<p>Is my understanding correct, or does it vary by school:</p>
<p>You can apply as early as August?
They let you know within 3-6 weeks?
They confirm merit scholarships and/or Honors colleges?
I assume any FA is not confirmed as FAFSA profile is not complete?
You don't have to let them know until May 1 with everyone else?</p>
<p>It varies by school…maybe ask on the specific school thread?</p>
<p>Pretty close, though some aspects may vary slightly with each college offering rolling admissions. Notification time can stretch out once they receive a larger pool of applications, but the main idea of reviewing apps as they are complete and rolling out decisions throughout the admissions year is correct. Decisions are non-binding & students don’t need to confirm attendance until May 1.</p>
<p>Some colleges give a relatively quick answer (which may include telling you that you are deferred for future decision). Others may simply not act on a particular application until months after it has been submitted (while saying yes or no more rapidly to other applications filed at the same time or later). Each of my kids filed one rolling-admissions application in September. One heard back within a week, and the other heard back in two months. Different institutions.</p>
<p>Need-based aid is FAFSA-dependent, but often colleges will award merit aid that is a firm offer before need-based aid could be fixed.</p>
<p>You can apply as early as August?
generally. as soon as the application is availabie.
They let you know within 3-6 weeks?
Not always. This depends on the strength of your application and your timing in submission. Those who submit later will often have a longer wait for a decision depending on how strong an applicant they are.
They confirm merit scholarships and/or Honors colleges?
Usually, if the college offers those.
I assume any FA is not confirmed as FAFSA profile is not complete?
Correct. In my experience most rolling admissions are FAFSA schools but still no FA until spring.
You don’t have to let them know until May 1 with everyone else? yes</p>
<p>Having at least one rolling admission college on your list and applying early can give you a good safety in your back pocket.</p>
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<p>Good advice - DD received her acceptance from Alabama the day before she started her senior year. So while most of her classmates were just beginning the application process, and looking forward to having 7-8 months of anxiety, she knew she would be going to college next year.</p>
<p>In addition having multiple rolling/EA acceptances by Christmas means a less stressful winter and it takes some of the sting out of spring time rejections</p>
<p>DDs both went 6/6 on their EA rolling schools and though those spring rejections weren’t fun, they didn’t feel like the end of the world either.</p>
<p>I know the thread is specifically about rolling admission but some schools accept a significantly greater %age in their EA round than they do in their RD round. Worth knowing if a school is reachy.</p>
<p>Of course if you want to treat the rolling admission school as “a good safety in your back pocket” you have to:</p>
<p>1) Be willing to go there if nothing else works out</p>
<p>2) Be able to afford the cost of going there if no other college gives you a decent FA package or sufficient merit aid</p>
<p>^^^ Correct. A rolling admit school can’t be considered a safety if you a) don’t like it, and b) can’t afford it.</p>
<p>Is there a list of rolling admit schools somewhere? I’m not always seeing it called out on their sites. Are all EA’s rolling?</p>
<p>Why would anyone apply to a school they don’t WANT to go to or that they can’t afford?</p>
<p>A rolling admit school can indeed be a very good safety since you are in control of when you get your decision and if you plan ahead can have your decision very early without the complications of EA/ED.</p>
<p>To find if a certain college is rolling admission, look on their admission website. They will specify their timeline policy there.</p>
<p>JustaMom, kids do it all the time. Every day on cc, there’s a story telling us this exact thing.</p>
<p>The girl highlighted in the Suze Orman thread is an example.</p>
<p>[Free</a> College Search | Scholarships | College Admissions Requirements](<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com%5DFree”>http://www.collegeboard.com) will give you the different admissions deadlines. My advice is to build the list first, check the admissions plans and if at that point you do not have a rolling/EA school you should add one or more that fit the criteria explained by robinsue in post #8</p>
<p>justamom what are some of the complications you found with EA? 5 of the 6 early acceptances each of my kids had were EA decisions and it was smooth as silk: got the acceptance, the merit package and the joy of knowing you had a place to go before Christmas Sr year.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that thousands of kids each year do not get into their first choice and other choices need to be on the table. Having a couple of rolling or EA decisions out of the way early is a definite plus. My son had two decisions early, one in October and one in November. It gives the child a sense of accomplishment and moms and dads always love the safety.</p>
<p>Loved the rolling and EA colleges. Everything was so smooth…my son had a hard time keeping his interest up in the two regular decision colleges…so much time between the fall applications and the March decisions. I couldn’t find any down side to rolling or EA.</p>
<p>Here is another list of Rolling Admissions institutions: [Late</a> & Rolling Deadline Schools](<a href=“http://www.petersons.com/ugchannel/code/LateDeadlineSchools.asp]Late”>http://www.petersons.com/ugchannel/code/LateDeadlineSchools.asp)</p>
<p>One more question about rolling admission. Is it true if you wanted to apply to one school ED in Nov/Dec or whenever it is, you would have to rescind any EA or rolling acceptances you had prior to doing so. That seems a little harsh, particularly if you are applying ED to a real reach and your possibility of acceptance isn’t great. If they accept you great, you rescind, but before?</p>
<p>No, you withdraw your other apps after you are accepted…</p>
<p>Re the timing rolling admissions & their results:</p>
<p>D applied to U of Alabama on July 3rd, sent transcripts on July 26th & had an acceptance on August 5th. Some scholarship info was received in September, other info not until February. She still had till May 1 to accept.</p>
<p>Applied to UT Knoxville when their app went up end of July/beginning of August. No results from them until Thanksgiving. Their scholarship info trickled in over the year.</p>
<p>As others have said, it depends on the school. And as far as kids who apply to schools they don’t “want” to go to…sometimes it is hard to find a financial safety that is as appealing as other schools. But you need a financial safety and then kids need to know the reality of their financial situation when they are applying.</p>
<p>When University of Michigan was ‘true’ rolling admissions kids applied in late August to end of September …long before any ED applications were due. Read the “terms” of the ED school to see what is permitted and what is not but in general the vast majority of schools that have ED “allow” a student to apply to rolling admission. Many of the EA schools apps are due right around the same time as ED and many of the ED schools allow those apps also. However, if you accept the financial aid and acceptance to the ED school you must withdraw all other apps upon that acceptance of the admissions offer and financial aid.</p>