Introductory Guide to Early Decision (Part 2 of 2)
Welcome back! In our previous post, we discussed the basics of the early decision application process. Specifically:
The various early programs that colleges and universities use and how they differ from one another
What early decision is and how the application process differs from regular decision
How legally binding early decision actually is
With the fundamentals covered, we are now prepared to dive deeper into the specifics of early decision. Many students are considering applying early decision, believing it may boost their admissions chances or because they want to get a decision sooner rather than later. But how do you know if early decision is right for you?
Part 4: Is Early Decision The Right Choice For You?
Before we answer this question, understand this: Early decision is inherently an individual, extremely nuanced choice. Use our statements as a guideline, not a rulebook.
Early decision should be strongly considered if you can meet all of the following criterion:
The college that you are applying to is your top choice
You are a strong candidate to that college or university
You are not concerned with the anticipated cost of attendance
You are prepared for the hidden cost of attendance
You have already visited the college and ensured the school is a social fit
Lets break that down.
1. The College That You are Applying to is Your Top Choice
This is pretty straight forward. You do not want to apply early decision to a safety school. You want to apply early decision to a school that is the best choice for you, not the school that is most elite or most selective. That’s a mistake. Remember, the goal is to go to the best school that you can go to for the post-college outcome you are looking for. You are not looking to go to a school just to transfer after a semester.
A rule of thumb for early decision: Apply early decision to the school that gives you the best chance of whatever outcome you are looking to get out of college. For example, if you are pre-med, apply early decision to the school that is going to give you the best chance to go to medical school.
2. You Are a Strong Candidate
This is one of the most important factors on whether early decision is right for you. Do not apply early decision to a school where you are not a strong candidate. How do you define a strong candidate? Officially, you are looking for the following:
Standardized test scores above the median score for the university
GPA/Class Rank above the median score for the university
If you are above the median for the university, you are a strong candidate to gain acceptance in a regular admission pool, but may not be a strong candidate for early decision. Remember how the early decision process works.
Early Decision Application Submitted → Early Decision Application Decision Made → If Deferral, moved into General Application pool → Final Admission Decision Made
The majority of individuals are deferred from the early decision pool to the general application pool. That means that the individuals who are accepted in the early decision pool tend to be stronger applicants (although not always for purely academic reasons). Let’s use an example.
For College X, 20% of students are accepted in the early applicant pool, 60% are deferred to the regular applicant pool, and 20% are outright rejected.
Assuming all things are equal, the 20% who are accepted should be the strongest applicants in the early applicant pool.
If you are in the 50% for standardized test scores/GPA for the overall university, you would most likely not be accepted in the early decision program and instead be deferred to the regular admission pool.
If you are deferred into the general admit pool, you stand a good chance of still being admitted. But for those who really want to push their chances of admission in early decision, we typically recommend students have at least two of the following:
Standardized test scores that are at or above the 75th percentile for the university
GPA that is at or above the 75th percentile for the university
A significant competitive advantage in the admissions process (e.g., child of an alumnus of the university)
If you are not a strong applicant as defined in either scenario, it does not mean that you cannot get into the college. It just means you are more likely to find yourself deferred to the general admission pool.
3. You Are Not Concerned With the Anticipated Cost of Attendance
Students that are accepted early decision are obligated to accept admission and enroll. The only reason not to is if the financial aid package offered is one that the family cannot afford to attend. While this is a valid defense, we recommend students consider their financial circumstances before applying early decision.
If you are applying early decision, you should fall into one of two economic groups:
You have the resources to pay for college regardless of the financial aid package offered
Your resources and household income are low enough that you would qualify for need-based aid in almost any circumstance
The first bucket is pretty clear - if you know that you have 529 plans, savings, or other assets to make sure that you can pay for college no matter the cost to you, then feel free to apply early decision.
The second bucket is not as clear. Research the school: what is their financial aid philosophy? For example, for the 2022-2023 academic year, Harvard does not expect an out of pocket contribution for families with annual household incomes of $75,000 or less. If you are below this mark and applying to Harvard early, you could say with relative confidence that you will receive a fairly comprehensive financial aid package.
Note: That financial aid package may not be all grants and scholarships. It may include work study or loans as a component of it. If you are not prepared for that, be mindful in applying.
You may be asking why it matters if you can apply early decision and simply reject the offer if the financial aid package is not sufficient. There are several reasons:
Acceptance under early decision requires you to withdraw all other applications. While you can keep those applications with other schools while you appeal, appeals can often be decided relatively quickly, well before you would receive a decision from another school.
You do not want to get into a situation where you make a bad name for yourself at a university’s admissions department, particularly if you think you may want to apply there for grad school. Admissions always remembers.
Do not put your family into a situation that will cause animosity or unnecessary tension. Often, parents can feel compelled to find a way to “make it work” for a college. It is better to allow yourself to have options and weigh those options to make the best decision for you and your family.
There are “hidden” costs of college that are not included in the official financial aid package offered by the school (we will discuss this in the next section) that you should consider in addition to the named costs.
4. You are Prepared for the Hidden Cost of Attendance
In addition to the named costs, parents often do not realize the hidden costs associated with attending college. When you apply early decision, be sure you can afford these undisclosed costs, such as:
Flights/travel to and from the campus to visit home
Social outings (e.g., formal dances, tickets to the games)
Special clothes (e.g., warm jackets in a cooler climate)
Computers
Furniture
Food
Assistance with Summer Internships/Volunteer Work
While these costs may occur whether you apply early decision or regular decision, early decision does not give you the ability to compare financial aid packages from multiple offers. Instead, you have to accept the costs. Let’s use an example.
Imagine a family that expects they can afford up to $10,000 a year to support a student in college. Now imagine two university offers. University A provides aid where the family is expected to pay $5,000 out of pocket while University B provides aid where the family is expected to pay $10,000 out of pocket. If you applied early decision to University A, great. You have an extra $5,000 to be supported on some of these hidden costs. But if you applied early decision to University B, suddenly all of the contribution from the family is taken to pay the upfront costs, that there is suddenly no money to support those extra costs that come up at college, such as needing a laptop. If you applied regular decision, you would have the ability to evaluate and make an educated decision.
If your family’s ability to support these hidden costs is in any way tied to how much they have to support the tuition-like costs, early decision may not be the right choice for you.
5. You Have Already Visited the College or University
Do not apply early decision to a school you have never visited. Its tantamount to betting all your savings in a game of poker where you have not even seen your own hand.
College is as much a social experience as it is an academic experience. You do not want to be locked into a school, only to visit and discover this is not the right choice for you. You will only set yourself up for a bad college experience or a potential transfer, both of which can derail your post-college plans. There are a number of things that can go wrong, and not liking the college is not a valid reason to get out of early decision, especially since early decision often requires deposits at a much earlier date than regular decision admits have to send their financial deposits.
Overall, if you are an applicant that can meet all of these requirements, it may not be a bad idea to apply early decision. But there is still one outstanding question.
Part 5: Does Applying Early Decision Improve My Chances of Being Admitted?
The short answer is: It depends on who you ask.
Most colleges will state that there is no statistical advantage to applying early decision over applying regular decision. That would make sense. No one wants a process where early decision is an automatic acceptance while regular decision is an automatic denial. But the numbers don’t always support this.
Generally speaking, the impact of early decision and the “benefit” an applicant receives is a function of a few key inputs:
The overall selectiveness of the college or university
The academic strength of the individual applicant
The profile of the individual applicant
Generally, the more selective the college is, the more of a bump early decision will make. Why? The early applicant pool is usually smaller than the general applicant pool, and the admissions officers are typically only able to use the smaller pool and historical data to make an assessment. What that means for you is as follows: the stronger you are against historical data, the more likely you are to be accepted early decision. In a regular applicant pool, however, the admissions officer has the ability to see the entire class. For example, lets say a 30 is the historical average ACT score for a university. If an applicant applies early decision with a 33, they will appear very strong against the historical data. If, on the other hand, that applicant waits for the regular admissions deadline and submits, what happens if this year’s applicant class has an average ACT score of 33? The hypothetical applicant who would have appeared strong in the early decision pool now looks average in the normal applicant pool.
On the other hand, if the university is not selective and admits 50% of students, early decision has far less value. Why? Imagine a hypothetical pool of 1000 students. Lets assume that 500 apply in the regular pool and 500 apply in the early decision pool.
If the overall acceptance rate is 50% that means 500 applicants will receive an offer letter.
If we assume that early decision will receive a slight bump in acceptance, where 55% of students in early decision are admitted and 45% of students in regular admission are admitted, then we would say 275 applicants are accepted out of the early decision pool and 225 are accepted in the regular decision pool.
If the overall acceptance rate for a university is instead 10.5% for the same applicant pool, the total number of students accepted is only 105 people.
If we assume that 14% of early decision are accepted, then approximately 70 of the 105 total acceptances will come from the early decision pool, while only 35 will be accepted from the regular decision pool.
In the first example of a non-selective school, the additional 50 spots only represent 22% of all spots available in the regular decision pool.
In the second example of a more selective school, the additional 35 spots in the early decision pool are exactly how many spots are available in the regular admit pool.
The value of admitting 55% in early decision vs. 45% in regular decision is not as significant as admitting 14% in early decision vs. 7% in regular decision.
While the selectiveness and academic profile play a role, the overall profile of the applicant is significant. Early decision can often be used for students who fit “alternative profiles,” such as recruited athletes, legacy students, or donor list applicants. If you fit one of these profiles, there is an increased chance of acceptance in the early decision round than in the regular admit pool. Why? Because early decision does not have to play by the same rules as regular decision. Remember, early decision helps to set the overall class profile, while regular decision helps fill it out. In other words, you can take a recruited athlete early decision and then become more selective with the general applicant pool. It does not mean the athlete does not have to be competitive, but it does mean the admissions officer can help set what a “competitive” applicant looks like in the future based on who is accepted early decision.
If you are a student who has a strong academic record, a competitive profile, and are applying to a selective college, applying early admission will generally provide you with a greater chance of admission against the regular admissions.
Conclusion:
Congrats! You now have a basic understanding of early decision. Understand, this is not an easy decision, and there is a lot of nuance in how to approach early decision. If you are truly in doubt, apply regular decision or through some other non-binding early program.
If you decide to apply early decision, remember that until a final admission decision is rendered, you can always call the college or university and request to be deferred into the general applicant pool to take some of the pressure off.