Early Decision

In the past few weeks I have had the chance to meet with seniors about college applications and have found drastic differences in where everyone is at with the process. Some of you have barely given a thought to where you want to apply (for the record, this worries me, so if you are in that situation, please come talk to me). Others have already received their acceptances and are ready to kick back and enjoy senior year. The vast majority are somewhere in between the two extremes.

While I am always happy to help you in any way possible, there are some decisions that are for you and your family to make. For example, what schools you apply to and when you apply (assuming it is before the deadline) is entirely up to you. The other issue that has been weighing heavily on the minds of some students and their parents is the choice about applying Early Decision. Remember, as I explained in a previous post, Early Decision is binding. If you are not 100% sure if you want to go to that school, then the choice about should you apply early decision or not is actually quite easy - no. Because it is a binding decision, you cannot wait and see and take more time to decide, so if you are not completely sure about your desire to attend that school, then applying early decision would not be ideal. The other aspect that you and your family must seriously consider is the financial impact that attending the school could involve as you are making a commitment to attend the school and cancel your applications at all of your other schools. This means you will not be able to compare financial aid packages to see which school will provide the best offer. (You can try talking to the financial aid office at the college to see if they can provide an approximate range of expected financial aid to help you in your decision about applying as an early decision applicant, but remember that their guesstimate is not a guarantee.)

Some of you may be wondering what the advantage is to applying Early Decision. Aside from getting your admissions decision earlier, there is a definite advantage at some schools where applying as an early decision student increases your potential to be accepted at the school. In fact, US News and World Report recently featured an article with a chart summarizing the numbers and percentages of students accepted through early decision and regular decision at a range of colleges. Perhaps it will help you as you make your choice to determine if applying early decision is right for you.