pantherman11

I was just wondering if all early action/ admisions were binding. meaning that if you're accepted you automatically commit to that school so you have to go there? I know thats how it is for johns hopkins but how about most state universities??

astults13

There's a difference between early action and early decision.

Early decision can only be done at one school, and is binding. If you apply ED you are commiting to that university upon acceptance.

Early action is different in that you receive your admissions decision earlier than regular decision, but it is not binding. Some schools such as Yale (I believe) have a restrictive early action, meaning you can only apply early action that school if you so choose.

pantherman11

do most schools offer early action??

DebbyOkay

Never choose early admission unless you are committed to the school. Regardless of how much aid they give you, if the accept you YOU must go. If you don't go you must pay them their money.

Alot if colleges do early action.

Lagging

You should apply early action to at least one school. It's not binding in any way, usually has a higher acceptance rate than regular decision, and if you're accepted it takes off a lot of stress and enables you to cross off less desirable colleges on your list and apply to fewer schools

MizzBee

Wrong, DebbyOkay, early action is a great choice as it is non-binding. What you don't want to do if you are looking for financial aid is Early Decision.

Early action can be a great strategy to get a safety or two under your belt and is often required for schools that have competitive merit aid competitions.

SlitheyTove

Early decision isn't binding for most ED schools if you have applied for financial aid and do not receive enough aid to make the school affordable for your family. In that case, you can turn down the offer of admission and apply to other schools during RD or ED2.

There are a few schools that do state on their own applications and websites that ED is binding regardless of financial aid. If someone is applying ED but needs to consider financial aid, it's important to check that school's policies on backing out of ED.

No school is going to compel you to pay them money if you don't attend.

karatekid666

There a number of early programs offered by various colleges.. ED is binding, EA is non-binding, SCEA (single-choice) is non-binding but limiting in the sense that you can only apply to one early program, and there's REA (restrictive) which limits you from applying to ED schools.

--HYPS are SCEA
--Dartmouth, brown, Columbia, penn offer ED
--MIT, caltech, UChicago, UVA offer EA
--gtown has REA

^^ just a few examples

ElijahPhillip

Early Action schools that allow you to apply to other schools I know of so far are...

- University of Chicago
- Georgetown University
- University of Virginia
- University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill
- University of Michigan- Ann Arbor
- University of Notre Dame
- Boston College

There are more, but these are the ones I would apply to. The others I don't consider too great unless they were safeties and matches.

If you feel like you're ready, apply early action because you usually have a better chance getting in during this round.

SeattleLove13

If you know a school has early action, I would go ahead and apply by the November 1st or 15th deadline since there is an increased acceptance rate. Plus you might hear from them by Christmas which is sort of nice. Many private schools on the west coast offer early action, I'm not familiar with a whole lot of other schools though.

oldfort

It is not the case with Georgetown. If apply EA to Georgetown, applicant couldn't apply ED to another school.

vonlost

Note that "early admission" refers to college matriculation before completing the senior year of high school.

magentaturtle

Boston College is restrictive with its EA policy. Georgetown is restrictive as well.