Restriction on EA after ED

[wayneandyong]

I have searched several places, but did not get a clear answer. If my son ED an Ivy school, can he EA other private or public schools?

[menloparkmom]

It depends on the Ivy.
Read the ED applications instructions carefully.
In general, IF a student applies ED to one college, they are NOT allowed to also apply EARLY to SCEA[ Single Choice Early Action] colleges.
Notable exceptions are IF an early application is REQUIRED for scholarship eligibility- like at USC which has a Dec 1 application deadline for students applying for merit scholarships.

[hebegebe]

Latest info I heard is that:

• You can EA to any public school.
• If doing ED to Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, or Brown, you can EA yo private schools.
• If doing ED to Penn, you cannot EA to private schools unless required for scholarship consideration.

[sybbie719]

Some schools like BC & Georgetown do not allow EA if you have applied ED

From Boston College

@Boston College

A student applying to a binding Early Decision program may not apply Early Action to Boston College.

http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/freshman/deadlines.html

from Georgetown

@Georgetown University

Georgetown’s Early Action program is grounded in the belief that students should be free to choose among colleges until the Candidate’s Reply Date. Accordingly, accepted students will have the same reply date (May 1) as all candidates.

In keeping with this principle, students applying under the Early Action program may not apply to any binding Early Decision programs since they then would not be free to choose Georgetown if admitted. Students are welcome to apply to other Early Action programs or other Regular Decision programs while at the same time applying to Georgetown’s Early Action program.

https://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/firstyear/early-action

Your best bet would be to read each school’s policy

[happy1]

Agree you need to carefully cull through the policy of each school. There is no shortcut.

[LoveTheBard]

Ditto - there are shades of difference among the SCEA and REA schools (e.g., Stanford will allow you to apply early action to another school if it is necessary in order to compete for named scholarships, whereas Harvard, Yale and Princeton will not; the USC case is not an issue anywhere, as USC does not have early action – it’s a regular decision plan with a priority deadline for merit).

[Massmomm]

Follow the rules of the most stringent school and you will be fine!

[MOMANDBOYSTWO]

@wayneandyong I disagree with post #6. The other posts above are more precise answers. @happy1 post #4 is good general advice too. As said above, schools can have slightly different rules about ED, SCEA, REA. Going by Penn’s or Yale’s more stringent ED/SCEA rules would be silly if your son is not applying to Penn or Yale, because some nice private college EA options might be missed, like Northeastern, U of Miami, MIT, etc. The guidelines for ED or other application options are usually in the admissions section of college websites. Google something like “Applying Early Decision at XXX University.”

[LoveTheBard]

I 100% agree with @MOMANDBOYSTWO - The most stringent schools would not, for example, let you apply to Tulane’s most prestigious scholarship which requires an early action application, whereas Stanford’s would. (Without double-checking, I think that MIT is off the table for any of the SCEA or REA and there is no merit on the table there, although Miami is probably fine).

Shades of difference do matter. As @happy1 said, there are no shortcuts.

[wayneandyong]

Thanks for all the replies!