Does Early Action, Early Decision, or Rolling Admission Raise Your Chances of Admission?

With application portals open and deadlines quickly approaching, you may be stressed about how to apply to college. You have probably heard about your peers applying as early action and wondering if you should be doing the same to maximize your chances of getting in. However, while it may appear that those who apply early have an advantage there are several things to consider.

Early Applicants 

In general, the students who apply Early Decision tend to be students who know exactly where they want to go for college. This may also mean that they have been planning their academic career to center around college admissions and their dream school. Perhaps they are the students that maximize all possible AP classes, score perfectly on the SATs, and are pioneers of their own non-profits. But, does that mean they are more qualified than those who apply regular decision? 

There is a dearth of knowledge on the statistics that show exactly what these students did throughout their educational careers. What we do know, however, is that Early Decision applicants for most colleges are accepted at rates 4 – 16% higher than regular decision applicants. 

• Stanford, for example, had an Early Decision acceptance rate of 9.2% and a regular action acceptance rate of 4.7% as of 2021. 
• On the other hand, schools like MIT show only a slight advantage, with 4.7% of its Early Action applicants accepted and 3.4% of its regular action applicants accepted. 

Each college has a slightly different acceptance rate for its Early Action/Decision students so we recommend that you research the college’s admission statistics and choose wisely. 

Pandemic Impact on College Admissions

One other thing to consider is that some colleges group their statistics with students admitted from waitlist and deferred admission. With the rise of the pandemic, more students than ever have opted to defer admission and it is likely that some students will do so again this year. This could potentially affect college admissions, especially with the unexpected drop in enrollment the past few years.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Early Action, Early Decision, and Rolling Admission

To help ease the stress here are a few advantages and disadvantages around early decisions. 

*If a school offers both EA and Early Decision (like Northeastern, Villanova, and UChicago, for example), then your odds are still much higher with ED

Key Takeaways

• If you fit the school’s profile, you most likely have a higher advantage when enrolling as Early Decision over regular admission
• Early Decision schools show higher acceptance rates than those with Early Action
• Prioritize your college list and if your first choice school is one with an early decision/action program, we recommend you choose that over regular admissions