Apply EA or Regular at Northeastern?

My son is trying to decide whether to apply EA to Northeastern. Junior year GPA makes it a bit of a reach, but he is committed to improving his overall GPA in his senior year, especially with 3 AP courses adding to the weight.
Northeastern’s regular deadline is 1-Jan, whereas his school releases the mid-year report a month later. So I wonder if the mid-year report even gets considered in the admissions decision since it will only be available well the application deadline? Or is it just for a post-decision check that accepted students are maintaining their grades?
The dilemma is whether to apply early with the current overall GPA, or to apply regular with a potentially better overall GPA.

what are his test scores?

Test scores are more important than GPA at Northeastern.

I believe most schools will take first term/first semester grades, then you send the mid-year report when available. If you are looking for a boost from your senior year, the recommendation is always to go RD. It won’t hurt. The EA pool is more competitive and a I know a lot of kids who were deferred to RD anyway- therefore got no benefit from EA.

He has 33 composite on the ACT (E 31, R 31, M 35, S 33)

The school does not release the mid-year report till Feb. Can we self-report the first term grades, which come out in December? Does that make any difference?