By the way, there are other schools that also do rolling admits in the early fall and can be used in the same way on a college list. For example on my S23’s list: Oregon State, UMN-TC.
Other schools (like the above I just mentioned) do offer this in practice, even though it’s not advertised that way because it’s not technically rolling. They have deadlines with EA and RD, but they also send out admissions on a rolling basis starting in the early fall.
St. Andrew’s too, for those willing to ponder school outside the US.
Wake Forest does rolling ED admissions starting in August.
Is there a thread somewhere that lists schools with this unofficial rolling admission policy? It would be useful for applicants.
It’s not obvious from looking at the schools’ web sites. The way I found out about Oregon State and UMN-TC was by going to previous years’ admission threads on CC and looking to see when the earliest admits were. 
Right now it appears they are happy using a very tailored/black-box merit system, which by implication has made their yield predictable enough (not high, but predictable) for their purposes.
It could be some level of application volumes would break their system, but I personally suspect it could end up pretty robust. Indeed, we know their merit patterns have shifted over time, and it may well be that is in part because they are being very sophisticated about all this, and responding by tweaking their merit model in part in response to changes in application patterns.
My kids both went to schools with rolling admissions. U of Wyoming sent out the acceptance with a week, so early September. Florida Tech was also very quick and I think my daughter applied and got her acceptance in October. They were both one-and-done as those were their first choice schools.
Historically Indiana University Bloomington was rolling – we lived there and most of my kids’ classmates applied to IU by the middle of September and had an acceptance within 2-4 weeks. That was 5 years or so ago so I don’t know if the practice has changed. Edited to add: more recent experience shared by other posters says it is no longer rolling. So sorry!
The Iowa public universities had an admissions metric which could be calculated online which would tell you whether you would be admitted and with how much merit money. Again, my kids went through this several years ago, so I don’t know if it has changed.
UA-Huntsville is rolling, and Auburn is effectively rolling since they had 4 EA dates and seemed to process each within a month. I wish more schools were that way - we applied to 7, but could have cut that even more if we weren’t involved in the ‘southern schools are suddenly a hot ticket’ situation.
There are hundreds of rollling admissions schools. Unfortunately that’s not a searchable field in common app (it combines RD w/rolling). I don’t love 3rd party lists, but the prepscholar one is pretty comprehensive. As always, double check the info on school websites.
For athletes, rolling admissions are a life- saver since for winter sports, deadlines are before the varsity season would otherwise be done.
And rolling admissions colleges with applications that open early can be brilliant for some kids—my C19 pretty desperately needed the jolt of confidence that came with getting an acceptance (from Iowa State) in June before her senior year even began.
I have heard Pittsburgh called “the only American city with a front door”, referring to that view as you come through the Fort Pitt tunnels. It’s kind of amazing, and even better if you watch someone experience it for the first time at night.
Honestly, it blew my mind!!! It’s really powerful when you’re not expecting it. We were going from the airport into downtown if I recall - to see a Pirates game. I totally wasn’t expecting it - had no idea.
In addition to feelings of confidence and security, there are also some practical things they can do with an early acceptance letter (like get student discount on Apple computers )
Indiana was rolling but now not really. It is odd, my daughter applied early and didn’t hear anything until late December, early January. Then she happened to be a soft deferral where they wanted to see her 7th semester grades. Finally, she heard back March 14th in her portal. I believe no matter how early you apply they don’t release decisions until at least December. But the official date was January 15th and then regular decision is March 15th. Some high stats kids were the first to hear.
Famously used in Perks of Being a Wallflower!
FWIW anyone can do that at any time:
From the page:
“Available to current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and homeschool teachers of all grade levels.*”
Note that they do not check.
I don’t remember all the details, but I know at least some of the computer things we bought did require him to show his newly accepted status by sending an acceptance letter. If it wasn’t the computer itself, it could also have been software packages with the educational discount. We used those early acceptance letters several times for things.
I’ve purchased through that link for years without issue, FWIW.
If you wait a bit, they often have an extra offer over the summer through the education store, last year it was a gift card with purchase, for instance. But in general, the edu store never asks for verification and is a great way to save a little money (and save even more on the applecare plans.)
Here is what last year’s was like - ran from June-October. Apple Launches 2023 Back to School Offer for Students: Up to $150 Gift Card With Mac or iPad - MacRumors
If it’s a gift card again this year, I will be buying the device + applecare, and then using the gift card for accessories in a second purchase. In the past when they offered airpods, I resold them since we already had them. This year I have to buy two eligible devices for two kids, so they know they are waiting for their spring birthday presents until the sale.