November is practically here, which means that college application deadlines are quickly approaching—especially Early Decision and Early Action deadlines on November 1st. But with so many deadlines, how do you know which option to go with? What is the difference between Early Decision and Early Action, and how do you know if one of them will be a good fit for you?

October is basically over already. That means a plethora of pumpkin spice, Halloween decor, and, for high school seniors, college applications. Seniors are busy at work putting together their application packages, ensuring everything is just so. Letters of recommendation are being sent off, last-minute ACT and SAT tests are being crammed for, and essays are being drafted and redrafted.

There are so many logistical aspects to college applications that students have to juggle and keep organized. A big part of making sure that everything is on track is understanding the deadlines for each school. Each school will have different college application deadlines for different circumstances. These will generally include some early action or early decision deadline in early or mid-November and a general deadline toward January 1st. Some schools may also have deadlines somewhere in the middle, such as “Early Decision II.”

What is the difference between Early Action and Early Decision?

There is one key difference between these two routes. Early Decision is BINDING and Early Action is NOT.

What does that mean? It means that if you may only apply Early Decision to ONE college because if you get accepted you have already COMMITTED to that school. This is very important to understand before you send off any Early Decision applications. By applying Early Decision, you are communicating to that college that it is your number one choice and you will agree to commit to their school for the upcoming school year if they choose to accept you.

Early Action, in contrast, means sending your application in early, but you are not required to attend a school if you are accepted. This means your application will still get looked at earlier than regular decision applications would. Similarly, you will likely receive a response from the school faster. These factors can make a huge difference in the entire admissions process. You will receive your admissions decision faster, but you aren’t required to commit to a school until the normal May 1st deadline.

When is Early Decision a good option?

As you might predict, Early Decision can be a little tricky for some students. Remember that Early Decision applications are binding, meaning that you are committing to that school and that school only if you are accepted.

So how do you know if you should apply Early Decision? We think that this is really only going to be the best decision for two main reasons.

First of all, do you have your heart set on one school and one school only? If so, ED is a great option for you! If you only want to go to one school (we definitely recommend applying to multiple schools by the way…) then ED will not only get you an admissions decision faster, but it will also give you a better chance of being accepted. Even if your grades and extracurriculars look awesome, applying ED instead of regular decision guarantees that your college application will be looked at and considered sooner than those of other applicants. For this reason, the acceptance rate of ED students tends to be higher than the acceptance rate of regular decision application students at most colleges. Therefore, if you have your eye on one school and just know it’s the one for you, plan to apply ED to help yourself out with the admissions process.

Secondly, consider how your application package compare to that of other students. You have to take a moment to consider the typical academic achievement level for a specific college. Do students who are admitted tend to have GPAs over 4.0? Or do they hover more in the 3.2 region? Do students have an average ACT score of 30 or 24? You have to look critically at some of these more logistical aspects of the process. Colleges want to make sure that they are admitting students who will be able to succeed at their school, and a big part of that has to do with academic achievements. Your essay and extracurriculars could be awesome, but if your GPA and test scores are way off then your chances of being accepted drop quite a bit because schools aren’t sure if they will be putting you in a position to succeed at their school. How do you compare to the standard level for the college? All of this information can be found with a quick Google search. Take some time to gauge your performance to the typical performance of students at the school that is at the top of your list.

Here is where an ED application can come into the picture. If your test scores, GPA, and overall community and extracurricular involvement are lower than the average for the school at the top of your list, it may be worth while to apply Early Decision. Remember that ED applicants have a higher overall acceptance rate than students applying regular decision to the same schools. This is true because ED applications are looked at and considered first, and they are given a certain level of priority because, again, you are telling the college that you are committing to them if they will give you the opportunity. Again, this depends largely on whether you know which school you really want to go to. If you have several schools on your list and you can see yourself enjoying life at all of them, ED may not be the right choice. Remember that you can only apply ED to one school because it is binding.

The takeaway: ED can be beneficial to get your application looked at faster. This can be helpful if you have your heart set on one school in particular or if your grades and other application pieces are not strong enough for the standard student at the college that is at the top of your list. Applying ED can give you a leg up on the process by giving your application priority.

When is it smarter to choose Early Action?

Early Action applications TYPICALLY involve a faster deadline and faster response time from colleges, but they ARE NOT binding. You should definitely still only apply Early Action to schools that you are serious about and have done your homework on. These should be schools that you can see yourself going to, but perhaps you just don’t want to have to make that decision right this very second, as you would with Early Decision. However, it’s important to read the fine print for each individual school. Some schools will not let you apply Early Action if you are also applying Early Decision elsewhere. Therefore, while EA applications may not be binding, they may not let you apply Early Action and Early Decision to a different school.

Early Action is a great option for students who have multiple schools that they are serious about applying to and possibly attending next year. The biggest perk is that these are not binding, yet you still will receive responses from the colleges much faster than regular decision students will. So, again, your application will be looked at faster, which may result in a more favorable admissions decision depending on the quality of your overall application and academic and community experience. Early Action will not require a decision to be given to a school until May 1st of the following spring, so students still have time to consider all of their options and make a well-thought-out decision.

Who should choose to simply apply regular decision and not worry about sending applications early?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with waiting and applying regular decision either. These applications are typically sometime between mid-December and mid-January. These applications will require all of the same pieces and thought and effort as the Early Application and Early Decision ones will; it is simply a later deadline. Students should still work hard to make sure their application packages are as high-quality as possible in order to make them look favorable to admissions teams, but they will be the applications that are looked at last and that receive admissions decisions last.

Regular decision is a great option for students who aren’t quite sure where they want to end up next year. Maybe you’re on the fence about going to college at all or are considering whether a 4-year or a 2-year community college will be a better option for you. Regular decision gives more time to consider those different options and less pressure around committing to schools and getting your future figured out right at this very moment. Once again, students won’t be required to make a final decision until May 1st, so they can take a lot of time to weigh all of the pros and cons and make the right decision for them. Regular decision also does not come with any of the fine print that can happen even at the Early Action stage, so the process may be much smoother as well.

Ultimately, picking which college application deadlines are right for you is going to be a personal choice that depends on many moving factors. Do you have your heart set on a certain school? If so, will applying earlier give you a better chance of being accepted to that school? Or do you have a long list of schools that you are interested in and aren’t quite yet sure just where you want to go yet? Our best advice is not to close other doors unless you really one million percent know that you want to go to a specific school. In that case, early decision can be a great option to seal the deal quickly. If that isn’t how you feel about one particular school, keep the rest of those doors open. You’ll end up somewhere awesome, even if it isn’t quite what you were expecting.

Good luck, and happy applying!

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