California public universities share an end-of-November deadline, and do not have EA or ED. There is no advantage to applying earlier than about a week before the deadline (the closer to the deadline, the most likely you will run into overloaded computer system problems as most of the applicants try to submit at 11:59:59 PM on the last day).
Other colleges vary. There may be ways where applying earlier is advantageous – check their web sites for applicable deadlines:
- Early action (EA, non-binding): some colleges fill up their classes or popular majors in EA, so later applicants face higher selectivity.
- Restricted early action (REA, non-binding): student agrees not to use some other colleges’ EA or ED applications; details vary by college.
- Early decision (ED, binding): only suitable for clear top choice which is affordable. Student agrees to attend if admitted. Shows a high level of interest, which is considered by some colleges in admission.
- Rolling: best to apply as early as possible, since the college or popular majors become more selective later as they fill up.
- Early deadline for scholarships: obviously, the scholarship is only available if applying by the scholarship deadline. There may be some colleges where earlier applicants (even within the time range before the scholarship deadline) are more likely to get scholarships.