<p>I know this question has been asked many times on CC, but I'm hearing different things from different people. So: what exactly is early action? And is there a limit to how many colleges you can apply early to (from what I heard, there isn't)</p>
<p>Also, if you could give me a few top schools that participate in early action, that would be greatly appreciated</p>
<p>Applying EA means you’ll hear back earlier than applying RD (usually mid-December, sometimes by January), but it’s not binding like ED. Yes, you can apply to as many EA schools, as you like, but some schools won’t allow you to apply EA if you are applying ED to another school.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I know Georgetown and UVa offer EA (Georgetown is one of the ones that says no EA if applying ED elsewhere). </p>
<p>Early action is when you apply to schools “early”, that is, before the regular round. Deadlines for early action tend to fall around late October and early November. The “regular” decision deadlines are generally near the end of December and early January, but this varies by college. There are many advantages to applying early, such as being considered for merit scholarships as well as possibly increasing your chances of admission. Also, in many cases, you will hear back before regular decision time so you may be able to change your college list, however, this varies by college.</p>
<p>Most state schools practice early action. Early decision is similar to early action with similar deadlines, but applying early decision binds you to that school and you are required to withdraw your applications at other school/you can’t apply regular. This is useful in situations where you have a top school but you may not get as much financial aid as you desire. You can break early decision only when it is not financially affordable but no other reason. You can only apply to one school early decision. Generally early decision schools let you apply to early action schools as well.</p>
<p>There are different types of early action. For example, SCEA, single choice early action. These schools include HYPS (Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford). It is very similar to early decision in which you only apply to this one school, but it is non binding. In some of the school’s cases, they let you apply to in state or out of state universities, but it is advisable to check each policy.</p>
<p>Restrictive early action lets you apply to other early action schools (with the exception of SCEA), but you may not apply to schools early decision. Georgetown is the only one that I know that does this.</p>
<p>Finally, early decision II is just like early decision I except that these schools have deadlines similar to regular decision timelines. You can apply to early decision II if you were not accepted during early decision I. Only some schools participate in this, including Vanderbilt and liberal arts colleges like Swarthmore.</p>
<p>This should be useful. </p>
<p><a href=“List of Colleges with Early Action, Early Decision, and Rolling Admissions - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/354075-list-of-colleges-with-early-action-early-decision-and-rolling-admissions-p1.html</a></p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Top Schools and Early Policies (this list is by no means exhaustive, just what came up in my mind)</p>
<p>SCEA: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford
REA: Georgetown
EA: UChicago, MIT, Caltech, UNC, UMich, UVA</p>
<p>Be warned that Georgetown and MIT don’t use Common App. Also, the UCs, too. Deadline is end of November, I believe, for the UCs.</p>
<p>Early action is just one of the 3 you can apply:
Early decision, Early action, and Regular decision!</p>
<p>Often abbreviated ED, EA, and RD respectively :))</p>
<p>Such as my dream university: Emory, which accepts all 3 of the options yayy</p>
<hr>
<p>Okay, so early action is just applying before another specified deadline, in which you are pooled into applicants who show great interest in that college (it doesn’t have to mean great interest, because people with great interest still apply regular decision)</p>
<p>I’d like to say it’s a more simpler version of Early decision.
Early decision: where you apply before a certain dateline (other than RD), and you are basically BINDED to that school (meaning that if you are accepted, you MUST disregard any other college applications you have made/been accepted to).</p>
<p>EXCEPT in Early Action, you aren’t binded to that school and you are free to apply to other schools</p>
<p>… maybe somebody can add on ;o</p>
<p>@medicsz Emory has ED1, ED2 and RD. I don’t think they offer EA. Actually, I am not aware of any school that offer both ED an EA. ED is binding while EA is not.</p>
<p><a href=“Plans and Deadlines | Emory University | Atlanta GA”>http://apply.emory.edu/apply/plans.php</a></p>
<p>Schools that offer both EA & ED:
Furman University <a href=“Furman University | Top Private Liberal Arts University in Greenville, SC”>Furman University | Top Private Liberal Arts University in Greenville, SC;
Lawrence University <a href=“Apply | Lawrence University”>http://www.lawrence.edu/admissions/apply</a>
Rhodes College <a href=“http://www.rhodes.edu/admission/417.asp”>http://www.rhodes.edu/admission/417.asp</a></p>
<p>Wellesley College offers ED, EE (Early Evaluation), & Regular <a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/admission/apply/deadlines”>http://www.wellesley.edu/admission/apply/deadlines</a>
Knox College offers EA I & EA II & Regular <a href=“When to Apply - First-Year Applicants - Knox College”>http://www.knox.edu/admission/apply-to-knox/first-year-applicants/when-to-apply.html</a></p>
<p>Crud, before I thought most good schools had both…</p>
<p>@Bamboolong That is interesting info. I am not familiar with these 3 schools at all.
@brickthelegend I dug out an old thread that listed out schools offered EA and ED as of 2006. There are actually a few recognized ones on the list. Rice is perhaps the only one stands out for me though.
<a href=“Colleges that offer both ED and EA - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/146456-colleges-that-offer-both-ed-and-ea.html</a>
Interestingly, more schools had higher admission rates in EA than ED on the list. I guess more under-qualified students applying ED hoping to overcome the hurdle but failed in those schools.</p>
<p>Many schools offer neither, but instead have either just a regular admission cycle or “rolling” (no deadlines) admissions. (Example: Berkeley.) Be careful to check for each school to see whether they have any application deadlines at all. They don’t all have them, and although most do, they don’t all choose the same date (although most are around January 1).</p>
<p>There are also public schools that offer binding ED as well. (Examples: VT, WM.) </p>
<p>Some private schools offer a non-binding EA, but place a restriction that you not only cannot apply to any other school’s binding ED, you also cannot apply to any other <em>private</em> school’s nonbinding EA. (Examples: Yale, Princeton, Stanford.) Thus, you could apply to at most one such private school EA, but you could still apply to as many <em>public</em> schools EA as you like.</p>
<p>Because ED is binding, you should only apply to a school ED if (1) it is your clear first choice that you would always choose over any other school, regardless of each school’s final cost, and (2) you know you can afford to attend that school regardless of whatever FA it might offer. ED does appear to improve your odds of getting admitted - it’s a winner for the school because they can expect near 100% yield - and supposedly does not affect FA because that is considered for all admitted students separately.</p>
<p>If you like a school best but you’d take a better scholarship offer elsewhere, don’t apply ED.
If you require a good FA package to be able to attend, don’t apply ED.</p>
<p>EA does not appear to change your odds of an admission offer; it only gives you an answer earlier, which should reduce (or at least spread out) your stress. If an EA application is not clearly suited for admission or rejection, it will simply be deferred to the regular decision cycle. Some deferrals to RD still get admission offers, and some still get rejected (and a few even get waitlisted with no decision until summer, which is really annoying after you put in all the effort to meet the EA deadline.)</p>
<p>Check the schools you’re interested in, as things change and some schools have specific rules (ex., Rice does not have EA now, only ED, and Georgetown won’t allow you to apply EA to them and ED elsewhere.)</p>