I’m confused about Notre Dame’s early action policy. It is called “Restrictive Early Action,” however, the website states that “A student applying Restrictive Early Action to Notre Dame may apply to other Early Action programs.” Does this mean I could apply to Notre Dame and Georgetown early action. I am just confused as to why it is called restrictive early action. Is there any reason for calling it this?
Notre Dame’s REA policy allows you to apply to other universities via non-binding EA programs. It does not allow you to apply a school via a binding ED program. Hope this helps.
@ejcclc that definitely helps. thank you!!
The key thing for REA at ND (and really all early programs at all colleges) is that you need to comply with the rules of BOTH schools.
For example, Notre Dame would be OK with you applying to ND REA and to Harvard SCEA, since Harvard SCEA is non-binding. But Harvard’s rules for non-binding SCEA would prohibit that.
Columbia would be fine with you applying to Columbia binding ED and ND REA. But ND’s rules would prohibit that.
Both sides would be OK with you applying ND REA and also applying EA to MIT, Georgetown, BC, UVA, UMich.
So as a practical matter, applying to ND REA comes fairly close to how SCEA works at HYPS. REA/SCEA means foregoing any type of early application to most of the other top 15-20 schools. But you can apply to a lot of schools ranked 20+ EA, and any school RD.
The purpose of Notre Dame REA is to prevent students who have decided that SCHOOL X with Early Decision is their first choice, but they will apply to ND as a “backup”. Lots of time is spent reviewing applications, and to spend all that time with someone who is locked into School X if accepted, is a disservice to all ND’s other applicants. If you want to go to School X then apply there ED: if you get accepted, great, if not, apply to ND regular admission. I think ED is awful for most students since most 17-18 year olds don’t know where they want to go. A non-binding admission to college allows the student to weigh all the options of each school and make a more informed decision.