College Application Resources

Get your game face on. The college application process takes endurance and focus. Most college applications become available to begin in the fall of Senior year and will have deadlines ranging from November through July. We have outlined the basic steps necessary to complete a competitive application in this section but you may still have questions. It is important to visit with the school's college access counselor to keep them in the loop of your plans and make sure you've completed each step.

Types of Application Deadlines

Non-Binding Applications: students are free to apply to other institutions and have until the May 1 national deposit deadline to confirm enrollment at their chosen school.

• Rolling Decision: Institutions review applications as they are received and make their decisions as to whether to admit those students on an on-going basis throughout the application cycle. Deadlines at these schools are often up to the beginning of the next semester starting.
• Regular Decision: Institutions state a clear deadline for student applications and a clear time span in which they will receive news of their admission status. Typical deadlines are February but have been moving into January slowly.
• Early Action (EA): In exchange for receiving student applications early (usually between October and December), institutions promise to notify applicants of their admission status well before the institutions' regular response date (this advance notification period usually spans from December to February). There is no harm in applying Early Actions; in fact, it could be preferable to applying late in the application cycle when freshmen classes start to fill at selective institutions.

Binding Applications: restrictions that students are responsible for understanding and following are placed on student activity.

• Early Decision (ED): This is the process through which students make a commitment to their top choice school, promising to enroll there if they are admitted and given enough financial aid. Students may also apply to other schools through Regular Admission, but if accepted to their Early Decision school, they are expected to withdraw those other applications in favor of their Early Decision school. ONly apply Early Decision if you a) have one clear top-choice school where you want to increase your likelihood of acceptance b) know you'll get enough financial aid or loans to cover the cost of attendance and c) understand you cannot break your commitment to attend the institution if accepted. *** Prior campus visit is HIGHLY recommended when using Early Decision.
• Restrictive Early Action (REA): Through this process, students can only apply to one school early (students can still apply to Regular Decision schools through this process). If accepted to their Restrictive Early Action school, they have until early spring to give that school their final decision. While less restrictive than Early Decision, Restrictive Early Action still narrows students' options.