Is applying ED/EA extremely competitive for selective schools?

puremath
Tue, 26 Nov 2013 02:57:48 +0000

Applying early generally increases your likelihood of gaining acceptance. Applying early to a school demonstrates that you have significant interest in actually attending if you are accepted. In addition, the greater the restriction that their early application program has (i.e. ED is more restrictive than REA which is more restrictive than regular EA), the more interest you are demonstrating by applying there.

By applying Early Decision somewhere for example, the admissions committee sees that you are showing that you would attend the school if they accepted without condition. Therefore, they would be more inclined to accept you because they know that they would not be wasting an acceptance on someone who would end up attending another school. Even for Restrictive Early Action, with which you cannot apply to other private Early Action programs, you are demonstrating interest by showing them that the school you are applying to is in fact the only school that you are applying to during the early period.