some people saying people should apply college during 1st semester of senior year
some people saying people should apply college during 2nd semester of senior year
what is difference between that? is there any more higher acceptance rate if i apply early?
It depends on the school. Early action and early decision allow you to apply first semester senior year and you will get a decision sooner. However, the latter is binding and, if you are accepted, you’ll have to attend. Early action is great if you want some decisions earlier. Regular decision and early decision 2 are generally second semester senior year, again the latter being binding. Regular decision is great if you want to apply to a wide variety of schools. There are application deadlines for all, unless the school has rolling admission in which case you can apply whenever you have the application complete.
Each school has a different policy on which combinations of methods they’ll accept. The policies of the schools you apply to and your desire to attend those schools will help you determine when to apply. Sometimes, early action and early decision have a higher acceptance rate than regular decision for certain applicants. This will also factor into when you will apply.
For example, I visited and researched a bunch of schools and ultimately decided Mount Holyoke College was the school for me. It allowed me to pick from Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision, but did not have a significant difference in acceptance rate between the three which I deemed not a factor because it is not a reach school for me. I chose to apply ED I to get the application out of the way early and am incredibly happy I did! As a result, I found out early that I was accepted and did not have to fill out any more applications after that one!
Again, it all depends on the school and person.
Even if you apply regular decision, sending in your applications early in the year is SO relieving. You get to sit back and just enjoy the rest of your senior year. Putting them off will only give you more anxiety. My advice is to get them done early when possible.
Also, there are a lot of scholarship deadlines, so look out for those.
When to apply depends upon the school deadlines. Some have rolling admissions and will start accepting applications the summer just before your Senior year. Some schools have deadlines in October/November/December and well into February. The best thing you can do is check each schools specific website for their application deadlines. If the schools use the common application, the essay prompts I believe are available in August, so you can get a head start before HS starts.
For rolling admissions schools, applying early will help with scholarship consideration.
Schools with Early Decision (ED) many times have higher acceptance rates, but ED is binding meaning if you apply and get accepted you are required to attend. With ED schools, you want to make sure that the school is your first choice, is affordable and you will attend regardless of the financial package you receive.
Summer before senior year you should be looking at deadlines for all the schools where you plan on applying. That will tell you if you want/need to apply in the fall or if you’re OK waiting. Setting up a spreadsheet with columns for application dates, FAFSA dates, CSS Profile dates (if applicable), and the school’s response dates, can be very helpful. Also check if there are special programs you are interested in that require an additional application (some Honors programs do) or any scholarships that require nomination or applications. You should also track that you’ve sent standardized tests and transcripts.
Applying early shows interest in a school, which is a good thing. Also, many scholarships require early applications. As said above, it’s also a relief to get the apps out the door and to get those acceptances sooner.
Thank you for reply my answer. those are helpful for me
I would suggest you apply early action wherever you can. My D did that and it was such a relief to know early that she got into many good colleges. She’s still waiting for the RD colleges but the pressure is not as big as it is for her fellow classmates who only applied RD. Also by applying EA she was able to get a lot of merit at most of the places she applied to.