Early Admissions: Early Decision | Early Action | Restricted Early Action

It seems like many things in our lives are happening sooner than ever, or perhaps sooner than we’d like them to be happening… and applying to college “early” is no exception. 

From Inside Higher Ed -

“... early action is “far and away the fastest-growing application option” on the Common App; the number of early-action and early-decision applications combined is nearly equal to those submitted for regular decision. ”

Gone are the days of frantically finishing up applications over New Year’s holiday break. In its place is a college application “season” that encroaches on summer prior to senior year - from August 1st, when the Common Application opens - and ends near high school graduation, as student enrollment decisions typically must be finalised by May 1. 

Given this monolithic application timeline, what does applying “early” even mean? And, why would a student want to pursue early admissions opportunities? 

Admissions Timelines

A way to view the various timelines for admissions:

	Early Decision (ED I & II)	Early Action (EA)	Restricted Early Action (REA)	Regular Decision (RD)	Rolling Admissions
What is it?	ED I: Apply early, binding commitment. If accepted, you must attend. ED II: Similar to ED I but with a later deadline. Still binding.	Apply early, non-binding. You can apply to other schools and decide later.	Apply early, non-binding. Limits applications to other colleges during their early rounds.	Apply by the standard deadline, non-binding. Decisions released in spring.	Apply anytime within a broad window, decisions made as applications are received. Non-binding.
Apply	EDI : Typically by November 1 ED II: Typically by January 1	Typically by November 1	Typically by November 1.	Typically by early January	Anytime, typically from early fall to spring.
Hear back	ED I: Mid-December ED II: Mid-February	Mid-December to Mid-January	Mid-December to Mid-January	March or April	A few weeks after applying.
Best for	ED I: Students who are sure about their top-choice school and have strong applications early. ED II: Students who need more time but still want a binding decision	Students who want early results but prefer to keep their options open.	Top students aiming for competitive private schools with flexibility to apply to public schools.	Students who need senior year to strengthen their applications.	Students who want a quick response and flexibility in application timing.
Hot Take	ED I: Great for super committed students, but risky if financial aid or school “best fit” is a concern. ED II: Offers a second chance for binding commitment, useful for students who need 1st semester senior year grades.	Low-risk, high-reward strategy for strong early applicants. Aligns timeline with honours programmes and scholarships.	Limits early applications but preserves flexibility, ideal for confident applicants.	Offers the most flexibility and time to improve your application, but decisions come later.	Convenient and fast, great option for many students. Rolling timeline does NOT mean lesser university.

A few other quick notes -

• Not every college or university offers early admission. Examples of schools that do NOT: University of Washington, UC schools (UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, …), etc…

• Each college may have very specific requirements for ED and EA. It is always best to check each school’s website so that you can understand the fine print.

Students at the University of Washington, which does NOT offer early admissions

Benefits of Early Admission

Three reasons why an early admissions strategy might be worth pursuing:

Less time spent waiting on a decision. 

• Particularly with Early Decision options, students receive an admissions answer within about 4-6 weeks of submitting their application. 

• A second-order effect of receiving a yes/no/maybe back from a school earlier in the application cycle is that it gives students (and their families) more time to react to good AND not-ideal news. For example, you might create or modify plans to visit colleges in the spring of your senior year differently based on news from early admissions decisions. You might choose to apply to more/different colleges. Etc… 
  

Timeline often aligns with honours programs and scholarships apps. 

• Many academic-focused scholarships have application deadlines mid-fall.

• Same for admissions to honours colleges and programs within universities. 

• Completing your apps early is usually a pre-requisite for eligibility. And, having your applications completed early gives you more time to focus on the additional work often required by these programs and scholarships (more essays, more recommendations, etc…).
  

Gain an admissions edge.

• To the college or university. At some colleges and universities, there can be an advantage to applying early. For example, from the Duke admissions website: 

“There is an advantage in the admissions process to applying Early Decision. During the 2022-2023 application cycle, we admitted 16.5% of students who applied Early Decision and 5.2% of students who applied Regular Decision.”

• To a particular major. At some colleges and universities, there can be an advantage to applying early to highly competitive majors. For example, from the Purdue admissions website: 

“Priority application deadline for biomedical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering (first-year), flight (professional flight technology), mechanical engineering, motorsports engineering, nursing, and veterinary nursing. Priority means we will continue accepting applications after this date only if space allows — if applying for one of these programs after November 1, check the closed programs page first.”

But… a few very important caveats related to Point #3 above (gaining an admissions edge). 

Caveat #1 - These admissions advantages are NOT uniform.

Meaning, they are very much dependent on the individual college and its policies. Check the school’s website (!!!) to understand. As an example, the University of Georgia is super-clear that applying early gives students NO advantage. 

Caveat #2 - Sometimes, an admissions advantage can be less than it seems. 

This is because early admission windows are often used by schools to admit students who meet key priorities for the university. Examples: admitting recruited athletes, legacy students, the rich and famous, first-generation and under-represented populations (e.g. QuestBridge students), and so on. When all of those populations are accounted for, any advantage gained by applying early may be minimal, or none at all.

Caveat #3 - Applying early won’t make up for weaknesses in your application.

Sometimes students think that if they apply early then maybe the college will be more forgiving of their low grades in math junior year or their GPA/standardised test scores outside of the mid-50% student profile (colleges often publish this info: an example). Unfortunately, that is not usually the way it works. To refer back to the example above from Duke University… Duke does say that applying early is an advantage. But, the school still rejected or deferred ~88% of early decision candidates! Most highly competitive schools receive way more highly competitive applicants than they have slots for. The “early admissions boost” is most effective for students who squarely match the admitted student profile.

Challenges with Early Admission

Three reasons why an early admissions strategy might NOT be worth pursuing:

Financial aid ambiguity.

• Although students can be released from an Early Decision commitment if financial aid is inadequate, Early Decision admits won’t be able to compare financial aid packages across schools. Early Decision creates a lock-in when you may have partial or incomplete information from which to make your decision. 

• In practice, what this means is that - 1/ students from lower income families tend to not take advantage of Early Decision - even at schools that guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need - when they probably could/should and 2/ students from middle income households can end up paying full price when they may have been able to get a better financial aid “deal” by shopping admission offers at several colleges.

• In other words, students who can pay the full cost of attendance don’t face this challenge, but everyone else (meaning, the majority of students) does.
  

Reduced time for getting your application ready.

• Applying early means that you’ll need to have all of your needed application materials ready by October of your senior year. 

• Specifically, this means that the grades (and GPA) you submit won’t be inclusive of your senior year. If you need first semester senior year grades to bolster your academic record, early admission may not be a good choice. 

• You’ll need to have completed your standardised tests, if pursuing, by late summer / early fall in order to allow enough time for the scores to flow through and for you to be able to submit official reports (to the colleges that require them). This would mean taking the October SAT offering at the latest.

• Last, it means that you’ll need to have obtained letters of recommendation from your counselor and teachers.

• All of this requires quite a bit of organisation and forethought to prepare a strong application on an accelerated timeline. 

You don’t have a clear first-choice school.

• There's a risk in thinking that only one college may be the perfect fit. Some students are designing Early Decision strategies, even if they’re not actually dead-set on attending the particular school. 

Closing Thoughts

I worry quite a bit about the pressures that early admissions has added to many students. What was once a niche application strategy has become mainstream, without consequences being fully understood or studied.

There’s perhaps always been an emphasis on gaining admission to “named” or “highly ranked” schools, but this has now been amplified - early admissions strategies create the appearance of an advantage at a time when many highly selective schools have gotten even more selective. 

This isn’t to say that early admissions is inherently bad, or not appropriate for some students. But the reality is that early admissions exists because it is of great benefit to the college or university. Any benefits to students are secondary. 

But enrollment management - meaning minimising the chances that a college will either over-enroll or under-enroll - and “yield” are topics I’ll need to save for subsequent posts :). In the meantime, I’m hopeful that now that you have a better understanding of the pros and cons, you’ll be able to best navigate your own admissions path.