If it's your first choice then, yes, ED. Every school, even the most selective, cares about yield. Even though you're no longer bound by ED if deferred, the committee knowing they were the first choice could tilt a kid into the accept pile. It just depends on the RD competition in the end, so no guarantee, but it could help. |
Being a feeder is huge. I wouldn't recommend applying to a WASP ED unless you know for a fact they like your school. Only one of the four reliably admits kids from our school. |
| Deferred Swat ED in 2024 cycle. 35 ACT, 4.0 uw GPA, IB diploma, 7 AP’s, consistent artistic extracurriculars. Accepted Amherst and Swat RD. Rejected Williams. Didn’t apply to Pomona. Attends Swat and very happy there. |
| DC1 got in Pomona a couple of years ago in RD from a public high school. Great stats, but unhooked and never visited the school before. The college almost never admitted anyone from their high school before. The only thing that helped, we think, was DC went to a college fair and talked to some representative from the college, and maybe somehow left a good impression. There weren’t many students as it probably wasn’t well known in the DMV. |
| PP with Swat admit - applied for and received significant aid in line with NPC. You do not need to be full pay to get in ED. |
Same with Amherst. |
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I saw two non-athletes, one from a DC school and one from BCC, into Williams. Could be other hooks though (such as legacy).
Otherwise, I've only seen two athletes for Amherst. None for Pomona but, at least at DC's school, it's the least popular WASP application. I haven't seen any at Swarthmore, but one is mentioned on this thread. A number into Bowdoin, after ED and ED2 rounds. |
Congratulations! Do you know when admitted student day will be in April? |
I just checked this today for DD admitted ED - there are two Swatstruck days, 4/10 and 4/17. |
1-2 kids/year is no where near feeder, we know schools where they have more than 5+ Williams admits a year. |
We've seen a couple of early admits to Williams which are not recruited athletes. Both male, boys, LGBTQ and intended major either history or english combined with music or art. |
| Also male non-athlete to Pomona, quirky major, lots of affinity group leadership, LGBTQ+, community engagement. |
Consistent admits to any of these small schools constitutes “feeder”. And with only a couple of exceptions the schools which you describe do not exist. So add to the conversation or just stfu. |
Good comment and then the last sentence. Breathe. |
We don’t know any gay male students going to top lacs. They all want to go to USC or UCLA or schools with a big dating pool. There’s not that many gay men in the world. |