<p>What advantage does early decision have over early action? The way I see it, early action has all of early decision's benefits, but without the obligation. For both you find out if you're in early, and both increase your chances of acceptance. It seems as though early decision has no point and that early action is better in every way...but obviously they have both options, so there must be an advantage that early decision has.......so what is it???</p>
<p>Early decision acceptance rates are significantly higher than EA or RD rates.</p>
<p>^Correct. Most times, EA acceptance rates are the same as RD rates, you just get an earlier decision. Sometimes they are even harder than the regular pool.</p>
<p>Some students get in through ED who might not have gotten in regular or EA</p>
<p>early decision actually does not significantly have a better acceptance rate but it really depends which school you’re talking about. i know nyu early decision is like 1% better than regular decision… or was that another school? whatever- you get the point</p>
<p>^Maybe, but at some schools, there is a very significant difference</p>
<p>I think it just gives people peace of mind to know their status at their dream school earlier.</p>
<p>ED may be easier to get into based on the school, but do not just look at acceptance stats. EDs can included athletes – D3 schools aren’t subject to the NCAA rules. </p>
<p>ED comes with an “early” financial aid read; EA does not. So although under both you may know you are accepted, you may not know the cost with EA.</p>
<p>Many schools offer only ED or only EA.</p>
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<p>Are there any that actually offer both?</p>
<p>^^UMiami, Elon just to name two…Sure there are more but those two came to mind…</p>
<p>Applying Ed may give you an advantage re being admitted, it depends on the school. For example, during an orientation at Barnard the admissions officer stated that it is important to them that Barnard is your first choice and s a result applying ED would give you an advantage there. This is confirmed by Barnard’s ED acceptance rate of 52% and its regular acceptance rate of 29%. At other schools we were told that it would make no difference and that any difference in acceptance rates was due to different qualifications of those applying ED and regular decision.</p>