Colgate University, named for, you guessed it, the same people who the toothpaste is named after, is a private liberal arts college with a reputation for moderately selective admissions. Amidst this competitive process, one thing remains certain: Early Decision (both Early Decision I and Early Decision II) applicants to Colgate are admitted at a higher rate than Regular Decision applicants. If you’re on track to apply to Colgate this year, take note: you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble if you avail yourself of the Early Decision admissions boost.

That’s right, students who take advantage of the Early Decision I or Early Decision II rounds at Colgate are rewarded for demonstrating their interest in attending with a higher acceptance rate. Take the Class of 2028, for example: 13.88% of total applicants were admitted to Colgate that year, whereas 22.94% of Early Decision I and II applicants were accepted. That’s just shy of a 100% boost in admissions likelihood, even though the Class of 2028 also happened to have the lowest combined ED acceptance rate on record.

Colgate University Early Decision Acceptance Rate Over 10 Years

As prospective Colgate applicants gear up for what could prove to be the most selective admissions cycle on record, let’s review the historical data for the Early Decision acceptance rate, gathered from Colgate’s archive of Common Data Sets: 

Admissions Cycle	Colgate University Class Year	Early Decision (I + II) Acceptance Rate
2025-26	Class of 2030	Not Yet Available
2024-25	Class of 2029	35.25%
2023-24	Class of 2028	22.94%
2022-23	Class of 2027	25.19%
2021-22	Class of 2026	40.06%
2020-21	Class of 2025	29.86%
2019-20	Class of 2024	46.97%
2018-19	Class of 2023	40.75%
2017-18	Class of 2022	43.95%
2016-17	Class of 2021	50%
2015-16	Class of 2020	46.68%
2014-15	Class of 2019	43.82%

Breakdown of the Colgate Class of 2029 Early Decision Applicants

The data over the last ten years show a downward trend in Early Decision acceptance, indicating that the Class of 2030 might be the most competitive yet, if the trend holds. So let’s take a look at the most recently admitted crop of ED applicants to develop a clearer picture.

According to the Colgate Class of 2029 Profile, 473 of the Early Decision applicants last year were admitted and thus enrolled. That’s 56.71% of the total number of students who enrolled, even though ED applicants accounted for only 7.75% of the total applicant pool. Talk about an undeniable preference for Early Decision applicants!

And can you blame Colgate admissions officers? Early Decision I and II applicants are contractually obligated to enroll if admitted, which drives up Colgate’s yield rate (or the proportion of admitted students who end up enrolling) and reflects well on college ranking websites (which admissions officers certainly care about, whether they’ll admit it or not). We at Ivy Coach do not doubt that this advantage will hold for the Class of 2030.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance Moving For Deferred or Rejected Colgate Applicants

Even the best laid plans can backfire, so if you were deferred or rejected from Colgate’s Class of 2030, consider turning to Ivy Coach. We’ll give you renewed hope for your admissions journey, but you must act quickly to enlist our services. Even a few days of delay after receiving news from Colgate could impact your admissions odds.

Complete our complimentary consultation form to get started with us. For deferred candidates, we offer a PostMortem application review and assistance in crafting a powerful Letter of Continued Interest. For denied candidates, we provide a PostMortem application review. After evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your Colgate application and figuring out what went wrong, our team of former elite college admissions officers will help you pivot to your remaining Regular Decision applications. But this assistance only comes after we’ve evaluated your original application.