Early College Apps Increase Chance of Acceptance

What greater holiday gift is there for a college bound student than to receive a fat acceptance letter, or a congratulatory email, from a 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.  They actually have until May 1st (National College Decision Day) to make their final choice. This differs from an “early decision” application that 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.   

Statistics from CollegeTransitions.com enumerate the higher acceptance rates for both early decision and early action students at many universities popular with New Jersey natives.  For example, the percentages of students accepted early decision vs. regular decision are: American University 85% to 27%, Duke University 25% to 8%, Johns Hopkins University 30% to 10%, Lehigh University 60% to 22%, The College of New Jersey 62% to 47%, and University of Miami 64% to 24%.

For students not quite ready to commit to a particular college or university, the benefits of applying early action vs. regular decision are still apparent in the following acceptance rates: Georgia Institute of Technology 33% to 15%, Notre Dame 30% to 15%, Ohio State 62% to 29%, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 32% to 12%, and Monmouth University 93% to 77%. 

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.