An early application is a sure-fire way to boost your chances of admission, especially if you have great grades and top scores that are in range for the schools on your college list. If you’ve read our blog posts and admissions books, you know that your odds go way up when you apply in a binding Early Decision program. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at the early decision stats that we collect and post each year. Your odds of admission were about three times greater if you applied early versus regular to Brown, Columbia, and Duke. At Dartmouth, the early decision admit rate was four times greater.
Although not the case for every early action school, there are certainly clear statistical benefits to applying early action as well. At Harvard, your chances were five times greater last year if you applied early action than waiting until the regular round. Yale and Notre Dame applicants had more than double the rate of admission if they applied under early action. Overall, keep in mind that early decision gives a much better boost compared to early action across the board – that is the reward for a student willing to commit to a school.
HOOKED VS UNHOOKED
Keep in mind that the reasons the admit rates trend higher in early at top private schools is that applicants with hooks (recruited athletes, legacies, VIP’s, underrepresented minority students) tend to get even more of an admission boost if they apply early. Are you an unhooked applicant? You will still benefit from a more thoughtful review as applicant pools are notably smaller and admissions staffs are not completely overwhelmed with applications to read. Plus you are read against a backdrop of many recruited athletes, legacies and borderline applicants so you may shine brighter against a dimmer background. Overall, regular applicant pools tend to be stronger.
These early deadlines are drawing near so we’ve made it easy for you and listed the specific dates for some top schools. Create your own spreadsheet and get organized. This is a critical time for you, seniors. Leverage the early round and up your odds.
EARLY ACTION & EARLY DECISION DEADLINES
College | Early Deadline(s) |
American University | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Amherst College | ED: 11/16/20 |
Babson College | EDI and EA: 11/1/20EDII: 1/2/21 |
Barnard College | ED: 11/1/20 |
Bates College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Baylor University | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Bentley University | ED: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/7/21 |
Boston College | EA: 11/1/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Boston University | EDI: 11/1/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Bowdoin College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/5/21 |
Brandeis University | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Brown University | ED: 11/1/20 |
Bryn Mawr College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Bucknell | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/15/21 |
CalTech | EA: 11/1/20 |
Carelton College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Carnegie Mellon University | ED: 11/1/20; EA (juniors) 1/1/21 |
Case Western Reserve | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Claremont McKenna | EDI: 11/1/20; EDII: 1/5/21 |
Colby College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Colgate University | EDI: 1/15/21; EDII: 1/15/21 |
College of the Holy Cross | EDII: 1/15/21 |
College of William and Mary | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Colorado College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Columbia University | ED: 11/1/20 |
Connecticut College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/15/21 |
Cornell University | ED: 11/16/20 |
Dartmouth College | ED: 11/1/20 |
Davidson College | EDII: 1/4/21 |
Denison College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Dickinson College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/15/21 |
Duke University | ED: 11/16/20 |
Emerson College | EDI/EA: 11/1/20 |
Emory University | EDI: 11/1/20 EDII: 1/1/21 |
Fairfield University | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Franklin and Marshall College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
George Washington University | EDII: 1/5/21 |
Georgetown University | EA: 11/1/20 |
Gettysburg College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Grinnell College | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Hamilton College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Hampshire College | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Harvard University | REA: 11/1/20 |
Harvey Mudd College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/5/21 |
Haverford College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Hobart and William Smith Colleges | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Johns Hopkins University | ED: 11/2/20; EDII: 1/4/21 |
Kenyon College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Lafayette College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Lake Forest College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Lehigh University | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Macalaster College | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Middlebury College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
MIT | EA: 11/1/20 |
Muhlenberg College | EDII: 2/1/21 |
New York University | EDI: 11/1/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Northeastern University | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Northwestern University | ED: 11/1/20 |
Oberlin College | EDII: 1/2/21 |
Occidental College | EDII: 2/1/21 |
Pitzer College | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Pomona College | EDI: 11/15/20; EDII: 1/8/21 |
Rice University | ED: 11/1/20 |
Rochester Institute of Technology | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Santa Clara University | EDII: 1/7/21 |
Sarah Lawrence College | EDII: 1/2/21 |
Scripps College | EDII: 1/5/21 |
Sewanee: University of the South | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Skidmore College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Smith College | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Southern Methodist University | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Stanford University | REA: 11/1/20 |
Stonehill College | EDII: 2/1/21 |
Stevens Institute of Technology | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Swarthmore | ED: 11/15/20; EDII:1/4/21 |
Syracuse University | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Trinity College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Trinity University | EDII: 2/1/21 |
Tufts University | EDI: 11/17/20; EDII: 1/1/21 |
Tulane University | EA: 11/15/20; EDI: 11/1/20 |
Union College | EDII: 1/15/21 |
University of Chicago | EA/EDI: 11/2/20; EDII: 1/4/21 |
University of Miami | EDII: 1/1/21 |
University of Michigan | EA: 11/15/20 |
UNC Chapel Hill | EA: 10/15/20 |
University of Pennsylvania | ED: 11/1/20 |
University of Richmond | EDII: 1/1/21 |
University of Rochester | EDII: 1/20/21 |
University of South Carolina | EA: 10/15/20 |
University of Virginia | EDI/EA: 11/1/20 |
Vanderbilt University | EDI: 11/1/20 EDII: 1/1/21 |
Vasser College | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Villanova University | EA/ED: 11/15/20: EDII: 1/15/21 |
Wake Forest University | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Washington and Lee University | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Washington U. St. Louis | EDI: 11/1/20; EDII: 1/2/21 |
Wellesley College | EDII: 1/1/21 |
Wesleyan University | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Worcester Polytechnic Institute | EDII: 1/15/21 |
Yale University | SCEA: 11/1/20 |
EARLY DECISION II
Be sure to finalize your Early Decision II and/or Regular round essays and have them locked and loaded in your online application accounts (UC Application, Common App, etc.). We can help you with your application and your essays immediately via our Common App 911 and Essay Guidance packages! Don’t miss the opportunity to leverage yourself, your essays and your application.
YOUR FUTURE, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
It is your responsibility to ensure every piece of your application has been submitted INCLUDING what your high school is supposed to submit. CHECK the specifics for your early round colleges as policies vary by school and then do your due diligence to ensure all of your ducks are in a row. It’s imperative you stay on top of this important administrative piece to your application. After all, your school won’t get deferred because a document was missing, YOU will.