<p>I am aware of what the acronyms actually stand for, but I am still very hazy on what the DIFFERENCE between EA and ED and SCEA actually is. I was under the impression that one indicated that you were "obligated" to attend if accepted and the other you were not? What do these acronyms even mean, exactly?</p>
<p>Are all options offered by all schools? Is the applicant pool easier/harder in any of them? What are the pros and cons of EA/ED/SCEA/RD? Should you or should you not apply EA/ED/SCEA/RD? If the time of application does not affect your ultimate acceptance/rejection as Harvard's website claims, then there is no real purpose for providing the option to students?</p>
<p>Can a more experienced CCer (or just anyone more versed in the college admissions process in general) help a noob out?</p>
<p>If answers depend on the type/quality of college, then please just reply in terms of ivy+ivy standard colleges.</p>
<p>ED = early decision. If admitted early, you are committed to attend unless the cost is unaffordable; you cannot wait to compare with other schools’ financial aid offers. ED is only suitable if the school is your clear first choice, and you do not need to compare financial aid offers. Indicates a high level of interest, which some schools consider in admissions.</p>
<p>EA = early action. You may be admitted early, but do not have to decide until the usual deadline.</p>
<p>SCEA or REA = single choice or restricted early action. Same as EA, but you agree not to apply to other schools ED or EA (there may be exceptions which vary by school). May indicate a high level of interest.</p>
<p>RD = regular decision. This is the usual admissions schedule.</p>
<p>Rolling admissions. The school gives a decision shortly after you apply, but you have until the usual deadline to decide whether to attend.</p>
<p>With any of them, you may be admitted, rejected, or deferred to the regular admissions round. If deferred from ED, you are no longer subject to the commitment to attend.</p>
<p>Most schools offer zero or one of them. Uncommonly, a school may offer more than one, such as Tulane offering EA and SCEA, where SCEA indicates a higher level of interest, which Tulane considers.</p>
<p>Admission rates are generally higher in early rounds, but the strength of applicant pools is often higher in early rounds.</p>
<p>^ I believe this is all correct except there may be a distinction between REA and SCEA. Under the former, you cannot apply to any school’s binding program (ED), but are generally free to apply to other EA programs. Under SCEA, you can apply to public universities and schools with rolling admission programs, but cannot apply to other non-binding EA programs at private universities. The best way to figure how it applies to a school you are interested in is to look on the respective website.</p>
<p>Because schools do have their own stipulations and exceptions to their early programs anyone applying through them should read very carefully what the rules are for each school. Some schools, like Tulane have multiple ways to apply early. Tulane has both just plain old EA and SCEA. Or a school can have ED and EA as well as ED1, ED2 options. Yes, it gets confusing. </p>
<p>Applying early has a lot of benefits in that you can get this over with sooner, have certain schools in your pocket so you then go after lottery tickets with impunity in RD round (if you have EA acceptances), the early stats are more favorable even taking into account the stronger applicant pools. The disadvantages are also there. If you need another set of tests, if you need a boost in the grades, the extra term can be beneficial though if deferred, that would make good extra stuff to submit for reconsideration in the RD round.</p>
<p>There’s no distiction between REA and SCEA like what @ejlcclc has said. They are just terms that the colleges use that describe the same sort of pgm. The details of each schools REA/SCEA do vary so you need to become familiar with its restrictions.</p>
<p>Only six schools practice REA/SCEA as far as I’m aware – each with its own rules & restrictions:</p>
<p>-- Boston College - Restrictive Early Action Program permits candidates to apply to other Early Action programs, but not Early Decision programs</p>
<p>-- Georgetown University - Restrictive Early Action Program permits candidates to apply to other Early Action programs, but not Early Decision programs</p>
<p>Let’s sum up the benefits of the early plans this way. Assume for a minute that you have to have the same stats to get in no matter when you apply, a hard cutoff. Not exactly true, but we’ll use it here. It’s you’re better than the cutoff, they consider you, below, you’re out. So you’re better, but they have more people apply that are over the cutoff than they have slots to offer. When do you think you have the better chance to get in, when they have all their slots open or when they’re starting to run out? They try to control it as much as possible to be consistent from start to finish, and they’re really good at that, but the nature of admissions is to start slightly loose and then tighten up as you start to run out. And a solid ED application that is locked in is worth more to them than one who still has to accept sometime in April.</p>
<p>Agree 100% with MrMom62, that there is some kind of benefit to applying early even without a hook, even EA not ED.</p>
<p>IMHO:
Don’t apply ED or ED2 unless you are 100% sure that you want to go to that college. Don’t even consider it unless there is a clear first choice.
It is a <em>very</em> good idea to apply EA or rolling admissions to one or more schools that are safeties for your child.</p>
<p>My son is applying ED to one school and EA to two schools. There is an issue with dates overlapping between ED and ED2, so that may affect whether he applies ED and EA, then ED2.</p>
<p>The dates are a consideration with all of the non-RD applications.</p>
<p>Conversely, my son is not applying to any rolling admissions schools unless he doesn’t get in anywhere, so after April at the earliest. Those are his “last gasp” schools, but for some people, they can use them as EA schools.</p>
<p>In terms of quality of colleges, many top colleges have ED or SCEA as the only early choice. I am not familiar with any EA schools that would be considered “Ivy/Ivy level”. But there are some good schools out there that are EA.</p>
<p>BUT: if your child is totally lost as to where they want to go, and needs more time to look around, do not apply ED. Try to find an EA school, usually a safety, just to have an acceptance in hand sooner than later.</p>
<p>Be careful with rolling schools. At some of them, admission standards for the school, or scholarships, or popular majors, may be raised as the more students are admitted through the admission cycle. At such schools, it would be desirable to apply early.</p>
<p>^ Good to know. The list changes year to year as schools adopt/abandon/alter their Early programs. It’s incumbent on the student to read and understand thoroughly. I think the OP asked a great question and has gotten some great advice on this thread</p>
<p>I think it’s also helpful for all students (and parents) to make up a master schedule of all schools you might even remotely be interested in with all the applicable due dates for various things, including FA and scholarship deadlines. Many of these dates are the same for various schools, but a few schools have deadlines past Jan. 1, even elite schools, so it tells you what your priorities are regarding deadlines.</p>
<p>Some deadlines are already passed, but with many, many deadlines fast approaching, taking an hour or so to plot out all the dates might be a good exercise. Ideally, parents should do this, as the kids have enough to do already, but someone should do it.</p>