Among the schools College Intel tracks ED2 deadline data for, January 15, 2027 is the single most common Early Decision II deadline -- but a real cluster of schools, including Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Emory, and NYU, closes two weeks earlier on January 1, and Johns Hopkins and the University of Chicago fall in between on January 2 and January 4. If you're searching for ED2 deadlines by school right now, it's almost certainly because you were deferred or denied in the December early-round results and are deciding where to place a second binding application -- here are the real dates, not a generic "sometime in January" reminder.

What ED2 actually is, briefly

Early Decision II is a second binding round most schools that offer it run in early-to-mid January, with decisions typically back by mid-February -- functionally identical to Early Decision I (a binding yes/no commitment) but timed later, for students whose ED1 didn't work out or who settled on a different top choice after December results. See why ED2 has grown into a real, load-bearing part of how more than 100 colleges fill their class for the full mechanics and the enrollment math driving it, and our full ED vs. EA breakdown if you're still working out how ED2 fits alongside ED1, EA, and REA.

The default ED2 deadline: January 15

Among the schools we track, January 15, 2027 is by far the most common ED2 deadline -- more schools use this date than any other, including Villanova University, Case Western Reserve University, Kenyon College, American University, Colgate University, Tulane University, Franklin and Marshall College, Connecticut College, University of Vermont, Southern Methodist University, and College of Charleston. If a school hasn't told you otherwise, January 15 is the safest assumption to plan around -- but as with ED1 deadlines, "safest assumption" isn't the same as "confirmed."

The second-largest cluster: January 5

A real second group of ED2 deadlines lands on January 5, 2027, including Bowdoin College, Haverford College, Harvey Mudd College, Wellesley College, Smith College, Oberlin College, Boston University, Washington and Lee University, University of Rochester, and Syracuse University. Several of these are the same selective liberal arts colleges that run a later, November 15 ED1 deadline -- the later ED2 date follows the same pattern.

The earliest ED2 deadlines: January 1-4

The earliest real cluster is January 1, 2027, confirmed this cycle for Vanderbilt University, New York University, Northeastern University, Emory University, Wake Forest University, Wesleyan University, Vassar College, Lehigh University, and Brandeis University -- a full two weeks ahead of the January 15 majority. Johns Hopkins University is due January 2, and a slightly larger group -- University of Chicago, Swarthmore College, Rice University, Tufts University, Washington University in St. Louis, Davidson College, and Boston College -- is due January 4. If any of these schools is your genuine second choice after a December deferral or denial, that's real, immediate runway you don't get from a January 15 school.

The latest ED2 deadlines: February 1 and beyond

A handful of schools run ED2 closer to Regular Decision territory: Texas Christian University, High Point University, The Catholic University of America, Ursinus College, Trinity University (TX), and St. Lawrence University all close February 1, and Marist University runs to February 15 -- functionally a third, even later binding round for students still deciding in late January.

What this means for you

  • Don't assume January 15 without checking. It's the most common ED2 date among schools we track, not a universal one -- real ED2 deadlines run from January 1 through February 15.
  • If your December deferral or denial came from a school on the January 1-4 list, you have less runway than a January 15 school would give you -- confirm the exact date before you commit to a second-choice application.
  • This data covers the schools we've researched ED2 deadline data for, not every school that offers a second binding round. Check your specific school directly rather than assuming it follows the pattern here if it isn't named above.
  • ED2 is just as binding as ED1 -- make sure you'd actually attend before applying, not just chasing better odds. That's the real tradeoff worth understanding before you decide, including the one hardship-only way out of a binding commitment.
  • If you were deferred rather than denied, read what actually helps after a deferral first -- in some cases staying in your original school's pool is the better move than opening a new ED2 application elsewhere.

Sources

Deadlines are hand-researched per school from each institution's own published admissions calendar, cross-checked this session against official 2026-27 cycle pages for the dates above, not pulled from a third-party aggregator -- see our methodology for how College Intel sources and verifies school-level data generally.