Author: Caleb Ho (STC Class of 2015)
The college application is a marathon, and it’s perfectly understandable to feel as though you’re falling behind, or that there are simply too many unanswerable questions in your head. If you’re reading this however, you’re nearly there! Choosing whether to apply early isn’t just an option given to you on the Common App.
It’s worth spending time considering all the different things involved, and making sure you have enough information to make an informed decision. For the sake of your own college experience, don’t be that guy/girl who detests the cold, and ends up going to a school in New England; it could be miserable. On that note, here’s everything you need to know about applying Early Decision!
The college application is a marathon, and it’s perfectly understandable to feel as though you’re falling behind, or that there are simply too many unanswerable questions in your head. If you’re reading this however, you’re nearly there! Choosing whether to apply early isn’t just an option given to you on the Common App.
It’s worth spending time considering all the different things involved, and making sure you have enough information to make an informed decision. For the sake of your own college experience, don’t be that guy/girl who detests the cold, and ends up going to a school in New England; it could be miserable. On that note, here’s everything you need to know about applying Early Decision!
Note: By this point, you should have a good idea of the colleges you’re going to apply to, at a bare minimum. It would also be great if have sound knowledge of the schools you’re considering, or if you know exactly what you want in a college.
On financial aid, it’s helpful to know your own financial situation: How much you can afford, the likelihood of getting aid/scholarships from colleges. If you need time to deal with all this money-business, or if your college choice hinges on offers of substantial financial aid, it may be best to skip ED to consider aid offers from all colleges during the Regular Decision round.
What is Early Decision?
Early Decision is a college admission policy that means that if you apply to a particular college via early decision, you are committed to attending that college if accepted. The application deadline is typically due around early November, and you will know your fate just before Christmas.
Other admissions policies include Early Action, Restricted Early Action, and Rolling Admission, along with the default Regular Decision application.
There are three possible outcomes to an early application: acceptance, deferral, or rejection. An admission through ED is binding, and you are required to withdraw all other applications to other schools. A deferral means that your application will be pooled to the regular round, where it will be considered along with the pool of regular decision applications.
Some schools with Early Decision include: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Bowdoin, Claremont McKenna, Colgate, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Wellesley, Wesleyan and Williams.
Early Decision is a college admission policy that means that if you apply to a particular college via early decision, you are committed to attending that college if accepted. The application deadline is typically due around early November, and you will know your fate just before Christmas.
Other admissions policies include Early Action, Restricted Early Action, and Rolling Admission, along with the default Regular Decision application.
There are three possible outcomes to an early application: acceptance, deferral, or rejection. An admission through ED is binding, and you are required to withdraw all other applications to other schools. A deferral means that your application will be pooled to the regular round, where it will be considered along with the pool of regular decision applications.
Some schools with Early Decision include: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Bowdoin, Claremont McKenna, Colgate, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Wellesley, Wesleyan and Williams.
What are its advantages and disadvantages?
Advantages
You will have the pleasure (or anguish) of an early answer.
Who doesn’t want to know earlier? Regardless of outcome, if you know your college outlook by December, you will have time to complete what needs to be done, whether it’s polishing up academics or finishing the rest of your applications, a little extra time never hurt anyone.
It saves the time and expense of submitting multiple applications
Each application takes money to send, and can be anywhere from 60 USD to 75 USD. Money should not be a big concern in the application figure, but if you’re applying to say, more than 10 schools, the numbers can pile up quickly.
Note: Higher admission rates for ED applicants may correlate to stronger profiles among candidates choosing ED, and does not necessarily mean there’s a higher chance of getting an acceptance through ED.
Disadvantages
Pressure, Pressure
There are so many things to do in a college application, and having an earlier deadline doesn’t help things any. Am I comfortable committing to this college? Am I doing this just to “get it over with”? If these things aren’t done properly, or the pressure becomes too much for you to handle, could potentially lead to a hastily completed application, and probably a quick rejection.
Fewer Financial Opportunities
As the ED agreement is binding, you won’t have an opportunity to consider other financial aid/scholarship packages from other schools. If you are planning to apply for financial aid, this is something to consider.
(For the Procrastinators) Crunch Time for the Other Applications
It’s a procrastinator’s worst nightmare. You haven’t finished your other applications, because you’re banking on getting that elusive acceptance, and you won’t need to finish the other applications at all. (Roughly) December 15th comes and goes, and you’ve received the very words you’ve been dreading: “We’re sorry to inform you…” Now what? You have two weeks to finish the rest of your applications. Two weeks. Applying early could potentially mean that you’ve also spent ample time on your other applications, but it could also mean that you’ve placed all your eggs in one basket, and it hasn’t worked out, leaving a ton of unfinished applications to accompany you over Christmas.
Senioritis
An early acceptance is great and all, but it leaves the door open for a drop in productivity and motivation. Even if you feel that you have nothing left to do for the rest of your senior year, there is always the possibility of getting put on academic probation or even getting your offer rescinded should your academic performance drop drastically. Don’t get complacent!
Advantages
You will have the pleasure (or anguish) of an early answer.
Who doesn’t want to know earlier? Regardless of outcome, if you know your college outlook by December, you will have time to complete what needs to be done, whether it’s polishing up academics or finishing the rest of your applications, a little extra time never hurt anyone.
It saves the time and expense of submitting multiple applications
Each application takes money to send, and can be anywhere from 60 USD to 75 USD. Money should not be a big concern in the application figure, but if you’re applying to say, more than 10 schools, the numbers can pile up quickly.
Note: Higher admission rates for ED applicants may correlate to stronger profiles among candidates choosing ED, and does not necessarily mean there’s a higher chance of getting an acceptance through ED.
Disadvantages
Pressure, Pressure
There are so many things to do in a college application, and having an earlier deadline doesn’t help things any. Am I comfortable committing to this college? Am I doing this just to “get it over with”? If these things aren’t done properly, or the pressure becomes too much for you to handle, could potentially lead to a hastily completed application, and probably a quick rejection.
Fewer Financial Opportunities
As the ED agreement is binding, you won’t have an opportunity to consider other financial aid/scholarship packages from other schools. If you are planning to apply for financial aid, this is something to consider.
(For the Procrastinators) Crunch Time for the Other Applications
It’s a procrastinator’s worst nightmare. You haven’t finished your other applications, because you’re banking on getting that elusive acceptance, and you won’t need to finish the other applications at all. (Roughly) December 15th comes and goes, and you’ve received the very words you’ve been dreading: “We’re sorry to inform you…” Now what? You have two weeks to finish the rest of your applications. Two weeks. Applying early could potentially mean that you’ve also spent ample time on your other applications, but it could also mean that you’ve placed all your eggs in one basket, and it hasn’t worked out, leaving a ton of unfinished applications to accompany you over Christmas.
Senioritis
An early acceptance is great and all, but it leaves the door open for a drop in productivity and motivation. Even if you feel that you have nothing left to do for the rest of your senior year, there is always the possibility of getting put on academic probation or even getting your offer rescinded should your academic performance drop drastically. Don’t get complacent!
What do I need to do to prepare and apply to a selective college ED?
To be honest, the difference between applying early and regular comes down to a bunch of dates. You’ll have to start the application process a bit earlier than most applicants, and SAT reasoning and subject test scores need to be completed by October.
One mistake that applicants often make is misconstruing higher early acceptance rates as an advantage of applying early. This is something that I’ve highlighted above, but bears mentioning again. Many times, ED applicants are the strongest candidates a college will consider. Here’s an excerpt from the Brown Daily Herald on the class of 2019:
To be honest, the difference between applying early and regular comes down to a bunch of dates. You’ll have to start the application process a bit earlier than most applicants, and SAT reasoning and subject test scores need to be completed by October.
One mistake that applicants often make is misconstruing higher early acceptance rates as an advantage of applying early. This is something that I’ve highlighted above, but bears mentioning again. Many times, ED applicants are the strongest candidates a college will consider. Here’s an excerpt from the Brown Daily Herald on the class of 2019:
“The early decision applicants to the class of 2019 comprised the “strongest ED pool we have ever had,” Miller [Dean of Admission] wrote.”
To give you an idea of who you’re up against, not only are you facing strong students that don’t need to rely on strong first term grades or October SAT scores to strengthen their applications, legacies and recruited athletes also feature here, serving to skew the admissions rate to an extent. There really is no substituting good test scores, transcripts and a well-rounded extra-curricular profile, so be the best student you can be!
Aside from academics, do some research on your ED College. Does it have your desired academic, social, campus environment? Do you match their admissions profile, i.e. you’re comfortably within their range of test scores? If you’re going to commit to a school, at least know what it’s going to be like.
Is this school really your top choice?
Building on the last paragraph, fit is critical. Not only does a college decide if you’re their ‘type’ of student, but this is how you’ll know whether you’ll enjoy your college life. When I was in the middle of choosing my colleges, I wasn’t actually sure of what I was looking for in a college, or where I would fit in. There wasn’t any checklist in my mind with things that needed to be ticked off, one by one. But I knew myself, and what I liked.
When I chose to apply to Brown, I was excited about everything it had to offer. Brown has a strong education studies program, with close links to community organizations such as Teach for America and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Its location in Providence, RI, meant it was relatively close to culturally rich Boston (incidentally also the home of my beloved Boston Celtics) and New York City, where internships and placement opportunities would be abundant. It’s intriguing political landscape meant studying education and educational policy with a first hand view of reforms taking place. Its Open Curriculum would allow me to have the flexibility to explore whatever courses I wanted to, and my personal favorite: Brown is close to the sea.
You may be thinking “what?” with regards to that last point, but the point is that when you’re deciding to apply early to a school, you should choose a school that appeals to you personally. You should choose a school that stands out to you above all the rest. You should choose a school where you know you’d thrive for the next four, or however many years. All of these things I’ve stated above are very specific to me, and I personally feel like there’s no place I’d rather be. It’s not the same for everyone, but when you’ve found the college that’s meant for you, and you’re ready, then absolutely apply early. Good Luck!
Building on the last paragraph, fit is critical. Not only does a college decide if you’re their ‘type’ of student, but this is how you’ll know whether you’ll enjoy your college life. When I was in the middle of choosing my colleges, I wasn’t actually sure of what I was looking for in a college, or where I would fit in. There wasn’t any checklist in my mind with things that needed to be ticked off, one by one. But I knew myself, and what I liked.
When I chose to apply to Brown, I was excited about everything it had to offer. Brown has a strong education studies program, with close links to community organizations such as Teach for America and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Its location in Providence, RI, meant it was relatively close to culturally rich Boston (incidentally also the home of my beloved Boston Celtics) and New York City, where internships and placement opportunities would be abundant. It’s intriguing political landscape meant studying education and educational policy with a first hand view of reforms taking place. Its Open Curriculum would allow me to have the flexibility to explore whatever courses I wanted to, and my personal favorite: Brown is close to the sea.
You may be thinking “what?” with regards to that last point, but the point is that when you’re deciding to apply early to a school, you should choose a school that appeals to you personally. You should choose a school that stands out to you above all the rest. You should choose a school where you know you’d thrive for the next four, or however many years. All of these things I’ve stated above are very specific to me, and I personally feel like there’s no place I’d rather be. It’s not the same for everyone, but when you’ve found the college that’s meant for you, and you’re ready, then absolutely apply early. Good Luck!
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