I am very confused about early acceptance

Applying to College
1

<p>Recently some of the seniors at my high school have been hearing back from their early acceptance applications, but I am confused as to exactly the difference in applying normal and early. Everyone seems to offer me a different story, some say that you have a better chance of getting in early, some say its harder to get in that way, but if you do get in it means you do not need to apply to other schools (so it saves money) and yet others say that it is best to apply to a school you know you can get into early, so that no matter what you have a fall back (I do not really think that makes any sense, but what ever.)</p>

<p>Like in my example, Virginia Tech is definitely the school I want to go to, but based on my stats would it be beneficial to apply early or normal?</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/845561-chance-virginia-tech.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/845561-chance-virginia-tech.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As far as I understand, at least for VT, one of three things can happen if you apply early. A, you get in. B, you get moved to normal decision. C, you get black listed (don't get in and can't apply normal decision) but can transfer a year later (assuming you have the grades and stuff to.)</p>

<p>Thanks in advanced!</p>

2

<p>Depends on the school.</p>

<p>A school that has a very high “yield” (most of the admitted applicants will attend) will offer admission early to only the absolute cream-of-the-crop, people they know for sure they want and they’re not going to see anyone better in the regular applicant pool. Those are often “early action” colleges where you don’t have to commit to go if accepted.</p>

<p>A school that has a low yield uses Early Decision to increase its yield. If you look like the sort of person they would ordinarily like to admit, and you’ve COMMITTED to attend if admitted (via the ED contract), they are more likely to take you because they can be sure that that is at least one seat in the class filled with someone they find qualified.</p>

<p>If you have an “early action” option, you can apply early to your safety and then be confident moving forward that you have that acceptance in your pocket. You wouldn’t apply “early decision” (commit to attend) to your safety, because that closes you out of applying to your “dream school.”</p>

3

<p>I think you’re a little confused, but mostly correct.</p>

<p>You can apply Early Decision where you have to enroll if you are accepted and sometime you can apply Early Action which means you get a decision from the school earlier than Regular Decision, but VTech only has Early Decision.</p>

<p>With Early Decision, your chances are increased if you are a well qualified applicant. Early Decision acceptance rates are higher than Regular Decision, but that’s usually because the most qualified applicants will apply Early Decision. Early Action and Early Decision can sometime improve your chances because it shows that you’re really interested in a particular school.</p>

<p>If you get in ED, you can’t apply to other schools. If you apply Early Action, you can apply to other schools for Regular Decision (or other Early Action schools and even one Early Decision school). </p>

<p>Applying Early Action isn’t such a bad idea if you’re worried about your chances. At least you’ll know that you’re going to go somewhere, even if it isn’t you’re first choice. I did this, and since I got into a pretty good school, I’m much less stressed than some of my friends who only applied Regular Decision.</p>

<p>There are usually 3 decisions than you can get when you apply early. Accept, Defer or Reject. The first 2 are very common, and a deferral does not mean that you have no shot come RD. The applicant pool is larger, but less competitive than the Early pool. </p>

<p>If you get rejected when you apply early, it doesn’t mean that you are black listed. I believe that many schools will allow you to apply for Regular Decision if you were rejected early, but your chances are obviously slim in that case. </p>

<p>As for you, I just checked your chances thread, and I think you should apply Early Decision to VT if you really really want to go there. I think you have a very good shot. It’s not as competitive as it seems, but more so than it has been in the past. (Your SAT score is above average for them)</p>

<p>Hope this helps and good luck!</p>