“Early” College Application Deadlines Are Looming

What greater holiday gift is there for college bound students than to receive a fat acceptance letter, or a congratulatory email, from their college of choice? But in order to have a chance of getting such good news by the holidays, students typically need to submit their college applications by the “early” deadline of November 1st or 15th.

Students can apply to as many colleges “early action” as they like and, if accepted, they are not required to attend.  This differs from an “early decision” application which can only be submitted to one college and binds the student to attend, if accepted.

Aside from the obvious emotional advantage of hearing back from colleges earlier, there is another key advantage to filing early applications.  Colleges are well aware that many students apply to eight or more colleges. It’s somewhat of a guessing game for college admissions officers to try to figure out which students, if accepted, would actually attend.  So many colleges, including some of the most competitive institutions, accept a substantially higher percentage of their early decision candidates knowing they will definitely enroll.  To a lesser extent, colleges also tend to favor early action students who have demonstrated a strong interest in their school.

Students with dreams of attending an Ivy League school should particularly note the vast difference in acceptance rates between “early” and regular applicants.  Recent statistics indicate that Brown University accepted 21% of early applicants but only 7% of regular applicants.  Columbia University accepted 14% of early applicants and 5% of regular applicants. The gap was not quite as extreme at Cornell University where 26% of early applicants were accepted, compared to 11% of regular applicants.  But the gap was severe at Harvard University where 14% of early applicants were accepted compared to only 3% of regular applicants.

The acceptance numbers at Princeton University were 15% early applicants to 5% for regular applicants.  Dartmouth accepted 28% of early and 9% of regular applicants.  Yale accepted 15% of early and 5% of regular applicants, and The University of Pennsylvania accepted 22% of early and 7% of regular applicants.

The “early” advantage does not just apply to the most elite institutions.  The percentages of students accepted early decision, in comparison to regular decision, at some of the colleges and universities popular with New Jersey students are: Lehigh University 60% to 22%, Bucknell University 55% to 29%, Johns Hopkins University 30% to 10%, American University 85% to 27%, Duke University 25% to 8%, and The College of New Jersey 59% to 49%. 

College applications are one category where procrastination does not pay off!

Susan Alaimo is the founder of SAT Smart. For the past 25 years, SAT Smart’s Ivy League educated tutors have prepared students for the PSAT, SAT, ACT, Subject Tests, AP courses, and all high school subjects. Visit www.SATsmart.com or call 908-369-5362.