So Harvard has a Restrictive Early Action policy. Does this mean that I can apply to state schools (for example, University of Michigan) as WELL as Harvard, or only Harvard???
Last I checked, you are permitted to apply to public colleges, like, yes, Michigan early. , as well as any and all regular decision schools. Just not early decision or action other than foreign schools But rules change, so you should read the requirements when the new admissions info is released
There’re different versions of REA. The version practiced by Harvard (and Yale, Princeton and Stanford) is called SCEA (even though Stanford doesn’t call it that). SC stands for Single-Choice, meaning you can’t apply to any other private college early (whether EA or ED). For example, if you apply to Harvard early (under SCEA), you can’t apply to MIT or Caltech early, even though MIT and Caltech have completely unrestricted EA and they allow their applicants to apply to any other schools.
A slightly less restrictive version of REA is practiced by the two most selective religiously-affiliated schools Notre Dame and Georgetown. With their REA, you can’t apply to any other ED school, but they allow you to apply to any EA schools. So you can also apply to MIT, or Caltech, or both, for example.
BTW, applying EA to public universities is always allowed under any early program. Public universities generally don’t make their early acceptances known until at least January the following year, unlike the private schools.
Notre Dame and Georgetown now have REA. So does BC.
Boston College used to have the same REA program as Notre Dame and Georgetown, but it changed its early acceptance program to ED this year.
Yes. Schools change all of the time. So it’s important to carefully read the rules on each of them.
My student had bunch of apps he was holding for RD, one of which was Notre Dame, some years ago. The highschool GC was sure it was NOT REA and had him send it out with his other EAs and ED apps. This sort of thing can easily happen.
You have to be carefully when you look up this info, you have the current rules.
Also, some schools like Harvard blanketly forbid any other early decision and actions apps other than state svhoolscand foreign universities, whereas other schools, Yske, maybe, do permit forms if EA and ED 2 programs. You have to research and check and ask.
https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/first-year-applicants gives Harvard’s version: “If you apply to Harvard under our Early Action program, you may also apply at the same time to any public college/university or to foreign universities but you are restricted from applying to other private universities’ Early Action and Early Decision programs.”
Note that Harvard calls it “restrictive early action” (not “single choice early action”) now.