EA vs. ED

[Anonymous]

We're still one year away from applying, but please explain how this process works. Child will likely be interested in 10-12 schools. Do you apply to one school ED and the others EA or is that prohibited? My understanding is that ED is binding and you can't apply to more than one school ED.

[Anonymous]

In our family, we tell our kids they can't apply ED because we might disagree with what the college says we can afford to pay.

We do encourage our kids to apply EA whenever it is available.

[Anonymous]

Do you apply to one school ED and the others EA or is that prohibited? -- Yes, that is allowed.

My understanding is that ED is binding and you can't apply to more than one school ED. -- Yes, that is correct.

[Anonymous]

Not all schools offer ED and/or EA. If your favorite has ED, yes, apply there but only if you are ok paying what the net price calculator says.

Apply EA wherever you can,. You can do ED and a bunch of EA, with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools.

My DD did not have a clear favorite so did not do ED. All but one school on her list had EA so she did that and then regular decision for the last one.

[Anonymous]

You are correct OP about general EA and ED rules.
PP correct too about other plans like SCEA and REA etc.
You will want to research all of the particulars of each school's plans. They can really vary.
Rolling admissions schools are also nice to add to the mix, and even these can vary. Some allow you to apply in August, when the Common App opens up, with self reported grades (so your school doesn't need to send transcript). A twist on that is Wake Forest - not a rolling admissions school however if you apply binding ED, they will make decisions on a rolling basis (and the due date for the application is earlier than most so you find out early). Some like I believe Penn State are rolling admission too but only after January.
They say that ED gives less of an advantage than the stats would seem, but still better than RD. And that EA is great for finding out earlier, but actual chances are similar to RD (lots of deferrals in EA round).
Lots of things to consider.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not all schools offer ED and/or EA. If your favorite has ED, yes, apply there but only if you are ok paying what the net price calculator says.

Apply EA wherever you can,. You can do ED and a bunch of EA, with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools.

My DD did not have a clear favorite so did not do ED. All but one school on her list had EA so she did that and then regular decision for the last one.

NP. What does this even mean? "with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools."

What is the down side or advantages of EA rather than doing regular decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all schools offer ED and/or EA. If your favorite has ED, yes, apply there but only if you are ok paying what the net price calculator says.

Apply EA wherever you can,. You can do ED and a bunch of EA, with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools.

My DD did not have a clear favorite so did not do ED. All but one school on her list had EA so she did that and then regular decision for the last one.

NP. What does this even mean? "with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools."

What is the down side or advantages of EA rather than doing regular decision?

Research "Single Choice Early Action" and "Restricted Early Action" for your answers - these are plans that you will want to understand before you apply, and the rules vary by school.
Non-binding Early Action: many schools offer, and it's a great option, however deferrals in this round are common - they receive massive amounts of applications - and so the odds of acceptance are often not better than Regular Decision. The advantages to non-binding Early Action can be: access to merit aid (often early deadlines for those), and finding out earlier than RD (some before the holidays, some after)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all schools offer ED and/or EA. If your favorite has ED, yes, apply there but only if you are ok paying what the net price calculator says.

Apply EA wherever you can,. You can do ED and a bunch of EA, with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools.

My DD did not have a clear favorite so did not do ED. All but one school on her list had EA so she did that and then regular decision for the last one.

NP. What does this even mean? "with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools."

What is the down side or advantages of EA rather than doing regular decision?

Georgetown is not technically a single choice early action but it has rule. So you can't apply ED and Georgetown EA at the same time. See here: https://uadmissions.georgetown.edu/applying/early-action/#11

You have to look at each school's EA rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're still one year away from applying, but please explain how this process works. Child will likely be interested in 10-12 schools. Do you apply to one school ED and the others EA or is that prohibited? My understanding is that ED is binding and you can't apply to more than one school ED.

Any chance you can type this question into google? Its an amazing website where you can find the answer to basic questions in less than 5 seconds.

[Anonymous]

Look what google says: Early decision plans are binding: A student who is accepted as an ED applicant must attend the college. Early action plans are nonbinding: Students receive an early response to their application but do not have to commit to the college until the normal reply date of May 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you apply to one school ED and the others EA or is that prohibited? -- Yes, that is allowed.

My understanding is that ED is binding and you can't apply to more than one school ED. -- Yes, that is correct.

Well--no, it depends.

If you apply ED to an Ivy they will not let you apply EA to another private university, but you could apply EA to a public one, e.g, ED Harvard and EA UVA---but you couldn't ED Harvard and EA Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you apply to one school ED and the others EA or is that prohibited? -- Yes, that is allowed.

My understanding is that ED is binding and you can't apply to more than one school ED. -- Yes, that is correct.

Well--no, it depends.

If you apply ED to an Ivy they will not let you apply EA to another private university, but you could apply EA to a public one, e.g, ED Harvard and EA UVA---but you couldn't ED Harvard and EA Georgetown.

That’s only for the SCEA Ivies: Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The rest of the IVies have traditional ED that enables you to apply EA elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you apply to one school ED and the others EA or is that prohibited? -- Yes, that is allowed.

My understanding is that ED is binding and you can't apply to more than one school ED. -- Yes, that is correct.

Well--no, it depends.

If you apply ED to an Ivy they will not let you apply EA to another private university, but you could apply EA to a public one, e.g, ED Harvard and EA UVA---but you couldn't ED Harvard and EA Georgetown.

That’s only for the SCEA Ivies: Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The rest of the IVies have traditional ED that enables you to apply EA elsewhere.

This. I see this PP come on here and give this bad information over and over.

[Anonymous]

ED is binding (can only get out if financial need is not met), so you can only apply to one place

You can apply EA to anywhere, in fact it's encouraged. There are a few with unique EA (Georgetown is one, where there are other rules).

Benefit of EA (IMO); you get results sooner, it signals to the AO/university that you are interested and have your act together to apply by the earliest possible date. Many universities take majority of their students via ED and EA, leaving only a small portion for RD applicants. IF a college has EA, you need to do EA. There is not harm, it's not binding, you just have to get your application in on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all schools offer ED and/or EA. If your favorite has ED, yes, apply there but only if you are ok paying what the net price calculator says.

Apply EA wherever you can,. You can do ED and a bunch of EA, with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools.

My DD did not have a clear favorite so did not do ED. All but one school on her list had EA so she did that and then regular decision for the last one.

NP. What does this even mean? "with the exception of a small number of "single choice early action" schools."

What is the down side or advantages of EA rather than doing regular decision?

Advantages of EA is that it signals to the school that you want to attend and are organized and on top of things to apply by early NOv. Many take 80-90% of their class from ED and EA.
There are no downsides to EA.

There are a few "single choice EA" schools that have different rules (Georgetown is one, I don't know the others. For Georgetown EA you are not allowed to apply to a binding ED school, but can apply to as many EA as you want).