Early Action vs Early Decision

As November 1st fast approaches, many colleges are pressuring seniors to apply Early Decision and/or Early Action. These two application plans sound very similar, and are thus causing mass confusion among already stressed high school seniors. Despite the similar names, these two plans have one important difference: one is binding and one isn’t.

Early Decision, in short, is a much more serious commitment than Early Action. Early Decision is when a student applies to a college by a deadline before that of Regular Decision. The benefits of this are that your application is looked at before many others and you receive an answer from the college much sooner. This, however, is not the whole picture. When you apply Early Decision it is a binding commitment to the college. If you are accepted into the college, you are obligated to attend and withdraw all applications from other schools. Basically, Early Decision is only for students who are absolutely certain that the college they are applying to is the one that they want to attend.

Early Action is quite similar, but it is less final.Early Action has the same earlier deadlines and it yields the same benefits as Early Decision. Early Action, however, is non-binding. This means that you are not promising the college that you will attend. You simply hear back sooner and have the advantage of them reading your application before others. You can still choose to attend a different college if you please.

I hope that this helps to clarify any confusion that you or someone you know may have about the difference between Early Decision and Early Action. Best of luck to everyone applying to colleges this year!