Should I Apply Early Decision or Early Action Instead of Regular Decision for My College Applications?

With College Admissions becoming increasingly competitive over the last several years, Universities are encouraging applicants to differentiate themselves via a variety of methods. One way that College Counselors suggest that an applicant differentiate themselves is through the strategic use of Early Decision and Early Action applications.

Early Decision (ED) is a binding agreement between the candidate and the University that upon acceptance the student will withdraw consideration at any other University and attend the University where they applied ED. Therefore, an applicant can only apply to one College via ED. The deadlines are earlier, some as early as October 1st... Why would one want to bind themselves to such an agreement? Well, candidates that apply ED have an advantage, because they are indicating to the College or University that this school is their first choice. College Admissions officials want to know whether you genuinely have them ranked as your #1 selection, and the way they can confirm that is whether you apply Early Decision.

Early Action (EA) is non-binding and can either be restrictive or non-restrictive. For example, USC is non-restrictive EA, which means that a candidate can apply to multiple schools EA. However, Stanford is restrictive EA, which means that a candidate cannot apply to other EA programs. Therefore, it is important to find out whether a school is restrictive or non-restrictive with respect to EA applications. Why would one apply EA if they have the opportunity to apply ED? Since EA is non-binding, if you gain acceptance to a College or University to which you apply EA, then you do not necessarily have to attend that school. EA simply indicates to the Admissions staff that the school is one of your top choices. EA applications are also due earlier, usually around November 1st… Is there any advantage to applying EA? Yes, because it conveys that the likelihood of you attending that school, should you gain admittance, is rather high. Admissions Officers like to extend letters of acceptance to students who have a high probability of attending.

Regular Decision (RD) is both non-binding and non-restrictive. The deadlines are later in the admissions cycle, and there is no indication that this College or University is your first choice or last choice. The vast majority of applicants go through RD, so there are many more applicants to compete with in this round of Admissions decisions. Last year, the top two UC System Schools received nearly 150,000 applications for less than 10,000 spots. That is an acceptance rate of only 7.5%!

Therefore, it is important to consult with an expert College Counselor who can lead you and guide you through this extremely competitive process. There are no safety schools anymore… Now, some of the UC System schools have acceptance rates that are comparable with Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Duke. We are living in a different world where everyone is being encouraged to apply to College, which is causing application numbers to skyrocket to unprecedented levels! Assembling a strategy and concrete action plan on how to navigate the College Admissions landscape with expert College Consulting is more important now than it has ever been. Call Dow Educational Solutions today for your College Counseling Initial Assessment or fill-out the contact form by selecting the Contact tab above.