TREND #2: Increasing number of Early Decision/Early Action applicants
Many colleges offer an early application process where students can apply for and receive an admission decision even before the regular application deadline. Under Early Decision, students apply to one college that they are required to enroll at if they are admitted to that college. Under Early Action, students can apply to multiple colleges early but are not required to decide which college they want to attend until late spring.
Just as colleges have seen a strong increase in the number of first-year applications overall, they have also seen an increase in the number of students applying through the Early Decision and Early Action processes.
Under Early Decision (and to some extent, Early Action), students often benefit from a statistical advantage in the application process, compared to regular decision applicants. Students who apply Early Decision are required to attend if admitted, so colleges fill a sizable percentage of their freshman class from the early applicant pool. This means that their rate of admission for regular decision rounds tends to be significantly lower, as many seats have been filled. Colleges like Brown University, Columbia University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania fill more than 50% of their entering class through the Early Decision process.
To provide more opportunities for students who apply by the regular application deadline, several top universities (including Cornell University and the University of Southern California) have decided to limit the percentage of students they admit through the early application process, which diminishes the advantage students have when applying to these schools. Students applying to Cornell University and USC should keep this fact in mind as they decide which schools to apply to early.
TIP: Students who are sure that they want to attend a particular college should apply through an early application process if available. You will need to have excellent grades and test scores, as well as a well-assembled application, to compete with others in the early pool.