The Six Types of College Application Deadlines

         The holiday season is around the corner. While most people are thinking about travel plans, time off work, holiday festivities, and spending moments with family and friends, this is not so for high school seniors. For them, the holiday season means college application deadlines are approaching. For seniors, the holiday season means finalizing college lists, writing drafts for supplemental responses, securing teacher recommendations, preparing for interviews, and nervously waiting for early round decisions.
 
         November 1st is right around the corner, and is traditionally the day the first round of college applications are due. The focus of this month’s blog post is to discuss the six types of college application deadlines–Restricted Early Action, Early Action, Early Decision, Early Decision II, Regular Decision, and Rolling Admissions–and review the benefits of each. I will discuss the recent trends in college admissions with respect to application deadlines and help students and families think about which application deadline may be most appropriate for their situation.
 
RESTRICTED EARLY ACTION
         Like Early Decision II, the Restricted Early Action (REA) deadline is a fairly recent phenomenon in the college application process, particularly to highly selective schools. Historically, only Stanford University employed the Restricted Early Action policy for its early applicants. There are now a handful of schools that have joined Stanford in this endeavor. They are: the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Georgetown University, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Notre Dame, and Yale University. The Restricted Early Action deadline is similar to the Early Action deadline. It is a non-binding decision, meaning that if students are admitted under this policy, they do not have to commit to the schools at the time of acceptance; they are free to delay their decision until College Decision Day, historically held on May 1st of a student’s senior year.
 
         Why have schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford moved towards the Restricted Early Action policy? The reason is that these top-tier schools are usually competing for the same set of students every year. So rather than wait until May to learn where these top students will land–typically known as “the gets”–these schools have selected to play a little tricky game. As its title implies, students applying to these schools REA must follow a certain set of rules. Generally, they are not free to apply to other private universities that have an Early Action and/or Early Decision policy, but they may apply to state-sponsored universities instead. In other words, a student applying to Stanford REA may apply to UC-Berkeley or UCLA Early Action, but may not apply to the University of Southern California.
 
         How does this benefit the schools and how may it benefit students?
 
         The Restricted Early Action deadline benefits the schools because it forces the most sought-after students in each application cycle to choose which top-tier school is their first choice. If a student is a strong candidate for admission to Harvard, Yale, and Stanford (and there are a handful of students each year that are), then those students must decide to which of those three schools they will apply to REA. Most students, if accepted to one of these top programs during the REA cycle, will not continue applying to additional schools and accept that school’s offer. So, the schools are fairly certain that they will get a fair share of the top students in the country to attend their program the following year.
 
         The Restricted Early Action deadline also benefits students as well. Top students must think critically about which top program best fits their needs and interests. By applying to a school with a Restricted Early Action policy, students can be assured they will receive an admissions decision in mid-December from some of the most competitive schools in the country. If admitted, students are free to either accept the offer or apply to other highly selective schools and wait to see what offers they receive–if any–from those programs. Students also know that the odds of being accepted to a top program are higher during the early round as opposed to the Regular Decision round as they are competing against a smaller number of applicants. So, applying to one of the six schools listed above REA may be a wise choice that benefits both students and schools alike.
 
EARLY ACTION
         The Early Action deadline is one of the most popular deadlines selected by students. Early Action policies allow students to apply to schools during the early round, but does not bind them to accept the decision if admitted. Many selective programs have Early Action policies, in particular the more prestigious state schools. Some state schools, such as the University of Georgia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have Early Action deadlines that come before November 1st, typically on October 15th. 
 
         State universities are eager to have their top students–top students who may be looking at out-of-state private schools–stay in state to attend college after graduating high school. Some of these state schools also have prestigious (and generous) scholarships for their citizen students. This further incentivizes them to have an application deadline that is ahead of November 1st, allows them to compete with top schools that have Restricted Early Action policies, and not scare away applicants by locking them into the binding decision that comes along with an Early Decision policy.
 
         The option of an Early Action deadline benefits students as well. It gives students the freedom to not have to make a decision until the spring and apply to other schools during the Regular Decision round. The cost of tuition is a concern for many students and families, and the Early Action choice allows students and families to see what type of aid (and how much) they may receive from schools where the student has been accepted, and then make a decision that is best for their budget. The Early Action option also allows students to have an admission decision before the end of the calendar year, as students choosing the Early Action option are notified of a school’s decision by mid-December. 
 
EARLY DECISION
         The Early Decision option is a binding decision meaning that if a student is accepted under this policy, then they must accept the college’s offer and suspend from applying to any other colleges. It is another highly popular choice for college applicants. In fact, applying in the early round has become a trend in the past few years, making the early round the “new” Regular Decision. Early round college applications have increased by 41% since the 2019 - 2020–or pre-COVID–college application season. Also, since before COVID, there has been a 38% increase in the first round of early applicants and a 90% increase in the second round of early applicants (which will be covered in discussing the Early Decision II option).  Due in large part to last year’s SCOTUS decision re: the removal of considering race when colleges adjudicate applicants, the application cycle for the college Class of 2028 saw a 67% increase in early round applicants from minority students. There was also a 52% increase in early round applicants from students from low-income zip codes, and only a 32% increase from students from wealthy zip codes.
 
         Like all application policies, the Early Decision choice provides benefits for students and families alike. In the college application process, sometimes there is a little magic. Sometimes, students find a college to be a perfect fit for them (academically, culturally, socially, professionally, etc.), and in turn, their grade point average, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities are aligned with the college’s admissions standards and priorities. When such a fit is discovered, students may be ready to commit to said college if accepted, and forgo all other offers or just stop applying to any other colleges altogether. When this is the case, the Early Decision option makes the most sense. Why drag out the application process if the college that feels like home says “yes” to you? Also, families that are less concerned with considering the cost of a tuition bill may support their students applying Early Decision as well. If the student gets accepted, then the entire process is wrapped up by the end-of-year holiday season, and students and families are able to enjoy the season with fewer worries. 
 
EARLY DECISION II
         Like the Restricted Early Action policy, Early Decision II is a fairly new phenomenon in the college application process. Typically, Early Decision II deadlines are the same date as Regular Decision deadlines, but students who apply under this policy receive their decision from the colleges much earlier than Regular Decision applicants. So, let’s take a look at how Early Decision II benefits both schools and applicants.
 
         There are a group of selective schools that are competing for the same set of students as the most selective programs. Generally, these schools are smaller liberal arts colleges around the country and have high admission standards. These schools know that they are not the first-choice school for a fair number of their applicants. Such applicants may first try their luck by applying to their first choice highly selective school either Early Action or Restricted Early Action. Those students will learn if they have been admitted to those schools, rejected, or deferred to the spring for an admission decision by mid-December. Such a student may have one or two Early Decision II schools as a second choice or third choice. If a student is deferred or rejected from their first-choice top-tier college in December, the Early Decision II policy allows them to “lock in” an admission decision by mid-February, be done with the process, and not have to wait until spring to find out where they may or may not be attending college. 
 
         An Early Decision II policy also benefits the schools in a few ways. First, it allows the admissions office to lock in more committed students for the upcoming class. These schools tend to have an Early Action or Early Decision deadline on November 1st; they will secure a portion of the upcoming class by mid-December. The Early Decision II policy opens the door for students who may have been deferred or rejected in the Early Action/Early Decision round to give their school a second look. A portion of those students will not want to wait until spring to hear a final decision from a top program (or, if rejected, may just want to move forward with a more realistic option). The Early Decision II policy allows such schools to improve their yield rate, admit another group of qualified students, and make more offers to the remaining applicant pool in the Regular Decision round. A couple of years ago, I had a client faced with this choice. He was deferred to Brown University in the Early Action round, but decided to apply to Middlebury College under its Early Decision II policy, and was admitted by mid-February. Since he had strong, positive feelings about both Brown and Middlebury, it made sense to him and his family for him to apply first to Brown, see what happened, and if it was a deferral (which it ended up being), apply to Middlebury Early Decision II. Many strong applicants may find themselves in similar situations, and Early Decision II gives them an alternative to wrap up their college application process sooner rather than later.
 
REGULAR DECISION
         A majority of college applications will be submitted under Regular Decision policies. There are lots of benefits for students who select to apply to colleges during the Regular Decision round. For starters, most of these students will have their answers to the early round applications. Students tend to be more relaxed about their Regular Decision applications because by this point, they are familiar with the process. Also, students have more time to complete their Regular Decision applications because the deadlines tend to fall at or around the beginning of the calendar year.
 
         Students also tend to apply to their match or safety schools during this round. This means that students are now applying to schools where either they fall safely within a school’s academic admission standards or fall slightly above them. Students also now have the option of including their fall semester grades with their application and may also include higher standardized test scores if they have achieved such scores during the fall semester of their senior year. Students have more time to secure teacher recommendations, and can plan campus visits during the spring semester during break if they have not done so already. Also, if financing the cost of college is a consideration, applying Regular Decision will allow both students and families to wait until early spring when admissions decisions for the Regular round (and deferrals for the early round) are released. Students and families may want to weigh all the financial options in front of them from schools where students have been accepted before making a final decision by May 1st.
 
ROLLING ADMISSIONS
         Of the six application deadline types, Rolling Admissions is possibly the least stressful option. Moderately selective colleges tend to have Rolling Admission policies. Rolling Admissions policies allow students to find out an admission decision much sooner than the other admission deadlines. Students tend to learn if they have been admitted four to six weeks after submitting their application.
 
         Students also have much more flexibility when applying to schools with Rolling Admissions policies. Colleges list on their website the dates when the Rolling Admissions period opens and closes. So, a student may select to apply to school with a Rolling Admissions policy early during the application season or later after they have received their admission decisions from schools that have stricter policies. Schools with Rolling Admissions policies also tend to close much later in the application cycle, sometimes as late as June or July after a student’s senior year. The admission standards also tend to be less strict for schools with Rolling Admissions policies and are less competitive. 
 
         That said, the possible pitfall of Rolling Admissions policies is that colleges will admit students until they fill up their incoming freshman class. Students have no idea when that will be (and frankly, neither do the admissions officers). So, students who wait until later in the season to apply to a school with a Rolling Admissions policy run the risk of applying after all the slots are taken. If a student has a school on their list that has a Rolling Admissions policy, it is best if they apply sooner rather than later, particularly if they are not applying to any schools Early Decision or Early Decision II, where a binding agreement of accepting the school’s offer would be in place.
 
SUMMARY
         When it comes to applying to college, students have many options for them in terms of when they apply. The most important things for students to do is their homework: research the admissions policies for each school on their application list, plan the best application strategy that works best for them, follow all guidelines for applying set forth by the colleges, and get the applications in on time. But most of all, students should remember not to let all of these deadlines and options stress them out. 
 
         Put your best foot forward with every application submitted, and have fun in the process!