<p>I want to make sure I understand Early Action correctly....</p>
<p>Do schools lower their expectations for SAT scores for Early Action and if so by how much?
If you do not get in early action do they put you back into the application pool for regular decision?</p>
<p>There is no general rule on early action. At some schools it is very competitive and at some schools it is a little less competitive than RD. Most schools do retain the option to defer EA applicants to RD, but a few do not defer anyone and will instead make a true up or down decision based on solely the EA application.</p>
<p>I don’t think schools would admit to relaxing their standards for EA admission, but it applying EA might help a little for certain applicants. With EA a school is basically admitting an applicant on the basis of their first 3 years in high school. The schools need to be comfortable that the student’s senior year will be no different. If there’s any question, they can defer the applicant to RD.</p>
<p>Not answering your questions, because I don’t know, but it sure is nice to have acceptances in hand in December. OTOH, if you do poorly, you KNOW it in December and have a chance to improve your application or reconsider your schools. EA is your FRIEND.</p>