<p>Remember, the pool of applicants is different in the ED rounds, so don’t look at an ED application as giving you an advantage. That’s possible, but I wouldn’t count on it. I think, more or less, your outcome will be the same regardless of when you apply. The applicants who choose Oberlin for their ED choice are confident that it’s a good fit for them, academically and otherwise. So it’s not surprising that the admission office will be more likely to also come to that conclusion for more of those applicants than an applicant pool comprised of people who are applying to more colleges and numerous people who look at Oberlin as a reach and others who may be throwing it in as an ill-fitting choice to round out their pool. The ED group is highly focused and highly-informed about the choice – knowing that they will matriculate without any doubt and that their qualifications make it worth their while to apply. The regular decision group may have some people like that, but it is loaded with applicants who have a wider range of motivations and intentions when they apply. I think the disparity you see in admission rates reflects the dynamics of the applicant pool far more than it reflects a disparity in standards by which applicants will gain an offer of admission. The admission office will ultimately offer you admission or it won’t…and I doubt that the outcomes it delivers are influenced by gamesmanship and timing over the actual merit of the applications.</p>