At our school “good” ED kids routinely get accepted while “excellent” RD kids get rejected at that same school. This pattern does not hold true for Ivys but definitely for Tufts, WashU, Hopkins, Emory, etc….
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That is an EXCELLENT reason IMO.
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To clarify…when you say ‘good’ in context of your school - do you mean the ‘average excellent’ applicant often described here on CC?
We are touring colleges this week. A “new” parent asked about ED2 at Wes and the AO said “ED2 is really only there for the benefit of the student.” Now that got an eye roll from me. If we didn’t love the school I think I would have embarrassed my kid and said “Really? Please explain how that is so?”
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Pomona’s 2022-2023 CDS says 413 freshman enrolled and 226 were admitted ED. Wouldn’t that mean that about 55% (226/413) of students entering applied ED instead of 67%?
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I don’t mind the additional or added “Why Us” essays or cute quick questions to demonstrate interest IN THE PORTAL. But counting the clicks from emails or hiding the questions and polls in emails? Blech. My kid’s inboxes were overflowing with stuff from colleges. Even with separate emails for school, college, personal, etc, it is a LOT for a 17 year old to keep up with. And how often do those emails end up in spam?
My email is overrun with messages from colleges D24 applied to. I haven’t had a chance to completely unsubscribe before all these sportsball ID camps for D27 started arriving. 
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My S24 applied ED and I knew that he would early in the process. I had a list of 12-14 possible schools, most of which we visited. We narrowed it down, yet with a few weeks before deadlines I started second guessing and made plans to fly to Richmond and Williamsburg. But after doing more deep dives into CDS and other data and determining I didn’t want to deal with connecting flights and a drive (looking at you, Bucknell), we settled on the best school left in the pile.
I absolutely wanted it to be his decision, mostly because I get blamed for buying the wrong cereal, so I really don’t want to get blamed for picking out the wrong college.
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I haven’t looked at each school’s CDS, but in my other post I linked to the document compiled by a college counseling service which used data from college class of 2026 and informed my first post. My point is that these schools take a high percentage of their classes ED.
My S24 ED’d an ivy because he wanted to take his moonshot. DH and I agreed we’d pay if he actually got in, but knew that was a very long shot.
He was denied. After he heard, he got into a few EAs with substantial merit. He decided not to ED2 his second top choice because the ED bump was not there for his ED2 and because he had the substantial merit in his pocket, so he decided to see how it all shook out in the end. Still awaiting final results for a few EA deferrals as well as RDs.
Query whether he’d have changed his plan given what he knows now? I don’t think so. Only thought is to maybe not EA some of the tougher to get into schools as he might have a better shot in RD than EA, because of fall grades in the mix, but can’t go back now.
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This is exactly how my kid felt. He applied to a big reach ED1, didn’t get in, applied to very very close second choice ED2 and got in and is thrilled. Although the ED1 rejection hurt and the couple of months between ED1 and ED2 decisions were emotionally fraught—lessened a bit by getting two EA acceptances with merit to schools he really liked, so like others I encourage having some EA schools in the mix!—he has no regrets about his approach. He knows that if he had applied to the second choice ED1 because it was a better bet and gotten in, he would have always wondered about the first choice.
So this supports the idea that you should ED only if it’s your true first choice. My kid could not be more thrilled about his admission to the ED2 school, and the two months of stress he felt between the two decisions was a relatively small price to pay to feel 100% positive and confident about his choice. (If he hadn’t gotten into the ED2 school, he would have been really disappointed, but he had also gotten excited about one of his EA acceptances, so he would have been fine.)
I will also agree that being done in February was a HUGE relief. Senior year has been really challenging (in good and stressful ways) for my kid, so having this off his mind has removed a big emotional burden and allowed him to really enjoy these last months of school. That alone is not a reason to do ED, but it is a benefit if all of the other criteria (clear first choice, affordability, lack of interest in comparing offers) are met.
My second kid, who is very different from C24, will probably ED1 to the same school C24 did; kind of funny that such different kids love the same school, although for pretty different reasons. But I’ll be shocked if he does ED2 if ED1 does not work out; he’s more comfortable with uncertainty and is interested in a lot of high-ranked public schools that don’t have ED2.
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I think this is the next best scenario and why I feel its better to get a rejection than a deferral. My kids talked a big game of treating a deferral as a denial but when it came to it they were unable to give up hope. This strategy very rarely pays off.
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A kid who has true strong interest in a particular school will naturally engage with emails they send, sign up for virtual events, engage on social media, etc. Of course those who may not have strong interest, consider the school a backup, and know how to play the game (often because of strong counselors at elite private schools) will also engage in that way. Schools can also take into account that a first generation student may not know to do all the interest pieces in the same way a more “sophisticated” (coached) student might.
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