If a high school senior submits an application to a college by or before its official early decision date, will that student’s RD application be considered then or will it be set it aside and lift to linger until regular decision time? We’re looking to be done in our household with the college application process early senior year but also want to see if sending in apps early (without applying as an ED) buys the applicant any advantage.
depends on the college - Schools that have an Early Action (EA) option will process it early and notify you of a decision early. Also Rolling Admission schools will do similar. If a school is not a rolling admit or does not have an EA option, then it goes with regular decision. Best to look at the admissions section of your prospective schools.
Unless they officially have rolling admissions or you apply under a special Early Action or Early Decision plan, you will find out on the same date in March that every regular decision applicant finds out his/her decision.
So there will be no advantage in terms of hearing the decision.
However, it is hard to say whether yours may be one of the earlier applications they READ, maybe in December after they have finished admitting students in the ED or EA round. Might being one of the first applications read confer an advantage? Do they read them in order received or organize the reading in some other manner? Does the college save all committee votes until later in the winter anyway? Is it better to be read when the officers are fresh-minded and have not already filled many slots? Or is it a disadvantage because they are wondering how strong other RD applicants will be? Who knows? One can only speculate.
So make a decision based on whether your child wants to take his/her time with the application or get it over with… Do not expect an RD advantage.
I would suggest that you look at the admissions plans available at each school you apply to.
–If a school has rolling admission they review applications in the order they are received and there is an advantage to getting it in early.
–If a school has a non-restrictive, non-binding EA plan then you may want to consider applying under that plan to get an answer earlier.
–If a school has binding ED and RD options only then regardless of when the application is submitted you will hear at the RD decision date and likely the application won’t be reviewed until the ED round is over.
In any even if your want to get the applications in early there is no harm in doing so.
Even for schools that have rolling and ED/EA, it is not likely they will start reviewing non-EA/ED application early. They will finish the EA/ED application review and notice before working on the rolling RD.
I think everyone else has covered the answer pretty well. I agree with GreyKing that it’s hard to know if yours will be read first and whether that would even be an advantage. But I’ll add one more consideration…
If your goal is simply to have the process done, by all means do so. You may, however, want to stop just short of actually submitting the applications. That way you give yourself a chance to make any updates before it’s submitted.
(On the other hand, don’t wait until the very last minute to submit, where you may run into technical issues!).
Good advice, thanks!
Does anyone know if schools confirm they have received an applicant’s package? For example, if a senior sends their app in October, will the college at least send a confirmation of receipt? Esp if they are not responding to the student until March or so? Is it cool to call the school and just say hey did ya get my kid’s package? If it’s all online I’m sure that happens automatically but what about stuff that’s send through snail mail?
Even if you’re not considered until the RD round, submitting early is often considered demonstrating interest.
@ctparent2019 Most schools send students a link to an applications portal after the main application is submitted. The student can check there to make sure all recommendations, test scores, and transcripts have been received. If the school doesn’t have a portal (or if the portal is confusing) it’s OK to call.
I’m not sure there is any personal advantage to finishing and submitting early, for RD. The thought is, kids change a lot between junior spring and senior fall and then between Sept and December. As so many kids apply without a full knowledge of their targets, it might be worth it to keep the last month or two of space. Plus, in December, the regional rep may only be doing first cut (and first notes for kids who make it through this.) There’s more to the process.
Also, unless it’s Early or rolling, some hs won’t send the transcript in advance. Needs to be checked.
Most colleges, if not all, have some sort of portal to confirm info received and what’s pending.
@AroundHere Just curious where you heard that/what school admission officer said that was the case. I know some schools take an EA application as a sign of greater than average interest, but I’ve never heard of an early RD application being regarded in that manner.
@happy1 I’m not sure I can quote a source to you – if I would have a guess where I first heard it, it would be the Collegewise blog because they frequently advocate getting your apps in by Thanksgiving. But, it seems to be “accepted folk knowledge” among my friends (I homeschool, and a lot of parents acting as college guidance counselors trade tips and hints and maybe talk in more detail about the application process than parents might otherwise) that early is better, even if you’re not on an ED/EA plan.
“Demonstrating interest” is much, much more than submitting an early RD app. If an applicant is truly and deeply interested, he’s taken the time to research the school, learn how he matches what they want, sees his contribution and can articulate it, knows how to put his best foot forward.
It’s true many highly qualified kids get rejected; there isn’t enough space for everyone. But not all those apps and supps hit the mark, in the first place. That’s more important than getting it submitted sooner.
Okay…I got curious about this and did a google search…here is a site that answers this question and responses from many in the field.
(Also, wanted to add to OP…another consideration, some colleges have a deadline, say, Jan 1 for RD, but if you want to be considered for a particular scholarship the deadline might be moved up to Dec 1, so check all dates carefully!)
I am probably the only one on here who doesn’t know this but… What is the difference between early action and early decision? Is it that the former is nonbinding and the latter is?
This link is great. Thank you for sharing it.
@ctparent2019 – Yes. Early decision means you must attend the college if accepted, withdrawing all other applications. In early action, you find out early but have until the universal notification date of May 1st to decide.
To add to GreyKing’s answer…there is also Single Choice Early Action where you do not apply early decision or action anywhere else (with some exceptions, they do allow), but you still have the flexibility to wait until May 1st for a decision. And there is Early Decision 2 at some schools where the deadline might be the same (or very similar) to Regular Decision, but the commitment is the same as Early Decision (and you’ll still find out earlier than RD).
Whatever you do submit only your best application as any advantage to be gained by being an early RD read will be finished by a weak app.