I know that an Early Decision can, in some cases, greatly improve your chances for admission into some college. Does that mean that Early Action can provide similar boosts to your chances when compared to regular decision?
Typically EA does not as improve chances for admissions as it is not binding.
You’d have to look up the stats at each school but I would guess that it would make a difference at some schools. I recall an article about 10 years ago where it clearly showed there was a 10% difference in admission rate at many elite private schools.
Depends on school. Also, for some it increases opp for merit $$.
Depends on the college.
For some schools, if you are counting on legacy preference to increase your chance of admission then you should only apply in the early round. Recruited athlete status is also generally only considered in the earliest round.
Quite a few schools have higher admit rates EA then RD.
Keep in mind that the higher EA rates are, at least in part, due to the hooked applicants (ex. recruited athletes, legacy etc.) who apply in that round.
^^ In addition, EA/ED applicants tend to have higher stats than the general RD population that might negate any perceived benefit from applying early.
^^^That is the question we struggle with. To apply EA to show interest or not because pool is stronger.
The question is - does it hurt to apply EA if you are not in the top 25% of applicant stats?
Our high school counselor advises students to apply EA everywhere on the student’s list that offers it (within each school’s rules of course). Exceptions would include situations where the student’s academic credentials needed the extra time that waiting until RD would provide.
There is no downside to applying EA as it is not binding (unless you need to raise grades). It would not hurt. THey may say “oh, here is a pretty smart piano player who wants to major in Biology”…better to be the first of those than the last.
Our CC gave the same advice as @evergreen5.
To me, the biggest benefit was having acceptances (with merit) earlier in the process, including when the ED response was not a yes. It really reduced stress.
There are some schools, like Boston College and Notre Dame, who historically have said that the EA round is harder than the regular decision round.
This is from BC’s website: Admission through Early Action to Boston College is more competitive than at Regular Decision. It is intended for candidates with a high degree of confidence in their academic performance through junior year and standardized test results prior to November 1.
Here is what ND says: Because the Admissions Committee is unable to extend all of its offers of admission in the Restrictive Early Action process, it is highly conservative when making Early Action admission decisions. The Admissions Committee advises students to apply in the Restrictive Early Action process only if they are in the very top ranges of our applicant pool.
Agree that applying EA where you can is beneficial as long as the app is ready and there is no prospect/intention of something very positive happening (award, publication, test scores, etc…). The admissions bump will vary by college, but it is not as statistically significant as the straight differences in admissions rates suggest for the various reasons already posted. However, do not apply EA to major reaches where there are restrictions which may prevent you from applying early elsewhere, e.g. if you are not in the top 10% of your class and you are unhooked, don’t apply SCEA to HYPS. Also take advantage of rolling admissions programs for schools in the top half of your list. EA affords you the opportunity to get feedback on the true strength of your app and if you get in, can save you time and money on RD apps. If you get rejected everywhere, maybe the edgy Common App essay needs to be revisited or you need to lower your sights.
About BC, the funny thing is that the EA rate may have been significantly higher than RD for Class of 2022, unlike prior years when the EA and RD rates were very similar.
For 2022, the EA rate was around 31%. BC didn’t specify what portion was deferred from EA to RD, but if about a third were deferred as in prior years, then the RD rate for 2022 would have been only around 22%, which also lines up with a quote from Mahoney indicating that deferred apps would have a 20% chance.
For schools that say they care about interest, I think it can give a small boost. It means the school isn’t tossed on The application list at the last minute, and you were organized enough to get into the EA pool. That probably increases the likelihood that you might attend, which is a factor in admissions.
From my expereince there are many more deferrals from EA as compared to ED. Unless an applicant is at the top of the applicant pool, a deferral is a likely outcome. Still, at most schools (with some possible exceptions noted up-thread) I don’t think there is a downside to applying EA unless a person feels they will improve their application after the EA deadline (ex. retaking standardized tests, showing strong first semester grades, knowing a meaningful honor/achievement is upcoming etc.).
Once again, it depends on the college. You have colleges like,Georgetown that only accept of defer in the EA round. On the other extreme, you have Stanford that defers relatively few REA.
I suppose it also depends on how you calculate the statistics. Michigan defers many out-of-staters to regular decision, and then accepts some of them in regular decision. Do you count those people as regular decision admits exclusively? That is tough because they would have likely not been admitted in the regular decision round if they had not applied early (it is known to be setting up your application for rejection if you are out-of-state and not applying early to Michigan).