Acing the Application: Deciding to Apply Early or Early Decision

Buy this book »

Deciding To Apply Early Action Or Early Decision

Applying "early action" allows a student to apply to a school by November 1 and have a nonbinding answer back from the admissions office on or about December 15. Fewer and fewer colleges and universities are offering early action programs, primarily due to the difficulties that these nonbinding decisions pose to committees trying to accurately calculate admissions yields (the percentage of students offered admission who actually matriculate).

For this reason, most schools now offer early decision programs instead, which allow students to apply "ED-1" by November 1 for a decision by December 15 or "ED-2" by December 1 for a decision by January 15. These decisions, however, are binding upon a student offered admission—and a successful early decision candidate must withdraw all of his or her other applications for admission and agree to matriculate in the college or university offering admission.

The ED-1 and ED-2 programs allow a student to apply early to his or her top-choice school ED-1 and then, if that application results in a deferral or a rejection, to apply to his or her second-choice school ED-2.

So how do you decide whether you want to participate in early decision? And are your chances of admission better or worse in the early decision pool than they are in the regular admission pool?

The answers to these questions are largely dependent on the individual applicant and the individual school, but there are a few truisms across schools.

Generally speaking, the percentage of candidates gaining admission to a particular school is higher in the early decision pool than it is in the regular admissions pool. This, of course, is largely due to the fact that ED candidates typically present with higher average GPAs and SAT scores than candidates in the regular pool. But it is also because the class is completely empty at the time of ED decision making, meaning that there are more seats to fill than there are when the regular admissions process takes place and because any upward trend in number of applications or average scores has not yet manifested itself. As the result of all of these factors, admissions officers tend to be a bit "looser" in choosing candidates during the ED process.

So what does this mean for you?

If you have a clear first-choice school, your credentials put you in the ballpark for admission to that school, and you do not expect anything about your candidacy to notably improve between the ED1, ED2, and regular admissions deadlines, we recommend applying early decision to your top choice school. In addition to signaling your preference, doing so will place you in the most favorable position available for gaining admission. And hey—if you get in, you're done!

However, if your grades are below the mean for that school, but are trending upward such that another set of grades might materially improve your GPA, you might want to wait to apply until those grades can be considered as part of your application. Similarly, if your SAT score was below expectations and you have decided to take it again, waiting to apply until that score can be considered may be your best bet.

This discussion again highlights the importance of performing diligently throughout your high school years, and then getting a jump on your application process by completing your college research and your test administrations early. In this case, the early (and qualified) birds often get the worm.