<p>Hey guys. </p>
<p>I just have a quick question, and hopefully someone can explain this very well.</p>
<p>I've heard countless times about Early Admission, Early Decision, EA Binding and EA Non-binding, EA rolling (ex. Michigan)... what exactly do those mean? And what exactly are the differences between them?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>A student can apply to one school under early decision. If she is admitted, she must go to that school. It’s binding. This option is for those students who absolutely love one school above all others. If that school accepts them, they wouldn’t hestitate to accept the offer and have no desire to apply elsewhere. </p>
<p>A student can apply to one school under restrictive early action. If she is admitted, she can go to that school or she can apply to other schools regular decision. It’s non-binding. Yale and Stanford are the only two schools I know who operate under this system.</p>
<p>A student can apply to any number of schools under early action. If she is admitted, she can go to that school or she can apply to other schools regular decision. It’s non-binding. The beauty of this choice is that the applicant knows in December what her primary options are (of course, she can still apply to more schools regular decision). </p>
<p>Rolling admissions is the procees in which schools accept or reject applicants as they come in (non-rolling admissions informs all applicants of decisions at the same time, usually in April). The beauty of this system is that a student who applies early can find out soon whether she was accepted. The decision is non-binding.</p>
<p>Ahhh, thank you very much!!!</p>
<p>That clears up soo much.</p>
<p>So if you apply Early Decision, and you get in, you HAVE to go? Even if they don’t provide you with enough financial aid?
Do need-blind schools go through with ED?</p>
<p>Ok, so schools specifically say if their early admission is “restrictive”? I know I could probably go check all the sites, but could someone just pop me a few examples of this off the top of their head? Like for example…do most ivies do this? etc…</p>
<p>So, technically, I could apply to all the colleges I want to go to by November 1st for early admission…and hear back by like…january? Is it true that the earlier you apply, the earlier you hear back?</p>
<p>One more thing…haha sorry. But do larger schools tend to do rolling admissions?</p>
<p>Thaaaaanks</p>
<p>I’m no expert, but here’s what I understand.</p>
<p>If you are accepted early decision, you must attend that school. If the FA is insufficient, you can ask the school to reconsider, but if the school ultimately disappoints you with their aid package, you’re out of luck (I’ve heard that the school can release you of this obligation, but it is extremely difficult to get released). This is the primary risk of ED.</p>
<p>Yes, need-blind schools offer ED. FWIW, Harvard and Princeton eliminated ED a few years ago. They thought that other schools would follow, but most did not. </p>
<p>The only two restrictive early admission schools I know of are Yale and Stanford. Harvard and Princeton offer no early processes. The rest of the Ivies are ED. </p>
<p>Yes, you could apply to all the colleges that offer non-restrictive EA. Decisions are usually mailed out in mid-December. For EA, the decisions are mailed in one big bunch, so applying EA before the deadline does not speed up the answer. </p>
<p>The earlier you apply to a rolling admission school, the sooner you will hear. A variety of schools do rolling admissions, both big and small. Usually, the top schools do not offer rolling admissions, however.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for generalizations, the best schools that I know of that offer non-restrictive EA are Cal Tech, MIT, and Georgetown. Stanford and Yale are restrictive EA. Harvard and Princeton offer no early options. The rest of the great schools are ED.</p>
<p>I am not a fan of EA or ED. The percentages look better than RD, but a lot of schools use EA and ED to accept recruited athletes and legacies. For this reason, the percentages are higher. Pull up archived messages from this board from December 16th of last year. Most unhooked applicants (even those with amazing stats) were getting rejected EA and ED, and they had to suffer 4 more months before they received some good news. I don’t want to ruin one-half of my senior year because I was rejected early.</p>
<p>That’s some good stuff man. Thank you for your wise words of wisdom =)</p>
<p>I kinda just wanna get my apps done with…what’s really the point of waiting until January to turn in all of your apps when you already have it done before school starts ya know?..cept recommendations and such…</p>
<p>Appreciate it again my friend!
And good luck in your college admissions!</p>