There are Six Types of College Application Deadlines/Results
#1 - Early Decision (ED) or (EDI)
~ Students may choose one college to apply ED.
~ However, students may choose NOT to apply ED to any college.
~ ED applications are binding.
~ If a student is accepted into an ED college, that student must attend the college.
~ Application deadline is generally in November.
~ ED applications are recommended only to strong candidates.
~ Students are notified well before the traditional date of mid-March to early April.
~ ED acceptance letters generally arrive in December.
~ If accepted, a non-refundable deposit is due months before the traditional date of May 1.
~ Students accepted into their ED college must withdraw all other applications.
~ Students will NOT have an opportunity to compare financial aid packages.
~ This option can benefit the student who has thoroughly researched their ED choice.
~ This option can be problematic if the student did not conduct adequate research.
~ The ED college can rescind the offer if grades drop in senior year of high school.
~ Some colleges will not place rejected ED students into the pool of RD applications.
~ EDI (Early Decision One) means there is also an EDII (Early Decision Two) with a later deadline.
#2 - Early Action (EA)
~ EA offers are not binding.
~ Students receive an early response to their application (generally January or February).
~ Students are not required to commit to any EA college(s) until the uniform reply date of May 1.
~ Students can compare the opportunities from each college into which they were accepted.
~ Most colleges allow students to apply to more than one EA college.
~ The EA college can rescind the offer if grades drop in senior year of high school.
* Some colleges have ED, EDII, and EA options; other colleges have one or two; several colleges have no early application options, leaving only a Regular Decision Application.
#3 - EA "Single Choice" / "Restrictive"
~ Some colleges DO NOT allow students to apply to any other schools EA.
#4 - Regular Decision (RD)
~ There is no limit to the number of college applications submitted.
~ Students can compare admissions offers from multiple schools simultaneously after acceptance notifications in mid-March to early April.
#5 - Rolling Admissions
~ There is no limit to the number of college applications submitted.
~ Colleges respond to students as the applications are received, as opposed to comparing all (or most) of the applicants before making admissions offers in March/April.
#6 - Waitlist
The Waitlist exists because not every student offered admittance will accept a college's offer.
This means the college could miss its target for enrollment.
If an application was not robust enough for an acceptance letter in March/April, but was strong enough that it wasn't denied outright, a student might be placed on that college's Waitlist.
As other students who were offered admittance reject the college's offer for a perceived "better" offer, the college invites students from the Waitlist.
Being Waitlisted does NOT guarantee a student will later be offered admittance.
Sometimes admittance from the Waitlist will be offered with a January start date.
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