Early Decision

Early Decision is a common policy used in college admissions in the United States for admitting freshmen to undergraduate programs. It is used to indicate to the University or College that the candidate considers that institution to be his or her top-choice. Unlike the regular admissions process, candidates typically submit their applications by the end of October of their senior year instead of December, and receive a reply in mid-December rather than the 1st of April

Most colleges offer either an Early Decision program or an Early Action one. Early Decision differs from Early Action in that it consitutes a binding commitment to enrol; that is, if offered admission under an Early Decision program the candidate must withdraw all other applications to other insitutions and enrol at that institution, whereas Early Action is not binding. Furthermore, Early Decision programs allow applicants to file only one Early Decision or Early Action application, while, depending on the insitution, Early Action programs may allow candidates to apply to more than one Early Action institution.

Typically, a candidate who has applied 'Early' (i.e. applied either under an Early Decision or an Early Action progam) can recieve one of three outcomes in December. They may be admitted, rejected, or deferred (i.e. their application will be reconsidered with the regular pool and a final decision made by April 1).

Admission rates for 'Early' applicants tend to be higher than the overall admission rates for the institution; this is particularly true of the most selective colleges. This is usually attributed to two factors: firstly, candidates who apply 'Early' can only present colleges with their transcripts until the end of junior year and therefore must be particularly strong applicants with very persuasive transcripts; secondly, candidates who apply 'Early' have dedicated themselves to an institution and are more likely to match the institution's admission standards.

All the Ivy League colleges offer Early Decision programs except for Harvard and Yale, which offer Single-Choice Early Action (i.e. applicants may not apply to more than one Early Action college).

Controversy surrounds Early Decision. Critics of the program think that binding an applicant, typically seventeen or eighteen years old, to a single institution is unnecessarily restrictive. Furthermore, candidates for financial aid are, if admitted under Early Decision, unable to compare financial aid offers from different colleges. It was in answer to these criticisms that, starting in 2003, Yale and Stanford switched to Single-Choice Early Action from Early Decision, while Harvard switched from Mutliple-Choice Early Action to Single-Choice Early Action in answer to criticism that Multiple-Choice Early Action defeated the purpose of letting candidates select a clear first choice.

Early Decision

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