How Much Can Early Decision Help?

As the number of applications submitted to each college continues to soar, admissions rates are decreasing at alarming rates. As we reported in our How to Stand Out in the Admissions Review blog earlier this year, many colleges admit that they received so many qualified applications that they could fill their first-year class multiple times over. With this increase in competition over the years, college-bound students are trying to find ways to boost their chances of admission. Unfortunately, there is no secret sauce to ensuring admission to your dream college. Most colleges do not have minimum GPAs they require, and they are not looking for one specific activity or one particular class. Most colleges review applications holistically, which means beyond grades, rigor, and test scores (if submitted), they consider all aspects of each application, including activities, letters of recommendation, essays, and often, demonstrated interest when making admissions decisions.

One way that may help sway an admission decision in your favor is to apply Early Decision. However, before we discuss how much help Early Decision can provide, it is essential to understand what Early Decision is and why you can not take this choice lightly. Under the rules of Early Decision, an applicant may only submit one Early Decision application. If an applicant is admitted to the college they applied Early Decision to, they must withdraw all other submitted applications regardless of whether or not they have received a decision from the other schools. Early Decision is a binding commitment, meaning an applicant that applies Early Decision is pledging to attend that college if accepted. The applicant, a parent, and the high school counselor sign an agreement committing to these terms. A student should only apply Early Decision if they are 100% sure this is the college for them. Additionally, a student should make sure they understand the financial commitment before submitting this agreement. Pulling out of an Early Decision commitment is not taken lightly by any college or the student’s high school.

As the name suggests, applying Early Decision means you will submit your application early, and you will receive a decision earlier than if you had applied under a Regular Decision plan. In an ideal world, you will receive an Admit decision from your Early Decision school, but there may also be a disappointing, Deny decision. However, it is also possible that you may be deferred to the Regular Decision applicant pool. If you are deferred, the commitment to that school is no longer binding. If you are admitted later in the cycle, you are not required to attend. At this point, you would be free to apply to other restrictive programs, including Early Decision 2 at another college, if offered, and the submission deadline has not passed. Remember that Early Decision 2 plans are also binding, so all the same rules apply.

As we have discussed in our Understanding Demonstrated Interest blog, applying Early Decision (or Early Decision 2) is the ultimate demonstration of interest. Colleges like to know that a student will enroll if admitted since it takes some uncertainty away from the yield (how many admitted students enroll.) However, applying Early Decision is certainly not a guarantee of admission to that college, so ensuring you have a balanced list with some solid target schools and submitting those applications is still very important. As a result, in many cases, a more significant percentage of Early Decision applicants are admitted to a college than those from the Early Action or Regular Decision pool. However, we do want to share a word of caution about ED acceptance rates. If you see that a college accepted 24% of the Early Decision applicants and 8% of the Regular Decision applicants, you can not assume this means you have a three times better chance of getting accepted to that college if you apply Early Decision. You must remember that often recruited athletes are asked to apply Early Decision, and many legacies also apply Early Decision. These students' acceptances can impact the data, making the Early Decision acceptance rate look much higher than it is for students that don’t already have some sort of connection to the college. Additionally, applying Early Decision will usually not help if your grades are not what the colleges are looking for or if there is some other piece missing from your application.?

So how much can Early Decision really help? As with so many answers to college admissions questions, the answer is that it depends. It depends on the college, the applicant pool, and the student’s accomplishments as shown on their transcript and in their activities, essays, and letters of recommendation.?

If you are in love with a school, and you have discussed the Early Decision option carefully with your parents and counselor, and everyone agrees that this is a good path for you, by all means, apply Early Decision. However, we do not recommend applying Early Decision if you are not 100% sure this school is the right one for you or if you are not sure the cost of the college will fit into your family’s budget. Take the time to sit down with your parents and counselor before jumping into this commitment. Weighing all of the possibilities and requirements carefully now can avoid possible regrets later.

Are you looking for someone to help your high school student build a reasonable and balanced list of colleges they are excited to attend? Contact North Shore College Consulting today to learn more about our one-on-one, individual college consulting packages or about the Admissions Key VIP, our comprehensive, monthly college consulting subscription program.