<p>I was just curious as to what are the pros and cons of applying to a college's early acceptance program. Any input is welcome!</p>
<p>If you get into places EA, you don’t have to apply to other schools you are less interested in. It’s not like ED where you are locked in to one school and can’t compare financial aid offers. The cons are: 1) if you have potentially better test scores arriving later which won’t be available for the EA decision (so you might get turned down, whereas by waiting you improve your chance of admission) and 2) you can’t apply SCEA or ED anywhere. If these cons don’t apply to you, then EA is a good strategy.</p>
<p>Actually, if you apply ED to one school you CAN also apply EA to as many other schools as you want. You just can’t apply ED to more than one school or apply anywhere else if you apply SCEA.</p>
<p>DS was recently accepted EA and it has created an unexpected dynamic. It has made it much harder for him to complete RD applications to schools that he ranked higher on his list than his EA school a month ago - the sense of urgency just is not there. His EA school is also recruiting him heavily now with invitations to local events with alumni and on-campus visits.</p>
<p>We won’t know about FA until March, so it is important that he complete other apps just as a comparison.</p>
<p>If your list of applications is pretty firm next fall, go ahead and apply EA but keep working through your plan.</p>
<p>An advantage is that once the EA acceptance is received, you can possibly drop other colleges off your list that you might be less inclined to attend than the EA school. My D got into U of Chicago EA, and dropped Cornell from her list at that point. She kept eight other schools for various reasons, but she KNEW she would go to U of C over Cornell for sure. She got both need based and merit based aid information with the acceptance, so that was helpful. That means one less application for her to complete – could be more for you. However, if you are casting a wide net for financial aid reasons, you might still keep all of your schools on your list.</p>
<p>She also found that it got her going so she finished up her Common App components by early November, which allowed her just to focus on supplements after that. So that was a good thing. And because she got into such a good school, I think it gave her confidence in the rest of her apps (may or may not be justified, though!). And maybe it would work the other way if she hadn’t gotten in.</p>
<p>The other thing… it just feels GREAT to get an acceptance if you get in. Then you know for sure you are going to college. 
Because all seniors have a little voice in their heads that says, “What if no one accepts me?”. At least, both my kids did. So having one in your pocket early is a good thing.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all of the input! Just wondering, how many schools would you suggest to apply for EA? And I’m assuming your top for ED? Would it make it harder to be accepted because all of the really smart kids apply for EA or ED?</p>
<p>If you can make the ED commitment of going if you are accepted and are SURE that one school is your top choice, then go ahead with ED. My D did two EAs, and 6 or 7 RDs – still thinking about that 7th one. 
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<p>If you have your act together on your testing and don’t have to re-test late in the fall, that positions you well to apply EA (you aren’t struggling to get the standardized test results you want). And if you think fall semester isn’t going to make a big change in your GPA, that also positions you well for an EA application.</p>
<p>intparent makes a good point - even bright, accomplished students get a rush from receiving the first acceptance and knowing that they will be able to go somewhere.</p>
<p>If your applications are ready, I would suggest applying EA to every school that offers it. We chose not to use ED at all since FA is a huge consideration for our family. Remember that if you apply ED to a school, that commitment takes precedence over all your EA applications.</p>