) with 150 acceptances.
[<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/institutional-research/common-data-set/2012-2013.aspx[/url]”>http://www.pomona.edu/administration/institutional-research/common-data-set/2012-2013.aspx</a></p>
<p>Assuming similar total numbers this year, about ~430 will apply for ED2, with ~70 acceptances, translating to a ~16% acceptance rate, which is still 4% better than last year’s RD acceptance rate of 12% (calculated by removing ED numbers from the total app numbers on the CDS). Of course, Pomona has historically taken a lower percentage of their class from ED relative to other LACs, so if they made a change, the ED2 rate could turn out to be higher.<a href=“Note%20that%20the%20NYT%20report%20was%20altered%20through%20the%20reporting%20season%20and%20now%20just%20reports%2012’-13’%20ED%20totals,%20which%20for%20Pomona%20include%20both%20ED1%20&%20ED2.%20%20Earlier%20versions%20contained%20only%20early%20stats%20for%20those%20schools%20having%20an%20ED1.%20%20It%20was%20that%20early-version%20set%20of%20stats%20reported%20in%20the%20quoted%20post%20above.”>/quote</a>
source, post 48 here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/1428609-pomona-class-2017-a-2.html#post15238917[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/1428609-pomona-class-2017-a-2.html#post15238917</a></p>
<p>So, note that ED1 accept rate from last year was estimated to be 26.5%. [The norm is for ED rates to be higher than RD.] From the CDS for last season ([Common</a> Data Set 2013-2014 - Pomona College](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/institutional-research/common-data-set/2013-2014.aspx]Common”>http://www.pomona.edu/administration/institutional-research/common-data-set/2013-2014.aspx) ), section C21, 153 were accepted out of 769 early applicants, or 19.9%. That pool includes ED1, ED2, and early binding Questbridge & Posse. By calculation then, last year’s ED2 had an accept rate of 15.7% [(153-79)/(769-298)].</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the NYT no longer does this reporting, so we are a bit more in the blind this year. But I believe an extrapolation is possible based upon last year’s numbers and the admissions blogs info to answer your question.</p>
<p>1st, the ~700 reported in 11/8/13 blog post I believe referred to the entire, anticipated ED pool, not what they saw come in the door for ED1. The 12/23/13 blog post ([…and</a> Visions of Early Decision Danced in Their Heads - Pomona College](<a href=“http://pomona.edu/admissions/blog/posts/12-23-13-ED1.aspx]...and”>http://pomona.edu/admissions/blog/posts/12-23-13-ED1.aspx) ) I believe does isolate just ED1:
</p>
<p>So…
last year’s ED1 pool= 298
add 44% = 429 applicants for '13-'14 ED1
admit rate= 94/429 = 21.9% (down over 4% from last year)</p>
<p>Put another way, the ED1 applicant pool grew 44%, but the ED1 accepted group grew only 19% [(94/79)-1].</p>
<p>Complicating the above calculations is QuestBridge and Posse students. I know 17 were taken in early this year, and 10-12 were taken in via Posse. I’m not sure whether or not the 94 admitted student statistic includes these students, as the blog is about Early Decision.</p>
<p>NW- yup, hard to untangle these numbers. All I know is that the CDS notes the inclusion of QuestBridge & Posse early binding in the total ED number. No idea if Pomona counts them in their ED1 reports (via Pomona’s releases & NYT in the past, blog now) or just in the CDS-based ED total. Based solely on the fact that they weren’t/aren’t mentioned, to my recollection, in any historic or current Pomona ED1 blurbs, my guess would be that the 94 ED1 acceptances do not include QB & Posse…but that’s just a guess.</p>
<p>numbers-wise, its conceivable that QB&P could be counted in ED1. If I remove 28 (17 QB + 11 P) from the ED1 numerator & denominator, the resultant accept rate = 16.5% which is still significantly higher than RD, and a tad higher that last year’s calculated ED2 rate, a general pattern I’d expect.</p>
<p>Great analyses, PapaChicken. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, there is little that can be concluded about QB. The school could include applicants and admitted in the ED numbers, or report them in the RD round, or even worse count the applicants and not include the admitted (similarly to what Middlebury used to with the admitted students in their Spring round.) </p>
<p>In a way, it is good that Questbridge changed their methodology by restricting the number of listed schools. Previously, schools that participated in the QB program could add hundreds if not thousands of applications that were merely listed in the applicants database at QB. </p>
<p>We do not know what Pomona does, but as a reference, all applicants and admitted students (from QB) are considered RD applicants at Stanford.</p>
<p>I don’t believe the ED1 pool includes the QuestBridge students. I know for a fact that approximately 400 students ranked Pomona for QuestBridge Early Decision. If we use the statistics that Papa Chicken has done, then that leaves only 29ish applicants for ED1- which is virtually impossible. </p>
<p>The 94 admitted however does seem to include Questbridge + Posse + ED1. Historically, combined with EDII, Pomona has taken around 150 students through these processes. Pomona aims to bring approximately 30% of its class from EDI and EDII, a number which makes sense if we subtract the 150 from approximately 25 students that come from Posse and Questbridge Early. </p>
<p>If Pomona has taken 94 students from EDI alone, where less apply historically, that leaves only some 40-50 students to be admitted through EDII- which is unlikely. It’s more likely that 94-17-10= 67 were admitted via ED1, though to this point 94 Sagehens are confirmed to be going. </p>
<p>QuestBridge allows applicants to apply to schools for RD as well, but it uses its own application: the QuestBridge app. The '13-'14 CDS states: “Applicant totals include those who have completed the Common App”, which doesn’t apply to most QuestBridge applicants. However, the 397 enrolling statistic definitely includes those accepted via QuestBridge…</p>
<p>It’s very possible, however, that Pomona may have wanted to take more in via ED1. Last year, there was a fiasco in which Pomona had to accept a record number from the waitlist because not enough enrolled. To avoid that this year they could take more binded students and thus minimize this risk. This is bad news, however, for RD folks…</p>
<p>The 2nd poster backs up my claims though. The blog came out Nov. 8th- Pomona’s EDI deadline, as well as far into QuestBridge’s deadline. This was last year, and we know via Choice Blog that there were 298 EDI students, so approximately 400 students applied early through either QuestBridge or Posse.</p>
<p>Nostalgic wisdom, do you see a lot of students that were deferred and then accepted at Pomona? How does Pomona handle its deferred students? Some schools defer a lot of students, while others reject more. Can you shed some light on Pomona’s practice for deferred students if you can? That would mean a lot</p>
<p>Being deferred is a good sign! It’s a hint that Pomona wants just a little bit more in your application and that you’re a strong applicant. It could mean waiting to see whether your grades go up (when you submit your midyear report), or waiting for an interview (especially if you live in SoCal), or submitting additional material like art or science supplements.</p>
<p>I’ve received confirmation that the 94 statistic only refers to EDI students, and the profile itself only refers to those from the ED pool- not the QuestBridge or Posse admitted students. This makes sense; the diversity numbers and first gen numbers are lower than expected of a Pomona class, and Posse and QuestBridge students help increase Pomona’s diversity.</p>
<p>Thx a lot for the infer nostalgic! Hopefully I make it :)</p>