Whenever we work with students, we strongly suggest they apply to an ED2 school if their ED/EA plans don’t go their way AND they have a school they love that has ED2. If you are looking for a great small school that offers ED2, Claremont McKenna is an excellent choice! Claremont McKenna College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It is one of five small schools in the Claremont Colleges consortium. CMC is an elite small school, and if you are serious about going there, applying ED2 might help you get accepted.

For those unfamiliar with ED2, it is a lot like the first ED round. Applicants sign a binding agreement that says that if they are accepted, they will attend CMC. However, ED2 really isn’t ‘early’ it usually coincides with the RD round; in ��Ѱ�’s case, the deadline to apply ED2 is January 10th (though you will hear back about their decision before RD candidates.) Schools like to take ED and ED2 students because it helps them protect their yield rate (a factor that affects their ranking) and allows them to start planning their incoming class.

Last year, ��Ѱ�’s acceptance rate was only 11%. However, their early acceptance rate was just under 25%. These are competitive rates, and trust us, not every qualified candidate gets in. Even with great scores and grades you need to stand out, and applying ED2 can help you do that.

Once you have decided to apply for ED2, you have to make sure you write a great supplement. Even at a higher rate of 25%, CMC is still competitive. You need to write eye-catching supplemental essays. Thankfully, we are here to help. ��Ѱ�’s supplement has two short essays; let’s break them down.

��Ѱ�’s is to prepare students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions. With this mission in mind, please explain why you want to attend Claremont McKenna College.  * (150-250 Words)

This question is a classic for a reason. “Why do you want to go here?” is the question we see most from colleges. We see it so often that we have devised a formula to answer it.

Before you even start writing, you need to choose a If you aren’t sure what you want to study, take a best guess. Schools want students who have academic passions and academic plans. Being undecided hurts your application. Don’t worry if you aren’t 100% sure: they will not hold you to what you wrote in this essay. Once you have your major, you need to do some research. The more you know about the school and its offerings, the easier this will be to write.  

Once you have done that, your essay should follow this rough outline.  

Paragraph 1: Introduce your passion.

Start your essay with a short personal story about how you fell in love with your intended major. For example, if you hope to study Public Policy, you could tell a story about volunteering as a phone banker and the feeling you got when the proposition you were campaigning for was voted into law. Think of it as a kind of academic origin story. We want to know what made you interested in your intended field. This paragraph should end with something along the lines of “I hope to continue learning as a ___ major at CMC.”

Paragraph 2: Add specifics.

While paragraph one tells us what you want to study, we also need to know why you want to study it at CMC. This is where your research will come in handy. You should speak to at least 2 specific higher-level classes in your major. At CMC, higher level classes are marked 130 and up. You should choose higher-level courses  as they are more unique than intro classes, which are usually similar across schools. For each class, you need to explain why you are interested in it and why it connects to what you have already learned or your academic goals.

Similarly, you should name a professor that you would love to assist and why you are drawn to their research. Finally, you can mention any other academic opportunities that you are excited about. You want to show the overlap between the academic opportunities at CMC and who you are as a student. Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself and your academic interests.

Paragraph 3: Talk about campus life.

Academics come first in college and should be the bulk of this essay. But they aren’t everything. Once you have made your points about academics, you can also talk about an extracurricular opportunity or something about on-campus life that speaks to you. Ideally, this opportunity should connect to something you are already doing so that you can talk about yourself. For example, if you love volunteering at your local mutual aid association, you could talk about joining the CMC Volunteer Club.  

Finally, wrap it up!

This essay isn’t long enough for a formal conclusion, but if you have any words left over, you should wrap it up by leaving the reader with the idea that CMC is the place for you and that you would be the perfect student for them.

A critical part of fulfilling our mission is living out the commitments of : Freedom of Expression, Viewpoint Diversity, and Constructive Dialogue. We want to learn more about your commitment to listening and learning from others with different viewpoints, perspectives, and life experiences from your own.  

Describe a time when engaging with someone about a specific topic resulted in you changing your attitude, belief, or behavior, or you changed the belief or behavior of someone else. What was the change that occurred for you, and what facilitated that change? What did you learn from that experience, and how has it informed how you engage with others? * (150-250 Words)

For this essay, you need to tell a good story with a beginning, middle, and end. This essay is a great opportunity to show vulnerability. While you can write about changing someone else’s mind, we love it when students write about shifting their beliefs or behaviors. At 18, you don’t know everything, and it's okay to change your mind. If you do choose to tell a story about changing someone else, just make sure you don’t have an “and everybody clapped moment.” The best way to do that is by showing nuance. If the person you are trying to convince of something is 100% in the wrong and you are 100% in the right, it feels less real (even if that's what happened.) Try to see it from their perspective, are there any shades of gray that you were ignoring?

Whether you choose a story about changing someone else’s mind or your own, there are a lot of beliefs that you could write about. That being said, some topics work better than others for this essay. The word count is pretty short; it is easier to choose a small or nuanced belief or attitude. You aren’t going to solve racism or sexism in 250 words, but maybe you could convince your friend that watching women’s sports is actually cool. Your belief or attitude doesn’t have to be political, and honestly, choosing something less hot-button can help here. For example, maybe you thought you hated spicy food. You never ate it, but a friend invited you to dinner at their house. You tried it to be polite and realized you actually liked it and really liked it and decided to become more open to trying new foods.

The important part of this question is to answer all the sub-questions. By telling a good story, you will naturally hit most of them, but make sure that a couple of things are clear. We need to know what was the original attitude/belief, how you reconsidered it, and what you learned from the experience. Doesn’t that kind of sound like a beginning, middle, and end? Good, it should.

You should also try to show and not tell here. You should use things like dialogue to tell your story, especially since many of these essays revolve around conversations. Really bring us into the experience.

CMC is an excellent choice for ED2. Once you have made that choice, you need to make sure your application is as strong as possible. If you still don’t feel confident (either in your choices or your essays), we can help!

Reach out here to speak with a dedicated college counselor!