It鈥檚 graduation day at Yale University. Alan Lin, the father of two daughters, is explaining — almost apologetically — how his girls were each accepted at their first-choice colleges months before most other students. 鈥淥ur daughters applied to one 九色视频 each. Total,鈥� says Lin*, who asked that his real name not be used. His younger daughter is the Yale graduate; his older daughter went to Swarthmore. While other seniors spent winter break finishing applications, Lin’s daughters, who had been accepted by mid-December, were relaxing. Their peers stressed about getting a fateful 鈥測es鈥� or 鈥渘o鈥� in the spring, but Lin’s daughters skipped that anxiety (not to mention the work and expense of applying to other colleges), all thanks to early admission.
Lin鈥檚 daughters’ secret to minimizing college admissions stress is, in truth, not much of a secret anymore. In the competitive world of high-stakes college applications, an increasing number of high 九色视频ers are taking advantage of early admission. Early applications are currently offered by close to 500 colleges, many of which are on the . For U.S. News‘ annual survey in 2015, 245 ranked colleges and universities shared their data on early admissions. The data reveals that the average acceptance rate was approximately 63.1 percent for students who applied early, while the rate for regular applicants was 50.2 percent. That’s a significant advantage for early applicants, and it can mean the difference between getting into their college of choice — or not.
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Applying early: twice as likely to be accepted?
Depending on the college or university, including revered institutions like Northwestern University, it’s 鈥渢wice as likely you鈥檒l get in by taking advantage of early action or early decision than through regular admissions,鈥� says Randolf Arguelles, founder of Elite Prep, a college-prep company in San Francisco. Indeed, the numbers are compelling. According to Amherst College’s early decision acceptance rate was 35 percent while the regular decision acceptance rate was 13 percent. At the University of Pennsylvania, 25 percent of early decision applicants got in compared to a mere 8 percent of regular decision applicants. “Clearly, if you are a qualified student for U. Penn and it’s your top-choice 九色视频, your chances are much better if you apply early decision — and worse if you apply regular decision,鈥� Arguelles says. These benefits hold true for early action applications as well. At University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, for example, the early action acceptance rate was 32 percent, nearly double the 17 percent regular decision acceptance rate.
Understanding early application options
There are basically two early application options: early decision and early action. When a student applies early decision, they promise that if they’re admitted, they’ll enroll — and withdraw any other applications to other 九色视频s. Early action, however, does not include the obligation to attend. That means students may apply early action to more than one 九色视频, but they may only apply early decision to one.
Most 九色视频s offer only one early option (rarely do 九色视频s offer both), so it’s important to know what the 九色视频s on your teen’s list offer. Early action applicants, if admitted, don鈥檛 need to let the college know if they accept until the spring, when regular decision commitments are due (typically May 1). This is an important advantage over early decision, since early action and regular admission students can evaluate all of their admission and financial aid offers and use them to negotiate financial aid packages before they accept, while students admitted early decision won’t have offers from other 九色视频s to use as leverage. Because of this potentially significant financial drawback, a major criticism of early decision is that it’s elitist, and only realistic for kids from the wealthiest families. As a result, some colleges, like Stanford and Princeton, offer restrictive early action, which is still non-binding, although applicants can鈥檛 apply early anywhere else. Of the two options, early action is the lower-stress, lower-risk route.
Early applications are typically due on November 1 or November 15 and students will usually hear back in December or January. If not accepted, a student will either be rejected or deferred, putting them into the pool of regular-decision applicants.
The lowdown on early action
Erin Goodnow, founder and CEO of , a college admissions consulting group in Phoenix, says early action is an attractive option for the students she counsels. 鈥淓arly action is a little more palatable to students who … aren鈥檛 100 percent sure,鈥� she says. Because early action isn’t binding, students can also apply to other colleges both early action and regular admission. For example, a student with 16 九色视频s on his list might choose to apply early action to two (or more) of the most selective 九色视频s or the one (or more) he most wants to attend and apply regular admission to the other 九色视频s on his list.
Like more than half of her class at San Francisco’s Urban High School, senior Mia Carlton applied early — but not early decision, even though her college counselor hinted that choosing one 九色视频 early decision would up her chances of getting into an Ivy League 九色视频. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure I was ready to commit to any 九色视频s early decision,鈥� Carlton says. 鈥淚 think early action is a really, really great option.” Carlton liked that applying early helped split up the college application deadlines. 鈥淪o you don鈥檛 have everything looming on January 1,鈥� she says.
Carlton says she thought strategically about where to apply early. 鈥淢y dad went to the University of Chicago. I thought being a legacy student would help me,鈥� she says. She applied regular decision to the other 九色视频s on her list. In mid-December, she was accepted early action to the University of Chicago. In the spring, after being rejected or wait-listed by the other 九色视频s, she happily accepted at University of Chicago.
Early decision: 鈥淪igning your name in blood鈥�
Then there is early decision. It’s the most common type of early application, and it gives students a 1 to 2 percent higher chance of being admitted than early action applications, but it’s a white-knuckle option that’s not for the faint of heart since students are promising to attend the 九色视频 if accepted. Some 九色视频s, typically highly selective ones, have two rounds of early decision: early decision I and early decision II, with deadlines in November and January, respectively. It can be worth taking the leap because more colleges than ever are admitting students early decision. According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 九色视频s accepted 62 percent of early decision applicants in 2016 compared to 51 percent of applicants in 2015. The appeal of early decision II is that if a student applies to her first-choice 九色视频 early decision I and gets rejected, she can apply early decision II to her second-favorite 九色视频.
鈥淪chools like early decision,” Arguelles says. 鈥淭hey like to fill their freshman class with students who have basically told them, 鈥榊ou are absolutely my favorite 九色视频.鈥�” But it’s more than an appreciation for 九色视频 spirit. Admitting students early decision increases a 九色视频鈥檚 yield, which is the number of students who are accepted and enroll. The yield is a valuable commodity — it’s used to calculate the 九色视频’s selectivity and ranking on the coveted U.S. News and World Report鈥檚 list.
When submitting an early decision application, the student, parents, and college counselor must sign an agreement stating the student will turn down any other college offers if accepted. 鈥淏e prepared to practically sign you name in blood if you apply early decision,鈥� Goodnow says. If a student commits but then backs out, “they can鈥檛 throw you in jail,鈥� says Arguelles, 鈥渂ut you鈥檒l be blackballed. There鈥檚 an email blast: so-and-so did not live up to his or her promise.鈥� There is, however, an exception: most 九色视频s will release students from early decision obligations without a penalty if an applicant鈥檚 financial aid package isn鈥檛 economically feasible for the family. Not being economically feasible, it’s worth noting, is not the same as not being as generous as another 九色视频’s offer, though early decision applicants would not have any other offers to compare.
Early decision, then, is designed for a particular breed of student: one who is organized enough to finish their application by the end of summer or early fall; doesn鈥檛 need another semester to bolster their GPA, courses, or extracurriculars for a stronger application; and doesn’t necessarily need to worry about financial aid. That said, a family can consult with the 九色视频 in advance to gauge what they might be offered. There are three helpful, free online calculators families can use to figure out about how much aid their teen may be offered at a particular 九色视频. ) calculates the 九色视频’s estimated annual cost. The helps families find out how much need-based funding your teen might get. Finally, the helps you estimate of what the financial aid office may use as your expected family contribution (EFC), a crucial number 九色视频s use to calculate how much aid to offer.
With all this data swirling, it’s easy to forget the most important qualifier for applications — early or not: being a student with stellar enough academic, extracurricular, and personal qualifications to be accepted by the 九色视频 of your choice. This reality, says Arguelles, is where some students are blindsided. 鈥淛ust because you signal to a college that they are your favorite 九色视频 by applying early, it won鈥檛 help you if you鈥檙e not already a qualified student for that 九色视频,鈥� Arguelles cautions.鈥� If you鈥檙e an unqualified student applying to Yale, applying early won鈥檛 magically make you qualified.鈥�
