The True Meaning of Early Action Plans


The first of November is usually an exciting time with Thanksgiving right around the corner, and the rest of the holiday season not too far behind. However, for many seniors, Thursday, November 1st, 2012 is a day they have had circled on their calendar for many months, for an entirely different reason. This is the Early Action deadline for many of the competitive colleges and universities across the county. Another popular Early Action deadline is November 15th and you many see a few schools that have Early Action a little later than that. Since the Early Action season is near, I thought it would be appropriate to explain early application plans, and everything that goes into them.


First, it is very important to understand that applying under Early Action, will NOT improve a student’s chances of admission. Since EA is non-binding, it does not benefit a school to accept a student who is on the border, as that student is not committing himself to the college. Additionally, the regular decision candidates are in a much larger pool, and admissions counselors will often wait to compare students on the edge to that larger, more representative pool. Applying Early Decision can often give students an advantage of being accepted, even those who may be a bit lower than the average student accepted.  The reason for this is simple; ED is a binding agreement, and colleges are assured that if they accept the student, that student will be attending their school. For Early Action, unfortunately if you are well below the average student accepted, applying this way will not give you an advantage of being accepted.


For students who are satisfied with their current grades and testing scores, and are competitive with the middle 50% of accepted students, the real advantage to applying early is for peace of mind. For most schools, students will hear back before Christmas, which can be a great present, and will put students and parents in a better mental state! Applicants applying through Regular Decision often will not be notified of an admissions decision until March or April, so finding out 3-4 months in advance can make a huge difference (emotionally and mentally).


Next, let’s discuss the decisions that come from applying early to schools. Unlike regular decision, where students are accepted, denied, or waitlisted, students applying early will be accepted, denied, or deferred. Being deferred is not necessarily a bad thing, as it really just means that the admissions counselors like the student’s application, but they just need more time to make a decision and need to compare that applicant to the larger pool of candidates. The applicant will then be moved to the regular decision pool and will be reviewed again, with a final answer coming in March or April.


Finally, make sure you truly understand the parameters of the early action plan you are applying to, as there are numerous options, and various ways colleges approach early action plans. Take a moment to review the following types of early application types:


Early Action: Non-binding and student can apply to as many schools as they want this way. Student usually needs to apply by the 1st or 15th of November and will receive a response by Christmas.

Early Decision: This is a binding agreement, and if a student is accepted, they must withdraw all other applications.

Restrictive Early Action (REA): Non-binding, but a student should not apply Early Decision to any other schools (i.e. Boston College).

Single-Choice Early Action: Non-binding, but students agree not to apply early at all (EA, ED) to any other schools (i.e. Princeton).

Rolling Admissions: Non-binding and students can apply anytime throughout the year and will have an admissions decision generally anywhere from 3-4 weeks after application submission. It is usually a good idea to apply earlier to schools that have rolling admissions (SUNY schools).

Priority: Non-binding, but students should apply before their priority date, as this increases chance of admission and will make them eligible for merit-based scholarships (i.e. Penn State, USC).

-Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

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