What is ED2? The Highest Ranked ED2 Schools
Elton Lin
(This is an updated version of an article from 2020.)
Early Decision 2, or ED2, is a second round of Early Decision that comes with the same binding agreement as ED1—that is, if a college accepts an ED applicant, that applicant is automatically committed to attend—but the same timing as Regular Decision (RD), with a later application deadline of early January.
Only some colleges offer ED2, largely limited to private universities or liberal arts colleges, but it can prove an advantageous application option for many college applicants.
Advantages of ED2, which largely overlap with those of ED1, include:
ED2 applications generally yield higher admit rates than their RD counterparts
ED2 applicants can be notified of admissions results much earlier, generally in February
ED2 applicants demonstrate significantly higher interest in a school than non-ED applicants, which can give an extra edge in admissions if the school considers demonstrated interest important
ED2 provides a strong second option to deferred or rejected ED1 students (though students cannot apply to the same college for both ED1 and ED2, ED2 can help if a student has a definite second favorite college in mind or a first choice that they decided on too late for them to apply ED1)
The higher ED admit rate is far from unsubstantial. For example, 879 of the 1,699 students in Brown University’s Class of 2027—about 52% of its incoming freshmen—were admitted from the early decision pool, making its ED admit rate about 13%, as compared to the general admit rate of 5.2%. Washington University in St. Louis has also been transparent about the fact that they regularly admit about 55-60% of its incoming class from the early decision pool as well, and for their Class of 2027, had an ED admit rate of 26% versus their RD admit rate of 9%.
Additionally, ED2 applicants need not worry about what colleges might think about students applying ED2 instead of ED1. Colleges have no way to tell whether they’re a student’s first choice of college or second, or whether a student applied ED1 to any other schools prior. All college admissions committees see from an ED2 application is a student’s binding commitment to their school.
So which are the best colleges for ED2? We’ve compiled two tables to answer that (based on the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2023 Rankings for both National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges), complete with links to school-specific application plan pages and admit rate comparisons between early decision and regular decision applications
(All numbers refer to the Class of 2027 unless stated otherwise.)
| National Universities | General Admit Rate | Early Decision Admit Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Boston College | 15% | 30% |
| Boston University | 10.7% | 26% |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 11% | 13% |
| Case Western Reserve University | 27% | 34% |
| Emory University | 11% | 26% |
| Johns Hopkins University | 7% | 15% |
| New York University | 8% | — |
| Northeastern University | 7% | — |
| Santa Clara University | 52% | 83% |
| Tufts University | 10.1% | 26% (Class of 2025) |
| Tulane University | 11% | 68% |
| University of Chicago | 5% | — |
| Vanderbilt University | 5.6% | 15.7% |
| Wake Forest University | 21% | — |
| Washington University in St. Louis | 9% | 26% |
| National Liberal Arts Colleges | General Admit Rate | Early Decision Admit Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Bates College | 13% | — |
| Bowdoin College | 9% | 26% |
| Carleton College | 17% | 22% |
| Claremont McKenna College | 10% | — |
| Colby College | 8% | — |
| Colgate University | 12% | 25% |
| Colorado College | 20% | 39% |
| Davidson College | 14.5% | 33.6% |
| Hamilton College | 12% | 34% |
| Harvey Mudd College | 13% | 19% |
| Haverford College | 14% | — |
| Middlebury College | 13% | 42% |
| Pitzer College | 18% | 40% |
| Pomona College | 7% | — |
| Scripps College | 28% | 40% |
| Swarthmore College | 7% | 19% |
| Vassar College | 19% | 39% |
| Washington and Lee University | 17% | 42% |
| Wellesley College | 14% | 30% |
| Wesleyan University | 14% | 41% |
(Note: This list is not comprehensive. More schools than those listed above offer Early Decision 2 application plans.)