A Guide to College Application Deadlines

Before you even begin the application process, it is imperative to understand college application deadlines. We work with all of our students to define a college application deadline strategy that gives them the best chance of admission for the schools on their list. Are you interested in a personalized application strategy? Connect with us here!

Each school on your list will have their own application deadlines, and you should be aware of your options for each of the schools you are applying to. There are two easy ways to determine the application deadlines available to you based on your school list:

1. Create a Common App account and add all of your schools to your account. On your My Colleges page, you will be able to see the application deadlines and application requirements for each school on your list.
2. Look at the school websites themselves. They will list their application deadlines, application requirements and any stipulations to be mindful of when completing their application.

Understanding College Application Deadlines

There are, unsurprisingly, many different application deadlines. The admissions process just likes to be complicated, but we hope this breakdown of your admissions options will be helpful to you.

Early Decision

1. Is binding. Meaning, if you are admitted, you must attend unless you can prove financially you are unable to attend.
2. Because this application deadline is binding, you can only apply to one school under Early Decision. Many schools use the term “restrictive” to describe this deadline, as it restricts you from applying to many schools under the same deadline.
3. Typically this deadline is in November, usually November 1 or 15. Students who apply Early Decision will get a decision in mid-December.
4. Your application can be accepted (woo!), denied or deferred. Deferred means that the admissions committee wants to evaluate your candidacy against the students applying during their Regular Decision deadline, and you will get a final decision in the spring.

Who Should Apply Early Decision?

1. Students who have determined that this is their top choice school, without question.
2. Students who may have anxiety about the application process, and would benefit from a response in December.
3. Students who may not need to compare financial aid offers.

Early Action

1. Is not binding. If you are admitted, you are not required to attend.
2. Typically this deadline is in November, usually November 1 or 15. Students who apply Early Action will get a decision in mid-December.
3. Your application can be accepted (woo!), denied or deferred. Deferred means that the admissions committee wants to evaluate your candidacy against the students applying during their Regular Decision deadline, and you will get a final decision in the spring.

Who Should Apply Early Action?

1. Students who have determined their top choice schools, and want to indicate their interest to admissions committees.
2. Students who may feel anxiety in the process, and would benefit from a response in December.
3. Students who need to compare financial aid offers. Because this is a non-binding decision, students can still apply to other schools under Regular deadlines with this in their back pocket. This allows students to review all offers in the spring and make the best choice for them personally, academically and financially.

Restrictive Early Action

See.. this is where things start to get tricky!

1. Is not binding. If you are admitted, you are not required to attend.
2. The restrictive part of the title means that you can only apply to one school under this early application deadline.
3. Typically this deadline is in November, usually November 1 or 15. Students who apply Restrictive Early Action will get a decision in mid-December.
4. Your application can be accepted (woo!), denied or deferred. Deferred means that the admissions committee wants to evaluate your candidacy against the students applying during their Regular Decision deadline, and you will get a final decision in the spring.

Stanford University is one of the most well-known schools to offer a Restrictive Early Action deadline. And, this is where application strategy starts to take effect. See below for Stanford’s policy on Restrictive Early Action deadline.

Do you see what we see?

You may not apply to any other private college/university under their Early Action, Restrictive Early Action, Early Decision or Early Notification plan. In addition, it is Stanford policy that you may not apply to any public university under an early binding plan, such as Early Decision.

If you read between the lines here, you can see that students can apply to non-binding deadlines at public universities! Here you can see a perfect example of how we start thinking about application deadline strategy for students. We have many students who apply REA to Stanford and EA to Georgia Tech, because it is a competitive public university, and they have Early Action which are… what? Non-binding!

What do Early Admission Rates Look Like?

Early applicants get admitted at a higher rate. There are a few reasons for this:

1. It’s a smaller pool of more competitive applicants. Simply put, super impressive students apply under early admission deadlines, so admissions committees have stellar applicants to choose from.
2. Admissions committees care about yield. They are inclined to admit a good portion of their incoming freshman class under early application deadlines, because those students are the most likely to attend. Admissions committees will never admit a student they don’t think is likely to attend. There is a higher likelihood that early applicants are serious about the school, thus more likely to enroll.
3. Athletes and legacies apply early. These applicants are likely to get admitted, and they cushion these statistics quite a bit.

We hope this is helpful as you look to understand college admissions deadlines and form your application strategy. If you have more questions, or are interested in expert advice in putting together your application strategy, please reach out! We would love to hear from you and look forward to helping you in the college admissions process.