<p>Can someone explain to me the whole ED/EA? I think they mean early decision and early acceptance? If you apply early to a college means u rele wanna go there?</p>
<p>There are four main ways that colleges handle admissions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Regular Decision
The most typical way to apply to a college. You submit an application usually some time between January first and mid-March. You will typically receive notification of whether you were accepted, rejected, or waitlisted on or around April 1. You must then accept your place in the class by sending in your deposit around May 1. </p></li>
<li><p>Early Decision
ED is a binding agreement to attend a particular school if accepted. When you apply ED you are not allowed to apply to other ED schools, but you can apply to schools with rolling admissions, to any school during regular decision, and usually to schools offering EA. You will typically be required to submit an application between the months of November and January. You and your counselor (and sometimes your parents) will have to sign a pledge to attend the school if accepted. You will likely receive notice of your status (accepted, deferred, or rejected) about a month after your application was due. If accepted, you are required to withdraw all other pending applications and notify any schools to which you have already been accepted that you will not be attending. It has been shown that applying to the college of your choice ED can give you a boost in the admissions process. That being said, it is also widely accepted that no unqualified applicant is likely to be accepted under ED unless they have some other hook. </p></li>
<li><p>Early Action
A non-binding process of applying to a college at an earlier time. You can typically apply to any other schools in addition to an EA school, be they ED schools, other EA schools, rolling admissions schools, or schools during regular decision. The only exceptions are a few highly selective schools that have SCEA (single choice early action.) EA usually has the same application deadlines as ED, but you are allowed to consider other schools and do not have to accept your spot in the class until the May 1 deadline. Opinions vary about whether applying EA will boost your chances of admission at all. Beliefs range from stating that the EA pool of applicants is more highly qualified and therefore your chances of being admitted EA are actually slimmer to the idea that applying EA is equivalent to a 100-point boost on the old SAT.</p></li>
<li><p>Rolling Admissions
Schools with rolling admissions typically begin accepting applications around September. They evaluate each candidate on an individual basis to determine whether he or she will be admitted. They then let the applicant know of their decision immediately after it has been reached. Schools with rolling admissions typically get more and more selective as the season goes on due to the fact that their classes may be virtually or completely filled by the time their deadline rolls around. Schools that offer rolling admissions are typically large public universities, but there are some notable LACs and smaller universities that use this admission policy as well.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Wow, thanks alot. That explained everything I needed to know.</p>
<p>Glad I could help!</p>