Early, Regular, Rolling

Rolling

There are several types of application, depending on the colleges.

Rolling schools are schools which generally do not have an application deadline. Applications are received and evaluated in the order they are received. So you would do well to apply as early as you can in order to have a greater chance of getting accepted. Their applications are generally open from September to March.

Regular Decision

Many schools have regular decision programs. Generally the application is deadline is somewhere between mid-December to mid-January. You will receive a decision by early April.

Early Decision (ED)

In this program, you apply to a college by early November and receive a decision by mid-December. This was originally designed to allow applicants to know their admissions decision much earlier than others.

The difference between ED and EA is that ED is binding; while EA is not. What this means is that when you apply ED, you agree to attend that college if you are accepted, and you MUST withdraw all other applications. You cannot apply ED to more than one school.

Early Action (EA)

EA, on the other hand, is not binding. If you are offered admission in mid-December, you are still free to apply to other colleges, and you only need to respond by May 1 (the national deadline for candidates’ response). EA, however, has two distinct types. One is called Single-Choice Early Action, the other is just EA.

Single Choice Early Action (SCEA) - Harvard and MIT are two such colleges - give students the opportunity to apply to one college, and receive an admissions decision from that college – before the regular decision application round. Similar to ED, you may apply to only one college under SCEA; meaning, that when you apply to an SCEA school, you cannot apply early to anywhere else.

Dangers of Early Decision Programs

First of all, don’t even think of any early decision programs before you have finalized your choices. Don’t apply early just because your peers are applying early to somewhere and you feel compelled to follow.

Let me tell you why. The danger lies in the binding part of the agreement. When you are accepted ED, you must withdraw all applications that are pending, and reject all acceptances that you receive. This means that you will not be able to compare financial aid packages from different schools anymore.

Also, applying early means that you won’t have a chance to submit your mid-year grades for evaluation. If you are looking to improve your grades or expecting a significant achievement in your senior year, early programs are probably bad for you. From a more intangible perspective, being deferred in December can lead to distress; unable to concentrate on mid-year exams, stuffs like that.

Truth is, ED programs help colleges more than they help you. Colleges get to lock in all the high-powered applicants early in the process, since all accepted applicants are bound to attend. A lot of students think that by applying ED, they increase their chances at highly selective schools like Princeton. I’m sorry, but they don’t.

Should I Apply Early?

Sure, expressing interest in a school helps you, and applying early expresses that interest. But no matter how interested you are, you still have to have an impeccable transcript. Nothing is more important than your transcript.

My advice is, only apply ED if:

• You do not need substantial financial aid
• You have great scores and grades already
• The school is your absolute first choice and you know you will definitely attend

Decisions: Acceptance - Deferral - Rejection

At all early programs, your decision in mid-December may be one of three: acceptance, deferral or rejection. If you are rejected, you may not re-apply under their Regular Decision. A deferral means that the college will reevaluate your application together with the RD pool of applicants. You will receive a second decision in early April. If you are deferred under the ED program, the agreement is no longer binding. If you are accepted in April, you are not bound to attend.