<p>What does Single Choice Early Action mean? Is it a binding contract? Why do they do it this way?</p>
<p>SCEA is not binding. All it means is that if you apply early action to a school, you cannot apply early action/decision at any other school (I think there are exceptions if you’re applying to state schools or schools for financial reasons). Several schools like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and other schools like it have single choice early action (probably because even though it’s not binding like early decision, these schools feel that if they accept students early, those students are likely to go even though the decision isn’t binding just because of the reputation of the school). But because these schools still want good yield rates, they want students to only apply early to their school to increase the likelihood that these students admitted early will in fact attend there.</p>