Rolling Admissions - How much of an effect on early decision?

Applying to College
1

Hi CC,
I’m planning to apply early decision to UPenn, which has rolling admissions. How much of a difference does it make if I apply now versus closer to the deadline? I know they get a large percentage of their class early, but will I truly have significantly better admissions odds if I submit my common app a month early? Especially considering the fact that this is ED, not EA.

Even better, is there any way to qualify this? I know people will say certain hooked applicants get the equivalent of +200 points on the SAT, for example, so maybe there’s a comparative scale… I doubt it, but still, just a thought. It’d be nice to hear some outside opinions on the subject either way.

Thanks!

2

Honestly I didn’t know that Penn had rolling admission. If your program does, absolutely send in your application as soon as it’s 100% where you want it to be. They have a certain number of admissions slots, if you get your application in early, there are more of those slots available.

3

Is a month before the November deadline too late? It’s more just a matter of getting teacher recommendations in, in addition to my own stuff.

4

bump

5

What makes you think Penn has rolling admissions? It’s a popular ED choice at my son’s high school and I’ve never heard that. I just took a quick look at the admissions website, saw the ED info, but didn’t see anything about rolling admissions. Before you worry about this, maybe you should double check.

Of course, I could be wrong, in which case I’d be very curious to see a link to the page that says they have rolling admissions.

I just did a little more poking around. They seem to have a rolling notification, which isn’t the same thing. Could you be confusing the two? See this CC thread for an explanation of the difference.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/1333249-what-is-the-difference-between-rolling-notification-and-rolling-admission.html

6

@CollegePrepping2 UPenn does not have rolling admissions.

7

Penn LPS has rolling admissions but their traditional UG Colleges (CAS, Wharton, Nursing, etc) have ED and RD. So unless you are applying to Penn LPS for UG studies then it’s not rolling admissions.

8

Wow, I’m an idiot. I had been talking with a student from my school who’s applying next year, and he told me they had rolling admissions. He’s very into the school, so I trusted his opinion, and even when I looked up “UPenn rolling admissions” they had a website talking about it. Like Dolemite said, however, that’s only for specific programs.

Thanks everyone!