<p>ED- Early Decision- You get a decision at an earlier date, for ED I by December 15th and for ED II by February 15th, and it is binding. You can apply to only one college for ED and Susequently ED II and if you are accepted you need to withdraw all other applications. Only few colleges offer ED II.</p>
<p>RD- Regular Decision For this the application deadline is 1 January for most colleges and you get decisions by last week of March. And if you apply in say 10 colleges and get accepted in all 10 of them, in that case you have about one month to decide which one you wish to accept as accpetance deadline is 1st May in most colleges.</p>
<p>Whether ED or RD, In your case you will be applying for the Class of 2018 which is the year you graduate from college. So the college for you will begin September 2014, which is also called Fall 2014. I understand you are already done with Class 12 and are currently in your gap year. And you are eligible to apply this year for the Class of 2018.</p>
<p>I do not know why they said you have to apply for fall 2015.</p>