Early admission allows students to submit their applications to colleges and universities sooner and receive an admission decision sooner than the regular admission timeline. There are two main types of early admissions that are crucial in understanding the purpose of it.
Early Decision requires for the students who apply and get into a college or university sooner than the rest of the students to commit and disregard all the other colleges and universities. Through this, students must attend the college and withdraw all other applications. Deadlines for this type of early decision application are usually due in early November with decisions typically released in mid to late Dec. This type of early decision requires a firm commitment to the chosen school.
The other main type of early decision is early action. This type of application is non-binding, meaning that the students are not obligated to fully commit to the college or university if accepted.
Student counselor Janel Buechler said, “The two types are different because one is binding and one is non binding. Some colleges want to ensure that when they admit the students, the students will fully commit and go to that school. But early action means that there are no commitments since it is non-binding.”
The deadline of applications for this type are usually due around Nov. 1 and decisions are typically released in December or January. This type allows for students to compare offers from different schools and come to a decision without a firm commitment to a specific school as students have until the national reply date of May 1 to commit.
Students can usually apply for early action to multiple schools unlike the early decision that requires students to only apply to one. Students usually choose to apply earlier than others because through this approach, competition is less and students might have a higher chance of admission to their desired colleges or universities.
College and career counselor Beatrice Nguyen shared on this issue, “I think that it’s very important for students to first completely understand the difference between the two. Early action and early decision are very different and students have to understand the difference between them before applying. When students ask me whether they should apply or not, I make sure that they know that for them to apply for early action they need to be completely prepared with their essays, SAT scores and application status in general. If they are completely prepared then I tell them that it is a good idea for them to proceed. But if students are not completely ready yet then I tell them that it is better for them to wait and apply during the regular timeline. Students are commonly under the impression that early decision means that they will automatically have a higher chance of getting into schools but the truth is that that is only the case if students are completely ready to apply.”
Another factor in early admissions is that applying earlier might affect financial aid as it removes the ability to compare and negotiate aid offers from other schools. In early decision, for example, when students are admitted they must accept their given financial aid no matter its size.
