<p>Can someone please explain this to me? Thanks! Also, is there a difference between this and early action?</p>
<p>Are you thinking about Rolling Admissions? That is when a college or university accepts applications throughout the year and makes decisions throughout the year. Students don’t have to formally commit until May 1, although if it is their first choice they might do so in order to guarantee housing, preferential course selection, or some other advantage like that.</p>
<p>Early Action means that there is a particular fall cut-off date for one set of applications. Students find out then if they have been accepted, but they don’t have to formally commit until May 1. I don’t know why colleges do this instead of Rolling Admissions. Maybe they just like to stick all of the applications into one big pile so that the admissions committee can compare them to each other.</p>
<p>Early Decision means that there is a particular fall cut-off date for one set of applications. Students find out if they have been accepted, and if they are they are automatically committed to that institution and must drop all of their other applications. This isn’t a good idea for students who need to be able to compare their financial aid packages, or who aren’t sure about what they want out of college. It is convenient for the colleges/universities involved because they find out who really, really wants to go there, and they can lock in a certain percentage of the incoming class.</p>
<p>Early admission commonly refers to both early action and early decision plans.</p>
<p>In some cases, it is an admission plan for exceptional HS juniors to apply to collage.</p>
<p>So if I apply for early admissions, and I really need financial aid and I dont get it, will I still be forced to go to the school?</p>
<p>If you really need to compare financial aid packages, you should apply regular decison. Some Early Decision prgrams are binding–meaning they expect you to attend no matter what financial aid they give you. You can get out of it, but it is a trickier situation–you would need to write and tell them why their FA is not adequate, etc.</p>
<p>With Early Action or Single Choice Early Action, you do not have a binding agreement–you can still apply later to RD schools and compare the FA packages. You would just tell them on May 1st what school you choose.</p>
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Which schools expect this? Most follow the Common Application rule:
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<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>If they don’t offer enough, you just say thanks but no thanks and apply RD elsewhere (but you better already have prepared those RD apps!); they already have all the financial data they used to make their offer. And what would they do if they somehow could compel attendance; expel you when the bill can’t be paid? There’s a reason we have never heard of this happening. ;)</p>
<p>In any case, applying ED needing FA should be done only at the one top choice above all others, the dream school, when your only question is: Can I afford it? Otherwise apply EA or RD so you can compare FA packages.</p>
<p>Early Decision: apply to college and can get early response, usually about mid-Dec your senior year and if accepted you are bound to attend. You can apply only to one college early decision</p>
<p>Early Action: apply to college and can get early response, usually about mid-Dec your senior year and if accepted you are not required to attend and can continue to apply to other colleges. Some early action schools, Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Stanford, prohibit you from applying early action or early decision to any other college if you apply to one of them. Some other early action schools allow you to apply early action elsewhere but not early decision. Majority having early action allow you to apply early decision or early action to other colleges.</p>
<p>Early Admission: a program only at some colleges in which a junior in high school can be admitted to the college and skip his senior year of high school and instead attend college. Usually few are chosen and are ones considered exceptional.</p>
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<p>No, vonlost has it right. If you are accepted ED and do not receive enough financial aid to make it affordable for your family, then you can turn down the offer. </p>
<p>If you apply ED, you can also apply to other schools EA. Of course, if you’re accepted ED and the finances have worked out, then you must withdraw from your EA acceptances. </p>
<p>I agree that if you are looking for the best financial aid deal, then you shouldn’t apply ED. Better to wait until RD so that you can compare offers.</p>