Early Action but not Early review?

Why do so many Universities offer Early Action with deadlines in November BUT then don’t even look at the applications until weeks if not a month later?

Because they still look at them before the RD batch.

I was under the impression that EA applications are usually due Nov 1 or Nov 15 and that you commonly hear back in mid-December. What makes you think they don’t start looking at them right away?

You think they just need to look at your application once and decide? For schools that receive tbousands or tens of thousands EA applications, it takes more than a week to update their portal just for the appliaction material received.

what I meant by ‘right away’ was that a rep from Target School just spoke and mentioned they have not even downloaded applications (11/15) and again the deadline was 11/1. Also that schools Admissions consistently stated to apply early (app was available 9/6) and it would be viewed as they come in (maybe not decided but viewed).
I understand that the review process might be multi-pass, and the amount of apps may be large but … just wondering if Applying Early is really such a benefit?
Thanks for all the feedback thus far!

It’s a benefit insofar as there are fewer people applying early. As long as it gets done within the timeframe specified, it shouldn’t matter to you. The Admissions reps have deadlines for doing what they need to do in the time they’ve got (somehow, I doubt they have a relaxing Thanksgiving break). Remember, at this point, many of them are still in the traveling, visiting high schools and recruiting phase.

It’s only schools with rolling admissions that I would expect to act on files as they come in.