Early Application Options

 The  Early round of the admissions season  is only a  month away. 

If you  thought  there were not enough acronyms in the admissions game you now have to familiarise yourself with the  EA/ED/RD/REA deadlines.

 The main college application  deadline is usually referred to as Regular Decision ( RD). This is typically January 01, though some schools  have February deadlines.

 If you have a clear cut dream university, considering applying early decision. Early Decision  ( ED)applications are typicalluy due by November 01.  You will know of the result by mid December. When you apply early decision the offer is binding. If accepted your next step is to send a deposit to secue your  place in the class of 2023.

 Some things to keep  in mind - because of its  binding nature you can only apply to one university early decision.   You can still apply to other schools thriugh Early Action or RD  admissions

 Early Action(EA) has a similar deadline  of  Nov 15 , although a few universities  have deadlines of October 15 ( I will be listing details  in future posts). EA decisions will also come in mid December but threy are not binding. 

In my opinion there is no down side to an EA application.     You know by mid December and will have until April to accept  which means tiy can still apply RD to several schools and  then make an informed decision in April.

 Some excellent EA options are Michigan ,  illinois, Georgia Tech,  Case Western and  Georgetown.

 Finally you havr restrictive early action ( REA. This is olowed only by  Harvard, Yale,  Princeton and Stanford.

 The application deadline remains Nov 01 but  under REA you cannopy apply to any otherED or  EA options you  need to apply to all other schools under an RD cycle.

 One advantage of REA  over  ED is that it is not binding , you still have until April  to decide.

 In short apply REA if Stanford, Yale, Harvard or Princeton is your dream university.  Otherwise consider an ED application to your dream college. keep a few EA options too.

  Otherwise apply to a few  strong EA programs and  the rest  RD.

 The advantages of an early application.

 by starting early you will be better prepared for the RD applications

•  If you get accepted to a EA option you can eliminate some colleges from your application list.
•  EA, RD, REA accveptance rates are as miuch as three times higher than RD figures.

 Further posts will gave more details.