With our current college admissions craze and the competitive atmosphere fueling it, it can be tempting to consider applying Early Decision to help boost chances of acceptance. However, electing to apply Early Decision is a choice that must be fully thought through. It’s important to understand what you’re getting yourself into and to ensure that it’s the best choice for you. Here, I’m walking you through when it might be a good idea and when it might be a scary idea.

In the world of college admissions today, there are primarily three types of applications: Regular Decision, Early Action, and Early Decision. A fourth option that has started to make its way onto the scene, particularly dealing with some more prestigious colleges, is Restrictive Early Action. Let’s start by outlining what each of these means exactly.

Regular Decision: This type of admissions plan is the most typical. The deadlines for regular decision applications for a fall start term tend to be around January or February for most schools, but some schools even allow rolling admissions to continue all the way up to May. Rolling admissions means that the sooner you send your applications, the sooner you’ll find out if you have been accepted. Regular Decision and rolling admissions are always a fine plan for schools that are your safety options (read more about making sure that you have at least two safety schools here) or for schools that you are on the fence about and unsure if you would want to attend.

Early Action: Through Early Action, you can send your applications off earlier and express some level of higher interest in specific colleges. In this way, your application is getting looked at earlier, you receive an admissions decision faster, and you essentially guarantee that you are being compared to a smaller batch of applications, which could in turn affect your chances of gaining admission. Something that is really nice about Early Action is that it is not binding, meaning that you are allowed to apply to multiple schools as Early Action, and you are not required to attend the school if you are admitted. Typically, the pros seem to outweigh the cons when it comes to Early Action, so we recommend applying Early Action to as many schools as you can. Some schools will not offer this option, but applying sooner will typically still result in a decision faster, as seen with rolling admissions. Therefore, it’s never a bad plan to get your ducks in a row and send your applications off early.

Restrictive Early Action: Now, here’s the catch when it comes to Early Action. Some schools, Yale and Stanford to name a couple, have started using a Restrictive Early Action admissions plan. While this option is still not binding, similar to regular Early Action, the “Restrictive” part is key. What this means is you would not be allowed to apply Early Action to other schools. This is like a middle ground between Early Action and full-on Early Decision, which we will get to in a moment. Schools that offer Restrictive Early Action will not offer regular Early Action, so it will be important to weigh the pros and cons of applying with this restrictive plan. If you are pretty sure that you know which school is your number one priority and they offer this Restrictive Early Action, it may be worth using this route. However, if you are still unsure about where you want to end up, Restrictive Early Action could limit your ability to show deeper interest in other schools.

Early Decision: Of all of the admissions plans, Early Decision is the one to be the most thoughtful of before electing to use it. Think of Early Decision like a contract. You are basically telling the college “Hey, if you let me in, I promise I will enroll!” For some students, that may seem like a dream. If you have been on tons of campus tours and researched many college programs and you are POSITIVE that you found the ONE school that is going to be a right academic and culture fit for you, congratulations! Early Decision is a great idea for you. Why? Because you’ll not only be getting looked at in the first batch of applicants, but colleges love a guarantee. That makes their jobs a little bit easier. They know that if they send you an acceptance letter that you are going to become a member of their college, so opting for Early Decision does typically boost your chances of admissions by quite a bit. Similar to Restrictive Early Action, you can only apply to one school using Early Decision because of the binding nature of the agreement.

So, when is it a good idea to ED? Unless you are totally sure of your decision to ED to one school, we recommend that you avoid this admissions path. It may seem appealing to boost your admissions chances in this way, but realize that you will also be closing a lot of other doors in doing so. Perhaps it would be a better option to wait and see which schools you gain acceptance to via Early Action and Regular Decision and then weigh all of your options in the spring. This would give you more time to do tours and ask questions and figure out a more detailed plan. Oftentimes, ED choices are rushed into, and sometimes it works out for the better, but you don’t want it to be something that you regret. Absolutely never apply ED without having first visited the college in person. While there is a lot that you can learn about a college by looking at it online, nothing can really replace the importance of an actual campus tour. An in-person visit will do more than teach you about the academics; it will also allow you to gain insight into the type of culture and the student community at work there. You’ll get a vibe from walking through campus, and most students can quickly determine if they feel like they would belong there. This is just one aspect of finding your “best fit” college, though. There are courses to be researched, professors to talk to, residency options to weigh, and more. At the end of the day, it is not a great idea to ED to any school unless you have thoroughly done your research.

Good luck, and happy applying!

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