<p>I am applying to most UC schools and some public high schools. I dont know whether i should apply to some of them early action. Is it any easier to get in early action? If i dont get in, will it hurt my chances during regular processing? What are the benefits of early action?</p>
<p>Thanks for any replied =]</p>
<p>UC’s don’t have EA/ED.</p>
<p>i just reread my questions and i meant UC schools and PRIVATE COLLEGES. lol sorry</p>
<p>but now this question only pertains to the school that do accept EA, as UCs do not. </p>
<p>thanks hmom5!</p>
<p>Early Action (EA) - apply by stated early deadline, in many cases November 1. Decision granted early (usually by mid-December, depending on school). Non-binding, i.e. if you are offerred admission, you don’t have to tell them yes or no till the Regular Decision (RD) deadline, usually May 1. Theories vary on whether or not you’re hurt by applying EA and subsequently deferred to the RD pool. Most people say the EA pool is tougher, so you’re mixed with tougher competition. Others say the EA pool is easier, and in some cases that’s what the stats show. Toss a coin for your answer. I wouldn’t necessarily use EA as a strategy for getting admitted to college.</p>
<p>Advantages of EA: You’re done early. If the other schools you’re applying to have a deadline of January 1, you can get them “mail ready”, but not apply till you hear from EA school. If you are admitted to EA school (and it’s your first choice), you don’t have to apply (and send in $50 app fee) to your other schools. It’s also nice having an early acceptance under your belt (if indeed, you are accepted). Also, being non-binding, you can wait to hear from other schools if Financial Aid (FA) is a factor.</p>
<p>Disadvantages of EA: If you’re counting on first semester senior grades to really make your app shine, you lose that edge, since the EA deadline is usually November 1, before grades are out. If you are deferred to the RD pool, it can be a bit of an ego blow, right around the holidays. This is why it’s very important to have your other apps “mail ready” at that time. Last thing you want to do after getting deferred during Thanksgiving weekend is trudge up to your room to write essay #3.</p>
<p>I think there are enormous advantages of applying EA or even ED.</p>
<p>For schools like Cornell (36.5%) and UPenn (34%), three is no question that you have a better chance at getting into the school if you apply ED. The also is true at Johns Hopkins where there early decision acceptance rate was a whopping 48%. You can easily browse through the colleges that you are looking at and look at the posts for that schools EA/ED rate compared to RD. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>kleibo is not entirely right. The higher acceptance rates are largely due to a more qualified applicant field. The advantage may not be as great as it seems.</p>
<p>“largely due to a more qualified field”. I’d like to see some stats to back that up. SAT for ED vs. RD. I don’t believe that is true.</p>
<p>If you get rejected EA, you can’t re-apply RD the same year. They’ll defer you if they want to review you again.</p>
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<p>I would like to see some stats too. But, intuitively, it makes sense. Those that are applying early are basically saying ‘I don’t need my first semester senior grades to bolster my chances.’ These will be kids (on average) with the grades/scores needed to be accepted.</p>
<p>You’re both wrong. The higher admit rates at top schools are largely due to the hooked status of those they accept ED. The vast majority of recruited athletes enter in the ED round (17% of class aprox) as well as legacies (12% plus), development candidates, staff children and other ‘friends’ of the colleges. As selectivity goes down, EA/ED becomes more of an advantage, especially now when private colleges are worried about yield.</p>
<p>The OP (and all other rising seniors) should focus on the difference between Early Action (EA) and Early Decision (ED). For more colleges, especially selective ones, have ED than EA.</p>
<p>ED is binding on the student – if the college accepts you, you are committed to enroll if financial aid meets your need (their definition, not yours). In other words, you lose the ability to compare financial aid offers among various colleges, or to change your mind about where you want to go after mid-December. For that reason, a particular student can only apply to one ED school at a time, many students are unwilling to apply anywhere ED, and colleges with ED attract a relatively small number of ED applications compared to RD applications. In part because a college’s yield affects its USNWR ranking, many ED colleges take 33-50% of their ultimate enrolled classes in the ED round. </p>
<p>The combination of those two factors generally DOES mean that there is an admissions advantage to applying ED, although the presence of athletic recruits, legacies, and stronger students in the ED pool probably does make that advantage seem more significant than it is. Still, if you are not worried about financial aid (either because you don’t need it, or because you are confident that you understand your target college’s policies and that you will be satisfied with the aid if admitted), and you are willing to commit to a particular college that offers ED, I think anyone would advise you that an ED application makes it more likely you will be accepted.</p>
<p>EA decisions are binding on the college, but not on the student. A student admitted EA can apply to other colleges RD or rolling admission, and wait until the end of April to make a decision, usually with multiple acceptances. (Or not – the student is free to treat EA as if it were ED and just to stop there.) Because EA is much more applicant-friendly, a much higher proportion of total applicants to EA colleges take advantage of the EA option. That means that the admission results tend to look a lot more like the spring RD results, especially after you factor out the recruited students. If there’s a thumb on the scales for EA applicants, it’s a pretty light one.</p>
<p>EA schools have a whole variety of rules about their programs. Yale and Stanford say you can’t make an early (EA or ED) application anywhere else (hence their programs’ name “Single Choice Early Action”). Some colleges let you make as many EA applications as you want, but forbid you to apply ED anywhere simultaneously. (Georgetown and Boston College are in that category.) Others have no restrictions, and let you apply EA to them (and others) at the same time you are applying ED to some different college. (E.g., MIT, University of Chicago.)</p>
<p>You have to pay attention to each college’s program and rules. Read carefully!</p>
<p>JHS, GREAT summary of the pros and cons of ED/EA. If a student was to apply to their first choice school via Early Decision, and they are accepted, what are the odds that the student would be offered any non need based aid, like merit and discretionary scholarships? It would seem that since it is a binding decision, and not subject to need based aid, that the college would feel like “we got them” and not be as likely to offer any type of non need based, merit scholarships to that student. Is that a correct assumption? I fall into that category where I won’t qualify for financial assistance but could use some assistance.</p>
<p>I would think that if you won’t fall into a category where you would get assitance, then you won’t get any. Universities usually go off the Fafsa EFC or the Collegeboard service or their own methodology. But if you don’t qualify for need and are looking for offers, then ED is not for you. Apply to many colleges - then you will be able to compare your various financial aid offers.</p>
<p>Bobby (and kleibo):</p>
<p>Actually, I don’t know that much about this. Conventional wisdom is as you describe it – colleges will not offer merit aid to students who have been accepted ED. I think that’s probably right as a rule of thumb, but I also think it varies from college to college, and you need to look specifically and to ask the right questions rather than just making assumptions.</p>
<p>I think merit aid tends to fall into three general categories: (1) Relatively small amounts ($1,000 - $10,000/yr) that colleges will offer as an inducement to enroll on a case-by-case basis. (2) Formula amounts based on objective criteria (like National Merit Scholar, or certain SAT/GPA hurdles), that can be large or small. (3) Large awards based on selection processes that are often ultracompetitive.</p>
<p>The first category is the most common. That’s what you are least likely to get if you are accepted ED (although again individual colleges may be exceptions). It is often the case, however, that these awards do little more than make up the difference between the need-based aid of a relatively wealthy college (Ivies etc., or some top LACs) and the less fulsome need-based aid of competitor institutions. At or near the top of the food chain, there are important differences in the way colleges calculate need, and as you look at less selective colleges there are important differences in what kind of “gap” their standard financial aid offers. As a general matter, if $5,000/year more or less would make a difference as to whether you would attend College A or College B, you probably shouldn’t be applying ED to either of them. And, for lots of middle-income students, need-based aid at a place like Harvard or Princeton (assuming you get in) is going to be a better deal than merit-plus-need at any college that is a heavy merit-aid user, unless you qualify for a super-groovy competitive award.</p>
<p>With formula awards, I think usually ED will not make a difference. However, the colleges with really significant formula awards (generally less prestigious state universities) are probably not colleges to which you might apply ED.</p>
<p>Lots of them may be rolling admissions colleges anyway. Rolling admissions is really a category unto itself. It is like EA, but often better – you may get admitted well before December 15, and your early application doesn’t violate any other college’s EA or ED restriction. If you apply to rolling admissions colleges, it is very important to get your applications in as early as possible, because they tend to offer merit aid on a first-come, first-served basis.</p>
<p>The largest, most significant scholarships tend to involve a separate application and interview process. They are always competitive, and at really popular colleges can be more selective than getting into Harvard. I think, but am not sure, that in these cases ED would not disqualify you. But you can’t count on getting one of these.</p>
<p>In the end, you really have to research each college that interests you, and also do some research into colleges that may not interest you at all on first glance but which have significant merit programs.</p>
<p>“You’re both wrong. The higher admit rates at top schools are largely due to the hooked status of those they accept ED. The vast majority of recruited athletes enter in the ED round (17% of class aprox) as well as legacies (12% plus), development candidates, staff children and other ‘friends’ of the colleges. As selectivity goes down, EA/ED becomes more of an advantage, especially now when private colleges are worried about yield.”</p>
<p>That was my point. Those applicants with hooks are more qualified for admission in the eyes of the admissions officers.</p>
<p>What top schools offer Early Action? So far I know of:</p>
<p>MIT
UChicago
Georgetown</p>
<p>Yale
Stanford
Cal Tech
Notre Dame
Boston College</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/354075-list-colleges-early-action-early-decision-rolling-admissions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/354075-list-colleges-early-action-early-decision-rolling-admissions.html</a>
The lists in that thread are a little out of date, but it’s a great place to start.</p>
<p>Why isn’t there like an official public list on some website with all the colleges listing whether they have EA/ED or just RD? That would be so much easier.</p>