For seniors, fall is the season of early-round college applications. But in which early round should you apply, and when does that mean you’ll need to submit your application? Below, you’ll find information about the requirements of each early round option, as well as a list of early deadlines for some of the major U.S. schools.
Early Decision (ED): Early Decision applications are due between October 15th and November 1st, and applicants will receive a response by mid-December. Early Decision applications are binding; if you apply to a school in the ED round and you are admitted, you must attend. As we have noted before, this willingness to commit greatly increase your odds of acceptance. (Duke, for example, has a 13.8% ED acceptance rate, in contrast to its 3.7% acceptance rate in the regular round.) You should, however, only apply ED to a school you would be delighted to attend.
Early Action (EA): Early Action applications are not binding. Applicants can apply to as many EA schools as they would like! Application deadlines generally fall between mid-October and mid-December, and response times vary. Some colleges release EA results as early as December, while other schools wait until January or February to provide information. EA can give students a slight advantage over the regular round, as they will be part of a smaller applicant pool, but because EA is non-binding, it does not offer the same admissions “boost” as Early Decision.
Restrictive Early Action (REA) & Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA): A handful of schools offer a non-binding Early Action option, but place restrictions on where else students can apply in the early round. REA applicants to Georgetown and Notre Dame may not apply to any schools in the ED round, although they can still apply EA to other colleges. Applicants to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Caltech cannot apply to any college in the ED round and cannot apply to any other private schools in the U.S. in the EA round. (EA applications to public schools and foreign universities are acceptable.)
Early Application Deadlines by College
| College Name | Early Decision | Early Action | REA/SCEA |
| Amherst College | November 9 | ||
| Babson College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Bard College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Barnard College | November 1 | ||
| Bates College | November 15 | ||
| Baylor University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Bentley University | November 15 | ||
| Boston College | November 1 | ||
| Boston University | November 2 | ||
| Bowdoin College | November 15 | ||
| Brandeis University | November 2 | November 2 | |
| Brown University | November 1 | ||
| Bucknell University | November 1 | ||
| Caltech | November 1 | ||
| Carleton College | November 15 | ||
| Carnegie Mellon University | November 2 | ||
| Case Western | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Claremont McKenna | November 1 | ||
| Clemson University | October 15 | ||
| Colby College | November 15 | ||
| Colgate University | November 1 | ||
| Colorado College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Columbia University | November 1 | ||
| Connecticut College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Cornell University | November 1 | ||
| Dartmouth College | November 1 | ||
| Davidson College | November 15 | ||
| Dickinson College | November 15 | November 15 | |
| Duke University | November 2 | ||
| Elon University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Emerson College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Emory University | November 1 | ||
| Florida State University | October 15 | October 15 | |
| Fordham University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Franklin & Marshall | November 15 | ||
| Georgetown University | November 1 | ||
| GA Tech | October 15 (for Georgia students); November 2 (for out-of-state students) | ||
| George Washington University | November 1 | ||
| Grinnell College | November 15 | ||
| Hamilton College | November 15 | ||
| Harvard University | November 1 | ||
| Harvey Mudd College | November 15 | ||
| Haverford College | November 15 | ||
| High Point University | November 1 | November 15 | |
| Howard University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Indiana University Bloomington | November 1 | ||
| Johns Hopkins University | November 1 | ||
| Kenyon College | November 15 | ||
| Lehigh University | November 1 | ||
| Loyola Marymount University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Macalester College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | November 1 | ||
| Middlebury College | November 2 | ||
| Morehouse College | November 1 | December 15 | |
| Muhlenberg College | November 16 | December 1 | |
| New York University (NYU) | November 1 | ||
| Northeastern University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Northwestern University | November 1 | ||
| Oberlin College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Occidental College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Ohio State University | November 1 | ||
| Penn State | November 1 | ||
| Pepperdine University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Pitzer College | November 15 | ||
| Pomona College | November 8 | ||
| Princeton University | November 1 | ||
| Providence College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Purdue University | November 1 | ||
| Reed College | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) | November 1 | December 1 | |
| Rice University | November 1 | ||
| Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | November 1 | ||
| Rutgers University | November 1 | ||
| Santa Clara University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Scripps College | November 15 | ||
| Sewanee | November 15 | December 1 | |
| Skidmore College | November 1 | ||
| Smith College | November 15 | ||
| Spelman College | November 1 | ||
| Stanford University | November 1 | ||
| SUNY Binghamton | November 1 | ||
| Stony Brook University | November 1 | ||
| Swarthmore College | November 15 | ||
| Syracuse University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Trinity College | November 15 | ||
| Tufts University | November 2 | ||
| Tulane University | November 1 | November 10 | |
| Union College | November 15 | ||
| University of Arizona | November 1 | ||
| University of Chicago | November 2 | November 2 | |
| University of Colorado Boulder | November 15 | ||
| University of Connecticut | November 1 | ||
| University of Delaware | November 1 | ||
| University of Florida | October 15 | November 1 | |
| University of Georgia | October 15 | ||
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | November 1 | ||
| University of Maryland | November 1 | ||
| University of Massachusetts Amherst | November 5 | ||
| University of Miami | November 1 | November 1 | |
| University of Michigan | November 1 | November 1 | |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | October 15 | ||
| University of Notre Dame | November 1 | ||
| University of Pennsylvania | November 1 | ||
| University of Richmond | November 1 | November 1 | |
| University of South Carolina | October 15 | ||
| University of Southern California | November 1 | November 1 | |
| University of Tennessee Knoxville | November 1 | ||
| University of Texas at Austin | October 15 | ||
| University of Vermont | November 1 | November 1 | |
| University of Virginia | November 1 | November 1 | |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | November 1 | ||
| Vanderbilt University | November 1 | ||
| Vassar College | November 15 | ||
| Villanova University | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Virginia Tech | November 15 | ||
| Wake Forest University | November 15 | November 15 (only for first-gen students) | |
| Washington & Lee University | November 1 | ||
| Washington University in St. Louis | November 2 | November 2 | |
| Wellesley College | November 1 | ||
| Wesleyan University | November 15 | ||
| Whitman College | November 15 | December 1 | |
| Whittier College | November 15 | ||
| William & Mary | November 1 | ||
| Williams College | November 15 | ||
| Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) | November 1 | November 1 | |
| Yale University | November 1 |
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