Man, I kept seeing ED2 this and ED2 that in college groups and felt totally lost. Like, does applying ED2 really boost my shot? Schools scream about ED1 but barely whisper about ED2. Time to dig.
Step 1: The Hunt for Numbers
First thing, I hit the books. Well, the websites. Went straight to like 20 school admissions pages. Clicked "Admission Statistics," "Apply," "Common Data Set"... you name it. Total crap.
- Most sites were useless: They'd blab about overall acceptance or ED1 rates but zip, zero, nada on ED2. Felt like they were hiding it.
- Found scraps sometimes: Got lucky with a few smaller schools buried deep in FAQs or PDF reports. Wrote those suckers down.
Step 2: Getting Down and Dirty (and Annoyed)
Okay, school sites were a bust. Switched tactics. Google searches like crazy: "[School Name] ED2 acceptance rate" "[School Name] Early Decision II stats." Mostly found useless blog posts and ads. Argh.
- Forums were messy: Reddit threads, College Confidential... full of guesses and old info. People saying things like "oh, ED2 is slightly easier." Based on what?!
- Thought about calling: Seriously considered ringing admissions offices. "Hey, got those ED2 numbers handy?" Imagined getting laughed at. Didn't do it. Chicken.
Step 3: Making Sense of the Chaos
Got frustrated. No way to find clean, official numbers. Decided to piece together whatever I could find, even if it wasn't perfect. Made a giant, ugly spreadsheet.
- Threw in everything: Jotted down any mention of ED2 rates I found, no matter how old or vague. Added notes like "guesstimate from forum 2022" or "official PDF circa 2020."
- Compared ED2 to other rates: Where I had numbers, I looked at ED2 vs. Regular, ED2 vs. ED1. Started seeing patterns.
What Actually Happens?
This mess took ages, but here's the ugly truth:
- ED2 rates ARE usually higher: Yep, often better than Regular Decision.
- But! They're almost always worse than ED1: Sometimes WAY worse. ED1 gets the gold star.
- "Higher" can mean nothing: Like, going from 6% regular to 10% ED2? Still brutal odds, man. Don't get tricked by the small jump.
Here's a quick look at some schools I managed to scrape info on:
ED2 vs ED1 vs Regular Acceptance Rates (Approx.)
- School A: ED1: 30% ED2: 15% Regular: 10%
- School B: ED1: 25% ED2: 18% Regular: 8%
- School C: ED1: 40% ED2: 28% Regular: 22%
- School D: ED1: Didn't offer ED2: 35% Regular: 20%
Final Takeaway
ED2 ISN'T a free pass. It helps, sure, especially if you really love a school just below your "dream" ED1 pick. But honestly? The boost isn't as magical as people pretend. Finding hard numbers is like pulling teeth. If the school hides its ED2 rate, be extra careful. Treat your ED2 application like your absolute best shot at that school, because it probably only moves the needle a little bit. Don't count on a miracle.
