Early Action Due Dates

November 1 is just three weeks away! This is a big day in college admissions because most early decision and early action applications are due on that day. Do you know the difference between ED and EA? Early decision is a binding decision. Students are only allowed to apply ED to one school because if they get into that school, they must attend it. If families would like to compare various financial aid or scholarship packages, early decision is not the right choice. Universities do not typically award any sort of aid money (need or merit based) to those who apply early decision because the students are obliged to attend, whatever the cost comes out to be. The reason many students like to take advantage of the ED option is because the admit rate is significantly higher for early decision than it is for regular decision. In many cases, a student's chances of being admitted more than double when they apply ED to their top choice school.

Early action is a non-binding application type. What’s nice about EA is that students can apply to multiple schools via early action and receive admissions decisions by winter break. They can compare all of the offers and then make a decision versus having to retract all of their other applications if they are admitted to their early decision school. If students choose to apply regular decision or if the school doesn’t offer early action, they might not learn of their decisions until late March. Three months might not seem like a long time, but when you’re a senior waiting on your college decisions, the days and weeks drag by! (FSU gives decisions on 12/14, and UF gives them on 2/23. Those two months feel interminable!)

The earliest date that colleges are allowed to set for an early action deadline is October 15. Florida State, UGA, and Georgia Tech all have their early action applications due on that day for in state residents. It is advised that if students want to have a chance for admission to these schools, they should definitely submit their application by these early dates. The good news is that so much of the work will be finished by October 15 that it makes the remaining supplemental essays for other schools less daunting. If you know seniors in FL or GA and they’ve been extra stressed recently, there’s a good chance that they’ve been furiously working on getting these applications out. Here’s to a great admissions season!