<p>Out of the 12 colleges I am thinking of applying to, 6 offer non binding early action. Some of the colleges only consider you for merit aid and scholarships if you apply early action (As I understand it). As far as I can tell it just opens me up for an early acceptance decision, puts me up for consideration for scholarships, and possibly increases chances. As long as they are non binding (which they are not) are there any downsides to applying EA to each?</p>
<p>There aren’t, apart from the fact that you’ll have less time to build your app. If you can write a good app by november, go for it.</p>
<p>Make sure that none of these schools have Single Choice Early Action (I tihnk SCEA is only offered by harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, and boston college), which would mean that you can’t EA to other schools.</p>
<p>EA will not, however, give you increased chances. Since it’s nonbinding, the college has no security in your acceptance, and since you can EA to multiple schools it doesn’t even really show interest. EA is just like RD but you send the app/get the decision earlier.</p>
<p>Awesome, thanks</p>
<p>always, always, always apply EA if you can to those “borderline” acceptance schools. yes, you have less of a chance to build your application - but by the time november hits, you are pretty much sick of proofreading your college essays.
As for early decision, I wouldn’t recommend doing this. ever. Come college acceptance letter time, your interests change and you don’t want to overlook any opportunity that comes your way.</p>
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<p>But note that there are often exceptions, such as public schools, rolling admissions schools, schools where early application is needed for scholarship consideration, and schools outside the US. If you want to apply SCEA, read the exceptions carefully.</p>
<p>Know that if merit aid is dependent on EA, there will most likely be a scholarship weekend or additional essays that will happen around January.</p>