ED 2 Insights

I'm contemplating ED 2 for my college applications and I wanted to know if it's worthwhile. What are the real advantages and potential outsides outside of the obvious 'second-chance' aspect?

In Early Decision II (ED 2), you'll certainly enjoy a couple of advantages. Firstly, you'll be showing a commitment to the college you apply to. Schools appreciate this demonstrated interest as it can positively impact their yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who enroll).

Applying ED 2 can also boost your odds of acceptance at some selective schools. Although the advantage might not be as significant as in Early Decision I (ED 1), research shows that applying ED (either ED 1 or 2) on average may increase your chances of admission. For example, let's imagine your chances of admission in the regular decision pool was 10%. Applying ED could potentially increase that figure by roughly 1.6 times, boosting your chances to around 16%. This advantage can vary greatly across different colleges and is more significant at highly selective institutions.

On the other hand, there can be some potential downsides to consider. Most importantly, an ED 2 application is still binding, similar to ED 1. Therefore, if you get accepted, you're expected to attend unless the financial aid package is unaffordable. This brings us to another critical point: you lose the ability to compare financial aid offers from multiple colleges, which can sometimes result in less favorable aid packages. To address this, it's recommended to use schools' net price calculators in advance to get an estimate of your expected financial aid package.

Lastly, those applying ED 2 may miss out on potential acceptances from other schools, since ED 2 decisions often arrive close to or after other colleges' Regular Decision deadlines.

To sum up, if you have a clear first-choice school and are committed to attending if admitted, and if you have a clear understanding of the financial implications involved, then applying ED 2 can be worthwhile. But you should carefully weigh these factors before making the decision.