ED and EA

My daughter is still a year out from applying but has decided she wants to go to Northeastern. I’m just a father learning the ropes (college acceptance is a lot different than it was when I went through the proceed in the 80s). So if she does Early Decision at N’Eastern, I know it’s binding if accepted, but can she apply ED or EA at other colleges at the same time ?

you have to read NEU’s policy. Probably fine to do EA, but a few schools do not allow it. Some schools may not allow EA id you also doing ED elsewhere. So again, read each schools policy. And good luck to your D.

Also, almost no college will allow you to apply ED if you’re applying ED elsewhere.

You also should run the NPC (net price calculator) unless you are fine being full pay. Remember that anything you spend on one child is a precedent that applies to all younger children, and that students sometimes take more than four years to graduate.

At least for us, Northeastern was tied for the most expensive university that either daughter was accepted to. Of course different students will have different results.

You can only apply to one college ED.

If you apply EA to Northeastern you can apply ED or EA to other colleges.

Do colleges look more favorable to those applying ED as opposed to EA ?

Typically yes ED carries more weight in the admissions process because the applicant is committed to attend if accepted (and affordable) so the school benefits by having a student “locked in” early – with EA there is no commitment on the part of the applicant to attend.

IMO ED should be used only if the following two conditions are true:

  1. The school is the applicant’s absolute top choice and
  2. The school appears affordable (run net price calculator) and the family has no need/desire to compare financial offers among different colleges.