<p>I understand the ED process, but what is the point of EA? Is it just so you hear back sooner?</p>
<p>Yes, it is just so you hear back sooner. The theory goes that, if a school can notify you of a decision early, they will get a leg up in winning you over.</p>
<p>That said, many students also use the EA process as a way get a "safety school" that wouldn't normally qualify as a safety school. For example, once I was accepted to Georgetown early action, I was able to remove several schools from my application list which I valued less than Georgetown, thus easing the application process by minimizing the number of applications.</p>
<p>does applying for EA harm your scholarship options at the school?</p>
<p>Not unless you send in your deposit early. Then you're pretty much a lock and there'll be no need to lure you with scholarships.</p>
<p>My son applied EA to Stanford, and got his acceptance in mid-December. He used EA as it was meant to be used. Stanford was his first choice school, and he has chosen to go there. He is much more relaxed knowing where he is going, rather than having to wait the extra 3 1/2 months for RD. All of the tension of whether he was going to be admitted to this top tier school or not was over on Dec. 14.</p>
<p>EA is useful because you don't have to commit if the financial aid sucks or if you find a new #1 school in the spring. </p>
<p>Many schools offer scholarships exclusively for EA. But I'd also take beefs' advice and wait until april until accepting. I had a couple of schools offer me no merit money whatsoever in December but got pretty generous offers in April.</p>
<p>Peace of mind, you can commit sooner (if you so desire), can feel at ease on April 1st if you're in at least on college. It's very useful.</p>
<p>EA can be best of both worlds - If you are in, then you can shorten your list of applications to just those schools that are at least as good as your EA school. Or if this clearly was your first choice, congrats, you are done. </p>
<p>If you are deferred, you are still in the pool of applicants for the school. </p>
<p>If you denied, that's helpful to know, and you may want to reassess the other apps you are going to do. It also gives you a chance to revise and update your essays and other materials. My d did EA, got deferred, and submitted what she thought were much better essays for her regular decision apps. </p>
<p>We'll soon see how that all plays out!</p>
<p>I thought EA was AWESOME. I got into my top two schools EA - instead of applying to 9-10 schools, I applied to 4. Moreover, getting in took off a load of stress - waiting until March would have been SO stressful. Plus, it forced me to get my applications done early. Come December, I was not stressing, as I'd gotten into 2 schools and applied to a third - only had one more application to do, and I didn't have to write any new essays for that. I thought EA SIGNIFICANTLY improved my senior year experience. Plus, it was so exciting to know I'd probably be going to one of my top two schools next year! Which, btw, I would not have applied to ED due to financial circumstances. So, I think that's the point of EA.</p>
<p>EA is definitely a cool thing, especially for the people who know that their EA school is their top choice--if they get in EA, there isn't any need to send in any other applications and they can concentrate on other stuff like scholarships. Definitely makes it easier for both the school and the student. In fact, I wish more schools would do EA--I definitely feel like ED is to the advantage of those who have no concern for money--I would have loved to apply ED if it weren't for the financial situation.</p>