The fall of senior year is an eventful time for high school students. They have to take standardized tests, write their college essays, ask for letters of recommendation, and finish college and scholarship applications. It is a time full of decisions, and one of the biggest decisions a student has to make is whether or not he or she should apply to college through an early admissions program.

Most Common Early Admissions Programs

There are two common types of early application program: early decision and early action. Early decision is a binding commitment where students are obligated to attend the school if accepted. A choice to apply early decision usually has to be made in October because students must finish their application, ask for recommendations, and write their essays by the November 1 (the most common ED deadline). Some schools that offer an early decision program are Columbia University, New York University, and Georgetown University.

Early action, on the other hand, is more like a priority deadline; it is nonbinding and students are allowed to apply to multiple schools before the early November 1 deadline. Applicants receive their admissions decision in December and have until May 1 to decide whether or not to attend. Schools like Northeastern University, University of Connecticut, and Boston College are currently admitting students through early action programs.

Recently there has been a growth in single choice early action (SCEA) programs, which allow students to apply through the early admissions period, but restrict applicants from applying to other school’s early programs. Stanford University and Yale University have recently implemented single choice early action programs, which make up for about one third of their incoming classes.

Why Colleges Use Early Admissions

Put yourself in the position of a college admissions officer. You spend hours reviewing many stellar applications and argue with your colleagues to accept students who you think would be a great addition to the school. In addition, you are forced to deny admissions to many qualified applicants—most of whom would have also been great at your school. You do all this to find out that some of the stellar applicants that you accepted are not attending.

Yield, the rate at which accepted applicants attend a school, is a figure that many admissions counselors are conscious of. When accepting students, they want qualified applicants that want to attend, and early admissions, especially early decision, reduces the guessing involved in the admissions decision. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, “In most early decision programs, students promise they will enroll in the college if they get in. The pledge eliminates some of the guess-work that characterizes the spring admission season, when a college might lose to competitors half or three-fourths of the people it admits.”

Author Recommendations and Personal Input

Early Decision: Applying early decision does have some advantages because a student clearly demonstrates to the college that the school is his number one choice. In my opinion, if you have any questions what so ever if a college is right for you, then you should not apply early decision because it is a binding commitment. I had some friends who got in early decision to a school that was not their first choice and they were unhappy with their college choice. However, if you have a distinct number one choice and financial aid is not a major concern, then applying early decision can relieve some anxiety during your senior year—especially during the spring decisions period.

Early Action: Applying early action can have some great benefits depending on your admissions decision. An early acceptance may allow you to become more aggressive with your college applications by providing a “back up” school. Students who apply early action are generally well qualified because they do not need to take any more standardized tests and because another semester of grades, extracurricular activities, and awards would not benefit their application greatly.

Single choice early action: I applied to Stanford single choice early action. Stanford does not have an early decision program but it has an sing choice early action program. Stanford was my top choice and I was pretty committed to attending. However, I still applied to other schools because I was uncertain about how my Stanford financial aid package would turn out. Since the program was considered early action and was non-binding, I was able to do so without penalty. Had the program been early decision, Stanford would have expected that I attend unless there were financial concerns.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed in this post are those of its author and do not necessarily represent the views of myCollegeSTAT.com.