"So, are you applying ED?" Every year in October, the acronyms start flying around and people feel uncomfortable. What is this ED and EA stuff? Should I be applying that way too? Is there an advantage? Let's start with the basics.
When you apply Early Decision, you apply to just one school with this method. You are free to apply to any other schools regular decision or early action. However, the idea with ED is that you are saying, "If XYZ schools accepts me, I am going. Bar none." The ED is binding, and if a student gets accepted to their ED school, they withdrawal all their other college applications and enroll with that school. Early Action, on the other hand, is much more flexible. A student can apply to a number of schools (in most cases) and receive an admissions decision much early than the regular date. They do not have to decide until May 1 as with regular admission. The acceptance is not binding. Now, to throw in another twist, there is this thing called Restrictive Early Action, or Single-Choice Early Action. This is an admissions plan that allows you to have a non-binding response to your application, like regular Early Action, but are limited to one school. Depending on the school, it may also prohibit you from applying ED elsewhere. Check out the info below to see what is good and bad about these programs. Is there a benefit? Admission rates are higher for EA compared to regular decision. However, before you get excited and start packing, remember that the applications for EA are typically far stronger than those during regular admission. In short, if you have a pretty good idea where you want to go to school, EA is a good thing. If you really need money as a factor in your decision, if you need time to get your grades/scores up, or you need time to explore more options, wait for regular admission. Early Decision Pros
Cons
Early Action Pros
Cons
Info About ED ED Admit Rates Generally, I have been advised that the rule for most international students is to avoid ED. However, I think EA can be great for those motivated students who have all of their apps together early and are dead-set on applying to "the list." What I like about EA is once I get those students (parents) happy their Yale app is in, I can strategically go to work having the student explore some other options, ones they refused to consider with Yale on the line, but now that it is in, no harm in taking a look, you know, just to see what is out there. I would not recommend either of these to a student who is not a very strong applicant for the school's he/she is applying to. They are typically up against some of the strong students applying and may be discounted in a selective/highly selective school whereas during regular admission they may not be a low-end outlier.
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AuthorOlder blog posts were for the UCLA Ext course "Using the Internet for College Counseling" Archives
February 2023
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