The Rush To Be Early

The Rush To Be Early

By Ann Rossbach, Independent Educational Consultant

If you are an applicant for college, you have seen the wide array of application plans including Early Decision, Early Action, Restrictive Early Action, Single Choice Early Action, Priority and Rolling.  How do you know which plan is best for you, and is “going early” always the best choice?  After all, isn’t, “I just want to get this over with” the cry of every college senior?

My advice?  Don’t rush to be early.  Not every candidate benefits from this process.

Early Decision is not for the faint of heart or for the candidate who has not done lots of tire kicking and self-examination.  Applying Early Decision is an agreement that binds you to attend a college.  To make this decision, the applicant must know beyond any doubt that this college is the right fit for him and when May rolls around, that candidate must be prepared to have no regrets about the college he or she will be attending.  I get the question (more and more lately!):  What if I just back out?  Back out from a promise?  I don’t think so.  Besides, some serious ramifications can result.  Aside from the applicant’s promise, the parent and guidance counselor sign a statement of understanding.  Colleges take this process seriously and have been known to punish future applicants from high schools that do not honor this pledge.  Doesn’t it help me to apply ED to my reach school? Acceptance statistics for ED can be misleading; athletes and legacies (if a school pays any attention to this factor) are figured into the acceptance rate for ED, so the percentage is somewhat inflated.  To be a viable ED candidate, the student must still be the right fit for the college; ED does not move a reach school into safety territory.

And for those students who need more time to decide if their college is truly and Early Decision school, a plan of ED II is available at some institutions.

Well, then, what about Early Action?  Shouldn’t everyone get an early answer or two?  We always advise applying to an early action or rolling school IF you are prepared to do so.  Frankly, a student with a weak – or unfulfilled – high school transcript is not a great Early Action candidate.  Some students need the first semester to prove that he or she is on the upward grade trend or time to show a bit more accomplishment in a meaningful activity.  Some Early schools only consider GPA and standardized test scores; students don’t always recognize that letters of recommendation and a resume are not even considered in the earliest rounds at U of Georgia or Auburn.  My advice is that if you need more time, take it.  Be in control  of your college application process; don’t let tempting deadlines interfere with your decision making.  Yes, you may have a foundation (or safety) school that offers rolling admission or early action – this is actually a good plan for receiving an early response to your application. 

Read the fine print on those application plans that are a bit different.  Restrictive Early Action or Single Choice Early Action is just that (Georgetown, Boston College, Yale, Tulane).  Spend some time understanding the impact of this application plan on your overall strategy in applying to colleges.

Although it is good manners to be prompt (even early), consider the types of application plans that suit YOU best when applying to college.