<p>I know that ED helps your chances bc you're basically saying that that college is your first choice college, but does EA help over RD? I know it gives you more opportunities for merit scholarships, what about just chances overall? Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes. Many anecdotal studies have shown a big bump in the chances of applying early action.</p>
<p>What is the worst that can happen if you apply early? It is done. If you don't get in on that round, at least you have one less application to complete. </p>
<p>The key is being competitive for that school, and that means usually in the upper end of the student profile. If the gpa profile is 3.7, don't apply early if you are a 3.2. You want to be competitive. It will increase your chances.</p>
<p>If you are on the lower end, then applying early may not help.</p>
<p>Not the OP, but I have a question regarding something similar.</p>
<p>How good are the financial aid packages if you apply early action..? I know they aren't necessarily good for ED (apparently), but is it different for early action since you don't HAVE to enroll there?</p>
<p>I am a college consultant and have two sons in college. Both applied EA to several colleges and received generous financial aid packages/scholarships to their top schools. Many of the students I have worked with have gotten the same. It is best to match up your stats with the university that offers EA - and see if they offer guaranteed merit scholarships based on gpa or test scores. Sometimes they offer to the top 5 or 10% of students. Other times, it is more difficult to know what they use for criteria. Check the college website. IF you have a 3.7 gpa and their profile is 4.0, then that might work for admission, but maybe not for scholarships. Aim to match those numbers, or be above them, if possible.</p>
<p>Neither applied ED.</p>
<p>what is ED, EA, and all that other stuff...srry nooby question</p>
<p>EA is early action. Early action is when you send in your college application by the EA deadline, typically far before the regular applications are due. EA deadlines might be in the fall of your senior year - usually between October and November.</p>
<p>ED is a binding program that says if you apply early, hear and get in, you are going to go to that college, no matter what. It is no guarantee of a good financial aid package and you won't be able to negotiate or compare offers from other schools.</p>
<p>Rolling Admissions is usually a school that has a deadline (around January, usually), and will notify applicants as they are selected to attend. No guarantee you will hear right away. My son applied to one of these schools and his application was misplaced and he didn't hear until well after the time he heard from other schools! Usually, you will hear within a month or two of applying.</p>
<p>Regular Admissions is a deadline where you apply, and are notified on a specific date. For example, April 1st, all admissions decisions are mailed. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Yes, I was talking about colleges that I have better/good fit stats for.
And are you saying that if you apply to some reach schools EA, you'd have a better chance (not with financial aid, but with getting in?). I'm not talking about extreme reaches, but like your GPA is 3.3, there's is 3.6 and you have comparable SATs..</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info.</p>
<p>You might get in, but less likely for scholarships. Aim for being in the top 25% of students who apply to that college for maximum chances of getting in, with money.</p>
<p>If your gpa is lower, but your SATs are in the range, then it might help you with getting into a reach. If they are much higher, it might help you even more. </p>
<p>You need to look at the academic profile of an admitted student to see if it is possible. Each school is looking for something different. Right now, boys tend to have increased chances, just because of the gender inequality on college campuses around the country. </p>
<p>There are no guarantees. I had a student who applied as a 4.3 student with high SATs and got rejected from a school that had a lower profile. Perhaps they had too many of that "type" of student. No way to predict. Just play your odds, make sure you have more matches than reaches, and be happy to go to ANY of the schools on your college application list!</p>
<p>There is not much evidence that EA gives you much of an admissions advantage, especially with the most selective colleges. All of the studies that showed a benefit were for ED not EA. You are not committing to enroll if admitted, so why should the college give you a break! </p>
<p>EA is also a bad idea for borderline students who can benefit from an upward trend in GPA senior year. For EA you are basing you entire application on what you achieved through junior year. If the school you apply to EA is a reach you might as well wait for RD and put your best foot forward. </p>
<p>If anything there are a number of studies that showed the financial aid packages were often not as attractive as for RD applicants. The colleges are betting they won't have to compete as hard to get the students to enroll as they know the yields from EA are always much higher than for RD.</p>
<p>Some colleges are admitting up to half their class in the early round, whether that is early decision or early action. You are right that it is more beneficial for colleges, especially super competitive ones, to not waste that ea admissions, if there is no guarantee that the student will attend. </p>
<p>ED decisions help the colleges with their rankings, because it improves their yield. Less offers of admissions but assured the student will attend helps their numbers.</p>
<p>Many colleges around the country offer only EA and not ED as an option. For those that offer EA (but not ED), these colleges are taking more of their applicants in the early round, which does give a student an advantage in applying early. </p>
<p>Maybe it is a west coast difference, but since all of our seniors have to apply mid-way between 1st and 2nd semesters for the UC and CSU, there is no way for them to improve their grades. East Coast schools typically have later deadlines, which may work for the struggling student to get up to a higher GPA or improve SAT scores.</p>
<p>Maybe it would be best for the OP to give a list of what schools he/she intends to apply to. I am mostly familiar with the very selective colleges that have SCEA or EA and have never found these programs to offer any measurable admissions edge to the unhooked student at our large competitive local high school. </p>
<p>For some schools like MIT the admissions rates are actually lower for EA than for RD. For others such as Yale or Stanford the EA admissions rates may appear marginally higher, but the early group also includes more legacies and recruited athletes as well as very strong applicants which biases the results. The trend for selective colleges is to reduce the number of applicants they take early or eliminate the programs altogether as Harvard and Princeton did last year.</p>
<p>That is a good idea for the OP, Collegebunny, to post the list of EA schools that are being considered.</p>
<p>IF you're competitive, it lets the college know you really want to go there. Schools really couldn't care less if an unqualified applicant applies early--still a reject--but they have extra time to "woo" the best applicants if they accept them early.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input guys! I'm basically seeing both ways on this, so here are the colleges I'm considering. Cornell, University of Miami, University of Southern California, Brown, UChicago, Northwestern, Rice, Georgetown, and University of Illinois (safety) and UIC's GPPA program (very selective). Which ones would it most likely help for admission? What about fin aid and scholarships, should i consider EA for some for that reason?
Also, I'm 90% sure I'm applying to Columbia ED. Will applying EA to a bunch of places hurt my chances? Bc on the website it said something like "while we don't encourage ED applicants to apply EA....they can". Thanks for the input. :)</p>
<p>^ You really shouldn't apply EA if you're applying ED. It's unethical from what I understand (and what Columbia seems to want). I wouldn't do it. You apply ED because you really want to go there.. and are okay with getting little financial aid.</p>
<p>You SHOULD apply RD to the other schools if you're not accepted.. I honestly don't understand why you would want to apply EA to those schools. I mean, Columbia is your first choice. I don't think Columbia would be happy if you were applying to a bunch of other schools (not sure if they would know).. definitely shows a lack of interest which is what ED is supposed to account for.</p>
<p>I agree with Hot Yank. If Columbia is your ED school, than only apply to those others that are regular admissions. Pay attention to your reg admissions deadlines for your other colleges - but they are likely to be after you are notified by Columbia. Don't forget to withdraw those other apps if you do get an offer of admission in the ED round. </p>
<p>On your list of other schools, USC does have some earlier deadlines for the first section of their application for regular admission. I believe they are in October and December, even though these are "regular" and not early programs. Although optional, I highly encourage filling this first part of the application. The second deadline is for scholarships. The CSS PROFILE will need to be completed for USC and Columbia, too. You can wait for your other regular application schools posted PROFILE deadlines, however.</p>
<p>Yes, applying early generally provides an applicant a substantial advantage. See </p>
<p>for a whole book that "shows the work" about this. </p>
<p>Here are the NACAC definitions of college admission programs: </p>
<p>Non-Restrictive Application Plans: All of these plans allow students to wait until May 1 to confirm enrollment.</p>
<p>Regular Decision is the application process in which a student submits an application to an institution by a specified date and receives a decision within a reasonable and clearly stated period of time. A student may apply to other institutions without restriction.</p>
<p>Rolling Admission is the application process in which an institution reviews applications as they are completed and renders admission decisions to students throughout the admission cycle. A student may apply to other institutions without restriction.</p>
<p>Early Action (EA) is the application process in which students apply to an Statement of Principles of Good Practice Interpretations of Mandatory Practices institution of preference and receive a decision well in advance of the institution’s regular response date. Students who are admitted under Early Action are not obligated to accept the institution’s offer of admission or to submit a deposit prior to May 1. Under non-restrictive Early Action, a student may apply to other colleges.</p>
<p>Restrictive Application Plans: These are plans that allow institutions to limit students from applying to other early plans.</p>
<p>Early Decision (ED) is the application process in which students make a commitment to a first-choice institution where, if admitted, they definitely will enroll. While pursuing admission under an Early Decision plan, students may apply to other institutions, but may have only one Early Decision application pending at any time. Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment. The institution must notify the applicant of the decision within a reasonable and clearly stated period of time after the Early Decision deadline. Usually, a nonrefundable deposit must be made well in advance of May 1. The institution will respond to an application for financial aid at or near the time of an offer of admission.</p>
<p>Institutions with Early Decision plans may restrict students from applying to other early plans. Institutions will clearly articulate their specific policies in their Early Decision agreement.</p>
<p>Restrictive Early Action (REA) is the application process in which students make application to an institution of preference and receive a decision well in advance of the institution’s regular response date. Institutions with Restrictive Early Action plans place restrictions on student applications to other early plans. Institutions will clearly articulate these restrictions in their Early Action policies and agreements with students. Students who are admitted under Restrictive Early Action are not obligated to accept the institution’s offer of admission or to submit a deposit prior to May 1.</p>
<p>Thus far the vocabulary. Only Yale and Stanford have a restrictive early action plan (usually called "single-choice early action" in everyday language). Quite a few colleges, including some very famous ones, have early decision plans (that is, plans that are binding on the student if the student is admitted). A student who applies early decision (ED) to such a college is betting that no other college could possibly be preferable to that college, and that the college's financial aid offer will be good enough that the student doesn't need to compare offers. Many families need to shop for financial aid offers, so I advise those families NOT to apply early decision. If they take my advice, that means they won't apply to any ED college in that college's early round. Other colleges (notably MIT, Caltech, and the U of Chicago) have early action rounds, allowing a student to submit an application early, get a response (admit, defer to regular round, or deny) early, and still wait until May before committing to which college to attend. That's cool and I will strongly urge my own children to apply to colleges like that, as fits their interests and their preparation. Some other colleges (e.g., Harvard, Princeton, and U of Virginia as of this year) have a single-deadline system, and no early round at all. A student who aspires to one or more college like that will have to make a regular round application, and may well decide to make some early action (nonbinding) applications to other colleges beforehand, if certain early action colleges are appealing to that student. Some colleges conveniently have "rolling" admissions, which means they start acting on applications as soon as the application season begins, and trickle out decisions all season, with some students hearing news before even early action/early decision deadlines have passed.</p>
<p>Read the fine website (as the OP has). </p>
<p>Columbia</a> University Office of Undergraduate Admissions - First Year Admission </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The OP has an answer. If Columbia is the OP's preferred college, the OP should definitely apply early decision (ED) to Columbia, which may have the happy result of being admitted to Columbia in the early round. Meanwhile, the OP can apply on a rolling admission basis or an early action basis to the U of Chicago (which has nonrestrictive early action) and to other colleges like that, WITH NO BAD CONSEQUENCES TO THE COLUMBIA APPLICATION. There is no reason to pass up the chance to apply early to two or more desirable colleges if all those colleges permit multiple early round applications. Each year there are quite a few happy students who are admitted to both MIT and Caltech in the early round--neither college is offended by that, and both know how to take that into account when calculating the likely yield from offers of admission. If the OP knows Columbia is the first choice and is willing (for sure) to accept an offer of admission from Columbia, the thing to do is to apply ED to Columbia.</p>
<p>Collegebunny said she was 90% sure of Columbia that she would be applying to ED. Yes - the language seems to allow EA to other schools. </p>
<p>I don't recommend students apply to more than a few schools EA if there are no restrictions on the process. I hesitate more with those who are applying ED, for the simple reason that they really are most interested in the ED school, and often notifications for EA are at the same time as ED decisions. The end result is that another worthy applicant may get a reject on their own EA because of an applicant who has little or no intention of attending wants insurance that they will get in elsewhere and be notified early, to boot. It seems a bit unfair. </p>
<p>But the game has it's own rules, and if Columbia allows this, then Collegebunny can go this route. It is possible to apply to Columbia ED and post a few apps to those schools that are close 2nd and 3rd. Think through very carefully if you elect this option. Follow those rules for each college.</p>
<p>It also might work - Columbia may say no, and then the applicant does have another worthy alternative (or maybe even two.) What then concerns me is continuing to send in other applications elsewhere after this. There is a certain wisdom to applying and see what kind of aid packages are available and then go where the money is.</p>
<p>In today's admissions climate, all bets are off. There is no predicting safety schools - and even though the student may meet the academic profile and meet or exceed all the numbers and extracurriculars, they may get a reject. </p>
<p>Colleges want to admit students. They also want to admit those that will reasonably attend, if given an offer. It has gotten more competitive because of the amazing students that are applying, but also because of the flood of applications. When students are submitting 10-12 (or more) applications, they are contributing to the problem of admissions overload. </p>
<p>I would also urge having an interview, if possible. This shows your committment to the university, and also helps you to see the campus up close during your visit. This can be a pricey proposition, but for an ED student, I think it is highly recommended to prove demonstrated interest.</p>
<p>thanks guys. I never realized that applying EA might hurt my ED application to Columbia. But tokenadult says it won't, which is what i assumed too. The reason why i was considering EA was b/c if I happen to be rejected or waitlisted at Columbia, which is a good possibility, I didn't want to lose a chance to get into an equally good college if applying EA could help me. Plus, UofMiami and USC give preference and usually greater scholarships to those who apply EA bc they get first choice, so those were the two that I think i should apply EA to. So I'm assuming from the responses that I should limit EA to as few as possible? Also, I don't understand how applying ED and EA is unethical. EA is non binding, but it's a way to get a quicker response at other colleges. Applying ED to two colleges is definetely unethical, but ED and EA is too? Thanks again!</p>