I am wondering what the difference is between ND’s REA and EA at other schools.
https://admissions.nd.edu/apply/early-regular-decision/
On its website it states that you can apply to other EA programs so how is the ND program restrictive?
@lc2000 The website you quoted explains it well:
"- A student applying Restrictive Early Action to Notre Dame may apply to other Early Action programs.
- A student applying Restrictive Early Action to Notre Dame may not apply to any college or university in their binding Early Decision program."
You might however want to look into your personal optimal ND application strategy, REA vs. RD, depending on personal circumstances, as outcomes may significantly differ. Best of luck!
It isn’t just ND’s policy in isolation that you have to consider. You have to comply with the early rules of ALL the schools that you might consider applying early to.
For example, the SCEA policies at HYPS wouldn’t let you apply to ND REA. Even though ND’s REA policy would allow an SCEA application to one of those schools. The ED rules at Columbia, Penn, Duke, NW, Vanderbilt etc. would let you apply to ND REA. But ND’s rules would not allow that.
Bottom line, if you choose to apply to ND REA, that means you won’t be able to apply early to many other top 25 schools. And the admission odds at those other schools are often better if you apply early.
Among the top schools, an ND REA application can co-exist with an EA application at MIT, Georgetown, UVA and BC.
I would add UNC and Northeastern to that list ^