I wanted to know whether applying non restrictive Early Action to a school gives a slight boost to admission chances in the same way that applying Restrictive Early Action does or Early Decision does.
I couldn’t find data for early action acceptance rates, so please help me out!
Compared to ED? No, in general. It may have a slight bump compared to RD, but it really depends on the college.
As a general rule it’s best to apply EA if offered. At some schools your odds are exponentially better…Iike UMD for example. Others don’t have EA and so it’s ok to move those back so you can get the EA ones done first.
But generally make the first non binding deadline.
I tried to figure this out when my son was applying a few years ago. The spreadsheet I prepared at that time suggests that EA gives a significant bump at some schools and almost none at others. I can’t remember where I found that data, but I recall that even at the time, I wasn’t sure how reliable it was. While the Common Data Set published by most schools will show you the ED acceptance rate, it does not include similar information for EA. I agree with @tsbna44 that it’s a good idea in any event to apply EA if that option is offered, unless there is some compelling reason to wait so that some first-semester senior year info can be considered. My son applied to several great schools EA and was accepted by all, with merit. It really relieved the pressure and one of those schools was among his favorites until the very end, although he ended up attending one of his RD schools. With EA, you may receive an acceptance in November or December, but you will have until May to decide.
Thank you everyone! This helps a lot!
Oh wow. That sounds interesting. If you don’t mind, would you be willing to share the spreadsheet that you had prepared? I am mainly applying to T20 schools plus a few safeties.
I found a chart on a site called CollegeTransitions that purports to shows comparative data for ED, EA and RD admissions. I will try to include the link here, but if that doesn’t work, you should be able to find it by searching. The data is newer than what I have, and much more inclusive, but seems generally consistent. They say the data comes from Common Data sets and school websites, but I could not see this in the CDS so I am not sure how reliable the information is. Early Action and Early Decision vs. Regular Decision Admission Rates
The College Transitions site is pretty solid, looks like. University of Chicago is missing, because they don’t share the information. So they aren’t making data up, at least for that school.
The Common Data Sets are pretty useful for this info. If you go down the rabbit hole scrutinizing the info, note that many schools have significant differences in admit rate by gender. Tech schools swing one way, LACs swing another. While the gender numbers aren’t broken down by application type, it is safe to assume that EA follows the same pattern as the gender breakdown overall.
Most of the T20-ish schools don’t do EA, and those that do are almost all REA. MIT being one of the exceptions. IMO REA is a different kettle of fish than EA because they likely include recruited athletes in their first round.
Kiddo’s school uses Scoir instead of Naviance, and it lets you look at scatterplots by application type. From those, I can tell EA makes a difference for a couple of schools- Case Western being one. I can’t be sure that effect extends beyond his school though.
Applying by the EA deadline is also suggested by some schools in order to receive best consideration for possible merit scholarships, which is another good reason to submit early!
Do make sure that you’re following the rules though. If you’re applying to a school with REA/SCEA - generally you can still apply to public schools with EA or rolling admissions without breaking REA/SCEA rules, but wouldn’t be able to apply to privates with EA like MIT, Caltech, or Chicago.