And what about in case of Priority Early Action?
Generally speaking…
Restricted early action: yes, you get some bump.
Unrestricted early action: no, except at schools that fill a very large number of seats in EA (like UMD and UIUC).
Priority early action: usually qualifies you to be considered for honors and/or scholarships but doesn’t provide a bump.
The percent of applicants admitted is often higher, due to the types of students that are applying.
Don’t infer this to mean that the exact same application has a better chance of being accepted Early compared to Regular.
Unfortunately, Columbia SGS does not say how much of its admission classes are filled by early action.
It is unlikely that applying early action is a disadvantage. However, if the school is one that fills most of its admission classes in the early round, applying later will be a disadvantage.
The pools at some schools are just so big in regular that acceptance rates for the spring are pretty scary. I feel like if I don’t apply early somewhere then I’ll miss my best chance of getting in. But there are so many schools I like that choosing is also scary.
Non-binding early action or applying early to rolling admission schools is generally desirable to use, in case the school is one that fills up by the time the regular decision deadline happens.
The main issue is if an early action school is restrictive in that you would agree not to apply to some other schools early that you do want to apply early. In this case, you must choose between the restrictive early action school and the other schools that you may apply early to but would agree not to if applying early to the restrictive early action school.
In contrast, binding early decision needs to be used carefully, if at all.
Not at Georgetown but that is probably a rarity.
Is this question specific to Columbia School of General Studies? If so, you can contact admissions and ask, they might tell you.