RD is regular decision. This means that the student applies to the college by its regular application deadline and finds out the college’s decision at the usual time.
EA is early action. This is offered by some colleges. The student applies earlier and gets a decision earlier but typically doesn’t have to make a commitment about which college to attend early. Students may like EA because they get their decision earlier.
There’s something else called ED or early decision, offered by some colleges. In this case, the student applies earlier and gets a decision earlier but MUST attend that school unless it’s financially impossible. ED is a binding commitment. Why would anyone agree to such a thing? The usual reason is that it may be easier to get admitted to the school ED than it would be RD. Kids do it to try to improve their chances of admission to this one school.
There are other possibilities such as SCEA (single-choice early action), rolling admissions, and priority application deadlines (when the student must apply by a certain date to be considered for financial aid or other goodies).
There’s an awful lot of jargon, isn’t there? Perhaps one of the most helpful things a parent can do during junior year is to read about college admissions and become familiar with the specialized terms. This way, the parent is more ready to talk about college with the student, the guidance counselor, and others.