Colleges That Offer Early Decision 2 (ED2) — 2025-26
November 17, 2025
Early Decision is quickly becoming a misnomer. An increasing number of highly selective institutions have initiated a second round of binding admission programs, giving students another chance to commit to a college before acceptance and possibly reap admissions-related benefits in the process. Unlike traditional Early Decision (ED 1) programs with deadlines in October or November, Early Decision 2 (ED2) allows students to wait until later in the admissions cycle to claim their allegiance to a particular school. Most of these deadlines typically fall in early or mid-January and admissions decisions are typically rendered in early-to-mid February.
Why do colleges offer ED2?
Colleges offer an ED2 option primarily as a means to improve their yield rates (i.e., the percentage of admitted students who attend)—an important indicator of desirability and one that can have significant influence on a college’s ranking. Effectively, ED2 offers institutions a second chance to grab guaranteed enrollees.
Why would a student apply Early Decision 2?
Two reasons, in particular. First, a student may be denied at her first choice college—to which she applied Early Decision—but has a clear second favorite and wants to improve her odds of admission at that institution. Middlebury College, for example, admits 68% of their freshman class through the ED 1 & 2 cycles; Grinnell (65%), Bates (63%), and Pitzer (57%) also bring in a sizable percentage of incoming first-years this way. They all, like thousands of other schools, show extra love to applicants who pledge attendance. Visit our Dataverse to see more Early Decision Enrollment figures at leading institutions.
Second, a student may apply Early Decision 2 to take advantage of the flexibility that a later deadline offers:
- ED II applicants have an opportunity to submit strong first-semester senior year grades alongside their applications, whereas ED 1 applicants are usually initially evaluated on the basis of their junior year academic performance only.
- While ED I applicants only have until October to take standardized tests, ED II applicants can submit scores from November and December test dates.
- ED2 applicants have two additional months to solidify their college preferences, prepare applications, and assess financial need.
When exactly is ED2?
Most application deadlines for ED2 fall between January 1st to 15th, at or around the same time as Regular Decision deadlines. ED 2 applicants usually receive a decision in mid-February. Of course, exact deadlines and policies vary by school. For example, NYU’s are due on New Year’s Day, while Tulane University’s and Lafayette College’s ED II apps are due on January 15th.
Is there an admissions advantage for Early Decision 1 vs. Early Decision 2?
Generally, yes. Assuming you’re able to submit your strongest possible application by November, Early Decision 1 generally provides a larger admissions advantage. Remember, ED I is about locking in members of the incoming freshmen class as early as possible, so that round will have the most spots available and infer a higher level of demonstrated interest.
Is there an admissions advantage for Early Decision 2 vs. Regular Decision?
Since most colleges do not differentiate between ED I and ED 2 applicants in their reported data, it’s impossible to get an exact sense of the difference between ED I, ED II, and Regular Decision rates. That said, the difference in overall acceptance rates between the early decision and regular decision cycles—and the percentage of the freshman class that is filled through each one—can, at least, give you a sense of a college’s attitude toward early decision.
Let’s take a look at a few examples:
Middlebury College
Middlebury fills 68% of its freshman class through Early Decision, and has an Early Decision acceptance rate (both ED I and ED II) of 30%. This is much higher than the regular decision round, which saw over 11,000 students competing for about 900 remaining spots, ultimately resulting in a regular decision acceptance rate of just 10.7%. If you’re trying to decide whether to apply ED 2 or regular decision, it’s highly likely that you’ll enjoy some level of admissions advantage if you apply ED 2.
Bennington College
Bennington College, on the other hand, fills just 17% of its class through its ED 1 and ED 2 rounds. Moreover, the acceptance rate during both ED rounds combined is only 14.5%—of the 179 ED applicants, only 26 were ultimately accepted. Regular decision applicants enjoyed a much friendlier acceptance rate of 46%. Trying to decide whether to apply ED 2 or regular decision? Based on the data available, getting accepted during an ED round is actually harder, so you’d like want to submit a regular decision application instead.
Which institutions offer Early Decision 2?
Plenty. Below, please find a list of selective colleges and universities offering an ED2 option:
| Institution | ED Admission Rate | RD Admission Rate | ED 2 Deadline |
| American University | 80% | 61% | January 15 |
| Babson College | 28% | 16% | January 2 |
| Bates College | 27% | 11% | January 10 |
| Bennington College | 14.5% | 46% | January 15 |
| Bentley University | 61% | 44% | January 15 |
| Boston College | 33% | 14% | January 4 |
| Boston University | 28% | 10% | January 4 |
| Bowdoin College | 13% | 6% | January 5 |
| Brandeis University | 42% | 40% | January 2 |
| Bryant University | Not Reported | 65% (overall) | January 15 |
| Bryn Mawr College | 37% | 29% | January 1 |
| Bucknell University | 56% | 26% | January 10 |
| Carleton College | 37% | 19% | January 15 |
| Case Western Reserve University | 37% | 38% | January 15 |
| Claremont McKenna College | 23% | 7% | January 10 |
| Clark University | Not reported | 40% (overall) | January 15 |
| Colby College | Not Reported | 8% (overall) | January 3 |
| Colgate University | Not reported | 14% (overall) | January 15 |
| College of the Holy Cross | 67% | 17% | January 15 |
| College of William and Mary | 47% | 33% | January 5 |
| Colorado College | 32% | 17% | January 15 |
| Connecticut College | 41% | 37% | January 15 |
| Davidson College | 32% | 10% | January 5 |
| Denison College | 22% | 16% | January 15 |
| DePauw University | Not Reported | 57% (overall) | December 15 |
| Dickinson College | 51% | 41% | January 15 |
| Emory University | 23% | 9% | January 1 |
| Fairfield University | 80% | 32% | January 15 |
| Franklin & Marshall College | 28% | 28% | January 6 |
| Furman University | 25% | 44% | January 15 |
| George Washington University | 66% | 46% | January 5 |
| Gettysburg College | Not Reported | 39% (overall) | January 15 |
| Grinnell College | 34% | 13% | January 5 |
| Hamilton College | 30% | 12% | January 3 |
| Harvey Mudd College | 16% | 12% | January 5 |
| Haverford College | 29% | 10% | January 5 |
| Hobart and William Smith Colleges | 52% | 65% | January 15 |
| Johns Hopkins University | 12% | 6% | January 3 |
| Kenyon College | Not Reported | 31% (overall) | January 15 |
| Lafayette College | 42% | 30% | February 1 |
| Lehigh University | 45% | 24% | January 1 |
| Loyola Marymount University | 44% | 45% | January 8 |
| Macalester College | 39% | 28% | January 1 |
| Middlebury College | 31% | 8% | January 1 |
| Mount Holyoke College | 46% | 35% | January 5 |
| New York University | Not Reported | 9% (overall) | January 1 |
| Northeastern University | 43% | 4% | January 1 |
| Oberlin College | 39% | 34% | January 2 |
| Occidental College | 59% | 37% | January 10 |
| Pitzer College | 42% | 23% | January 6 |
| Pomona College | 13% | 6% | January 8 |
| Providence College | 86% | 49% | January 15 |
| Reed College | 15% | 25% | January 15 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 58% | 64% | December 15 |
| Rhodes College | 37% | 51% | January 15 |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | 73% | 67% | January 1 |
| Santa Clara University | 80% | 47% | January 7 |
| Sarah Lawrence College | 50% | 62% | January 15 |
| Scripps College | 47% | 37% | January 8 |
| Sewanee: The University of the South | 70% | 50% | January 15 |
| Skidmore College | 41% | 20% | January 8 |
| Smith College | 38% | 19% | January 1 |
| Southern Methodist University | 87% | 63% | January 15 |
| St. Olaf College | 58% | 48% | January 15 |
| Stevens Institute of Technology | 72% | 47% | January 15 |
| Swarthmore College | 18% | 6% | January 4 |
| Syracuse University | 66% | 40% | January 5 |
| Trinity College | 44% | 28% | January 17 |
| Trinity University | 48% | 25% | February 1 |
| Tufts University | Not Reported | 11% (overall) | January 5 |
| Tulane University | 59% | 11% | January 15 |
| Union College | 42% | 44% | January 15 |
| University of Chicago | Not Reported | 4% (overall) | January 5 |
| University of Miami | 48% | 18% | January 5 |
| University of Richmond | 34% | 21% | January 1 |
| University of Rochester | 38% | 40% | January 5 |
| Vanderbilt University | 15% | 5% | January 1 |
| Vassar College | 31% | 17% | January 1 |
| Villanova University | 54% | 25% | January 15 |
| Wake Forest University | Not Reported | 22% (overall) | January 1 |
| Washington and Lee University | 34% | 12% | January 1 |
| Washington University in St. Louis | 25% | 10% | January 2 |
| Wellesley College | 30% | 12% | January 5 |
| Wesleyan University | 38% | 14% | January 1 |
| Whitman College | 19% | 40% | January 10 |
| Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 76% | 60% | January 5 |
*Note: When ED acceptance rate data was not included in a college’s 2024-25 Common Data Set, we reported the overall acceptance rate (ED + RD) in the RD column.
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