{"id":56310,"date":"2022-10-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/applying-early-decision-is-it-worth-it-to-be-an-early-bird\/"},"modified":"2022-10-27T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T16:00:00","slug":"applying-early-decision-is-it-worth-it-to-be-an-early-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/applying-early-decision-is-it-worth-it-to-be-an-early-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying Early Decision: Is it Worth it to be an Early Bird?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/9\/9b\/Eastern_Bluebird-27527-2.jpg\/600px-Eastern_Bluebird-27527-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"230\" height=\"230\" \/>About 450 colleges offer students the choice to apply early, but what does it mean? And more importantly, is it worth it? First, let\u2019s break down these early admissions plans as though they are a relationship status.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Early Decision (ED)<\/b><\/h2>\n<h4>(You will be <i>Married to the school.)<\/i><\/h4>\n<p>Students applying ED usually submit their application in November and receive a decision by December. You can only apply to one school early decision, and if accepted, you MUST attend that college and withdraw all other applications. ED is a binding agreement.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Early Action (EA)<\/b><\/h2>\n<h4>(You&#8217;ll be <i>In an open relationship\u00a0<\/i>with possibly multiple schools.)<\/h4>\n<p>EA is similar to ED, but it\u2019s nonbinding. Students will receive a decision in January or February, and if accepted, you do not have to commit to that school. You can still continue to apply to other schools under regular admission, and give the school a decision same as regular admission.<b>\u00a0<\/b><\/figure>\n<h2><b>Single Choice Early Action (SCEA) or Restricted Early Action <\/b><\/h2>\n<h4>(You&#8217;re pushing the\u00a0 &#8220;<i>It\u2019s complicated&#8221;<\/i> territory.<i>)<\/i><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/admissionado.com\/college\/tuesday-qa-singlechoice-early-action-programs\/\">SCEA<\/a> is like EA in that it\u2019s nonbinding; however, you cannot apply early to any other school until you\u2019ve heard back from your SCEA school. Once you\u2019ve gotten the school\u2019s decision, you can apply to other schools.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Should I apply early decision?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>The good news is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2012\/12\/20\/education\/choice-early-admission-chart-2013.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ED acceptance rates<\/a> are often significantly higher than regular decision acceptance rates. So if you\u2019re sure about the school and you\u2019re prepared to submit your application, ED is a great option.<\/p>\n<p>However, since it\u2019s a binding agreement, you won\u2019t get to see financial aid packages from other schools. You could turn down the offer if the financial aid isn\u2019t adequate, but by then, it may be too late for you to apply anywhere else. If you apply EA or SCEA, you probably won\u2019t get the same admissions edge as you would applying ED, but you\u2019ll have the chance to compare financial aid offers before you make a decision.<\/p>\n<h3>Overall..<\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re still choosing between schools and financial aid packages, EA and SCEA will give you some flexibility to make your decision. If you\u2019ve done your research and are 100% committed to your dream school, then apply ED. You\u2019ve got better chances of getting in, and you can rest easy in December while your friends panic until May.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/admissionado.com\/blog\/college\/applying-early-decision-is-it-worth-it\/\">Applying Early Decision: Is it Worth it to be an Early Bird?<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/admissionado.com\">Admissionado<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About 450 colleges offer students the choice to apply early, but what does it mean? And more importantly, is it worth it? First, let\u2019s break down these early admissions plans&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,817,775],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-admissionado","category-admission-consultants","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}