Early Decision College Applications

By Joe Messinger, CFP®

October 13, 2022

4 min READ

It’s college application season! When it comes to deadlines, colleges throw around several terms for when the application is due–early decision, early action, regular decision, and rolling admissions to name a few. Some colleges get even more creative with terms like “restricted early action” and others. In this blog, we wanted to take a closer look at early decision, or ED.

What is Early Decision?

When your student made their college list, was there one college that stood head and shoulders above the rest? If that college said “yes,” would your student even need to apply anywhere else?

If your college-bound senior has a school on their list that matches this description, and that specific college offers an early decision deadline, then you may want to consider submitting the application for early decision consideration.

Early decision deadlines can range from mid-October to early December. Early decision is a binding agreement between the college and the student. If the college accepts the student under early decision, then the student will withdraw their applications from other colleges.

Students can only submit one application for early decision consideration. They can not submit early decision applications to more than one college. (They can, however, submit early action applications in multiple places.)

What is the benefit of submitting an Early Decision application?

Statistics have shown that ED applicants have higher acceptance rates than regular decision applicants. The number of applications is lower for ED, but the number accepted from that pool is higher. For example, Boston College accepted 39% of their Early Decision applicants for the 2020-2021 application cycle. Their regular decision acceptance rate was 17%. Often, Early Decision students can make up anywhere from 25%-50% (or more) of a college’s total class for that year.

Why is the ED acceptance rate higher?

First, most recruited athletes are required to apply Early Decision, so that has an impact on those acceptance rate figures. In addition, legacy students (those whose parents attended or graduated from that college) also have a higher rate of applying and being accepted Early Decision.

Beyond those two reasons, colleges want those ED applicants because they have the highest level of interest in the college. They are guaranteed attendees. Having those guaranteed “yes” students will go a long way to improving a college’s yield rate (the percentage of students who choose to enroll.)

Finally, Early Decision applicants are typically stronger candidates. They demonstrate academic accomplishments or other characteristics which fit into what that particular college is looking for in its students.

What is the danger of applying Early Decision?

So, if the acceptance rate is more favorable for ED applicants, why doesn’t everyone do it? Because it is binding contract between a college and your student. A family must be prepared to pay what could potentially be full sticker price. The most important considerations are:

• What will this university expect you to pay?
• How much aid (if any) do you qualify for?
• Are you comfortable with that amount?

How do you know how much a college will expect you to pay?

Start with their net price calculator. Every university is required to have one on its website. (You might have to search a bit to find it.) Fill it out. If the estimated cost is something your family can manage and the student meets or exceeds the academic qualifications at that school, then applying early decision is a good choice.

Be aware the figure provided by the net price calculator is not guaranteed, and a few colleges may offer less aid to ED applicants than they would to regular decision students. Most universities, however, like Northwestern, will guarantee the financial aid offer will be the same whether you apply ED or regular decision.

Some colleges like Dickinson will offer students considering early decision a “pre-read” so an applicant can learn more about their likelihood of admission or merit scholarship.

If your student is looking at several colleges and their Early Decision programs, it can help to get an apples-to-apples comparison of what you can expect to pay at each institution. Through our free College Money Report™, you can assess what aid you qualify for, and what the year-to-year price of your top three universities will be. You can get your free report by clicking here.

Can a student get out of this “binding” agreement?

The Common Application, which most students use to apply to college, has a very specific set of steps used when applying Early Decision. In addition to the student’s signature, ED requires parental and guidance counselor approval. They want to make sure everyone is on board with this decision.

If a student is accepted ED into a college, receives the financial aid offer, and simply cannot afford to attend, they will be released from the agreement. Extreme personal or family matters like a sick parent are also a universally accepted reason to back out.

If the student simply changes their mind, it gets a little murkier. Yes, a student can still back out; however, there could be repercussions. A student’s reputation could be on the line. A college may share its list of students who backed out without an acceptable reason with other colleges. A guidance counselor may report students who apply to multiple colleges as Early Decision applicants.

Just avoid this ethical quandary and only choose to apply early decision if:

• You have a strong idea of how much it will cost.
• You are comfortable with that amount.
• Your student meets or exceeds the average GPA, test scores, and class rank statistics for that college.
• This college is the “one”–no other college comes close.

Have Questions?

We’re here to help you navigate college affordability and the financial aid maze. Reach out to us today by clicking here! We’d love to speak to you and your family about your unique goals.

Updated 10/2022.