Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision: What’s Right for You?

Webinar Transcription

07-16-2024 – Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision: What’s Right for You?

Lydia: Hello, everyone. Welcome to, “Early Decision, Early Action and Regular Decision: What’s Right for You?” My name is Lydia Hollon, and I will be your moderator tonight. I’m a senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor, and I’ve been with the company for about three years now. And in addition to advising students, I’m also a proud co captain of our essay review team.

I’m also a graduate of NYU. And in addition to my work with CollegeAdvisor, I’m an education consultant and a former high school teacher. To orient everyone with the webinar timing for tonight, we’re going to start off with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q& A. On the sidebar, you can download our slides and start submitting questions in the Q& A tab.

We will be recording this session so that you can review the webinar again later. Now, let’s meet our presenter.

Joanne: Hi, everyone. My name is Joanne Pluff. I am, uh, Associate Vice President at Howard University, where I work with the Enrollment Management Team and a Admissions Officer here with, uh, CollegeAdvisor.

I hope everyone’s doing well tonight.

Lydia: Great. So before we jump into our presentation for tonight, we’re going to do a quick poll, which is what grade are you in? And while I give everyone a chance to answer that question, um, I’m just curious, Joanna, um, what was your college application process like? Did you do early decision or early action or did you do regular decision for all your schools?

Joanne: So I ended up applying early action to the majority of my schools because I was a recruited athlete. So I wanted to make sure that I knew who was going to let me play, um, which is terrible. You shouldn’t lead with that. But I tried to make sure that I knew where I was going to play before I can make those final decisions.

Um, and I just kind of like to know things. So early action fit for me because it wasn’t binding. I had a couple offers that I wanted to mull over and doing early action allowed me to do that. Great.

Lydia: So looking at our responses It seems like the vast majority are in 12th grade, which makes sense. Uh, this is a great time to be thinking about if you’re going to go the early route or just regular decision.

Um, 63 percent are in 12th grade, 17 percent in 11th, 7 percent in 10th, so some people getting ahead of the curve. And then we’ve got 13 percent who are parents. All right. So I’ll pass it off to you, Joanna, to jump us into the presentation. Thanks.

Joanne: Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. So, um, obviously I’m just giving recommendations.

Uh, I know there’s a Q and a function which would work best. Please don’t send me direct messages because I won’t be able to see them as I’m talking pretty fast and not able to check them, but I know there’s a question and answer portion. So let me know what you’d like to, um, to discuss. So the first thing we wanted to chat with you about is the main admissions deadline.

So when are they due? When do you have to start gearing up? So for the seniors, this is a great time to start having that conversation. Juniors as well. Sophomore is definitely, you know, so happy you’re here. And so the admissions timeline truly starts from the fall, wrapping up to early spring. So typically applications are due early action, early decision at some point at the beginning of November.

If you’re applying early decision, your notification or early action, typically your notification will come out at some point before the Christmas Hanukkah Kwanzaa holiday. The most colleges don’t give a determinant deadline, but they liked to do it prior to the close of the end of the year. Of course, there’s definitely exceptions to every rule.

Um, I think some colleges are creeping up on deadlines. So for Florida instate, um, I had some students last year. That deadline was Um, mid october and for Auburn, I had a student that’s application was due on 9 15. So you never know what you’re going to get. Um, it’s just super important to be organized.

Every college typically does start, um, those deadlines around November though. So not to stress. All right, so we have a bunch of different type of applications that you can apply to or application types. Um, they’re pretty similar, uh, but some do have some specific stipulations. So we’re going to talk about early action, single, early action, single choice, early action, restrictive early action, and then early decision.

So single choice early action, um, is where you can apply to one school, EA, But you cannot apply to any other school, EA or ED. So this means if you super love a college, but you don’t want to be committed for the ED side. Great. That single choice early action will allow you to do so. It’s non binding, but you’ll still get that early notification around that holiday season.

But again, you can only apply to one school single choice early, and it says it right in the name. Early action, on the other hand, is way less restrictive. You can apply to as many schools as you want early action. It’s non binding and you still get that early notification. You’re not required to tell any anything like that.

Um, it just means you can apply sooner. Now, restrictive early action means it’s similar to single choice that you can apply restrictive early action to one school on your application, and it also is non-binding. So, if you have a deadline or, you know, a rolling deadline that’s due a couple weeks later, not to fret, that’s also a really good option for students if you have, like, kind of a front runner, but some, some other colleges that are slightly behind.

The other choice would be early decision, which is binding. That one is a pretty serious contract and typically when you’re applying early decision to any school, it does require your guidance counselor signature as well as your parents. Early decision means that if you apply and you’re admitted, you’re signed, sealed, delivered, you are heading to that school, um, and you will not be able to get out of that.

And I know, you know, some students will ask me, well, how do you know if Somebody has applied early decision. We do know schools talk, especially if you’re applying to schools that are like minded. We definitely do talk to each other, but it’s somewhat of the honesty system. You should not be applying. And additionally, on the common app, it won’t let you apply early decision to another.

So don’t try to skirt the system. Early decision is one school. You gotta love that school. You can’t apply multiple places. Early decision. All righty, so does applying early affect a student’s chances of being accepted? So yes, uh, if you are applying to a highly selective school and perhaps you are maybe one point or a few points below the average SAT or GPA, this means that you will be looked at in that first round of applications with, um, a smaller group of students.

So for example, at my university we receive just under 40,000 applications. So our early decision and early action pool is only, you know, 10 percent of that population, meaning it gives you a lot more chances to be admitted. This is also the highest indicator for demonstrated interest. For those of you that don’t know, demonstrated interest means as much as you’re courting school, schools are courting you.

So we want to admit students who want to be in our seats. So we will take a look to see if you visited, if you have read our emails, have you. Um, done an alumni interview. Have you gone to a college visit? Have you visited a college fair? So we take all of those things into consideration, but the number one thing would be early decision because it kind of tells us that it doesn’t matter what happens.

You want to be there at any cost. Um, the only way to get out of early decision, like I said, is there has to be some kind of extenuating circumstance, but for the majority of students, that is the number one indicator of interest. We love early decision students because it means they’ve done a lot of research, they have like a very well polished application, and they are quite prepared for the process.

So pros of applying early decision. Um, so it’s like I said, highest indicator of demonstrated interest, which is something that all schools, a good majority of schools track, especially those, um, selective schools and you do receive your decision prior to the close of the year. I know for young people, um, I see all the memes about the cost of education, taking out loans, things like that.

So applying early does mean that it gives you more time to figure out, um, if you can pay, if you were applying to a school that has a very high demand, major applying early decision would also give you that competitive edge. It would mean that you can secure a spot sooner than some other students. So you wouldn’t have to worry with the regular rolling pool, which is definitely helpful.

And then some cons of applying early decisions. So the application is binding, right? So if you find a school and you love it, great. But if you are between schools, I typically don’t suggest that for my students that are somewhat. Indecisive because you will have to go if admitted. Like I said, there is, um, a way to get out of it and it’s not a way, it’s a circumstance.

So if you financially cannot pay, that is the only way that you would get out of it, but you would need to demonstrate that school, that your family can’t afford it. This is where the net price calculator comes into handy. Every college and university has a net price calculator. Go on the website, find it and do the, um, the small questionnaire that will give you a general idea of what your family would pay for you to go.

We don’t typically love when students apply early decision and try to get out of it. Um, for my previous institution, you would have to get a letter from your principal, a guidance counselor, and then, um, your parents would have to send a letter in to request, um, breaking that contract. So it is pretty serious.

The other con, of course, is that you can only apply to one school early decision. You can apply to as many rolling and early action as you want, but you are always obligated to attend upon admitting. And then, of course, if you’re a student that needs a little bit more time, or maybe, you know, you weren’t able to get a jump on those visits this summer, and you’re doing them this fall, Early decision does have such an early deadline, meaning you wouldn’t be able to do as much in person, um, research as possible, but it definitely depends.

You know, there are many weeks in October and September. So if you’re preparing your common application, you are right on time. So not to worry there. And then of course, if you struggle with test taking, or perhaps you haven’t taken the exam at all, SAT and ACT, Um, timeline is somewhat truncated. So for our seniors, hopefully you have taken a stab at the PSAT or the ACT, um, by, you know, mid September.

If you haven’t taken it, that would be the time to take it so that your scores can be sent if you’re applying to a school that is not test optional. So all of those things come into consideration. If you are not prepared, we don’t highly suggest it, but if you truly are ready to go to that school and you love it, You can afford it.

Early decision is a great option for you. So the pros of applying early action is it is non binding, so you can apply to every school early action if you decide to. The early notification of your acceptance or denial, just like early decision, you’ll get that answer right around that Christmas season holiday, which is the Excellent.

And of course, the higher acceptance rate in both early decision and those early to action pools. So like I said, you know, 10 percent of our applicants come through, um, early decision and early action combined. Well, actually early decision, which is amazing. And there is a higher acceptance rate because we know that they’re so excited about being on our campus.

If you are a student that is stressed out, I think it does create a little bit less stress, so you can enter the second half of your senior year with all of your applications submitted, and then you’re just waiting, um, for your decision. If you are also a student that just needs more time for adjustment, things like that, um, this does allow you to have extra prep time to, to be prepared to leave.

So, you know, I’m advising a student now who’s a homebody, she’s taking a chance, she wants to go to a city, um, Um, sorry, out of state college in a city, and she knows that she needs more time to adjust, um, and to get prepared. So we are working on all early action applications so that she can visit, take train rides, you know, do all the things that an urban dweller would do, um, prior to being in, uh, in those seats next fall.

And then of course, the other thing that I really love about early action is applying early allows you time to reassess. So, you know, we have so much going on with the FAFSA. Um, is it definitely a lot of things kind of happening in the ethos right now. So if your plan doesn’t work or perhaps you need other options, perhaps you’re looking for more financial aid, early action definitely gives you the ability to reassess.

So you can reassess as many times as you need to because you still have those rolling or those second set of regular decision deadlines, um, after the new year.

Alrighty. So cons of applying early action. I would say very few, uh, to me, it’s just about for both early action, early decision, and really any type of application is being organized. So by now our seniors, you should have a list generated of probably 10 to 12 colleges that you’re applying to. And my suggestion is to create a massive spreadsheet that has all of their deadlines, do some Google Calendar invites for everyone in your family, start working on those essays.

But applying early action really does give you that competitive edge, and I suggest it for almost every single student that I advise. Then the pros of applying regular decision. Truly, it’s time. Um, so again, like I said, I was a recruited athlete. I wanted to know if I was going to play. Some of the schools that I applied to didn’t have, I think two of them didn’t have, um, early action.

They only had early decision. Therefore, I did have to But it also meant that I could submit a large batch of my applications and then take a breather and then get back to it around, um, January, right after the new year. Testing again, you know, if you have not signed up for the SAT or you’re having trouble finding an SAT, at least know that applying early this year or regular decision, you’ll be able to find testing by the time those applications are due, because again, they’re due some point around, um, between January and the end of February.

And it also gives you the ability to research. So perhaps you procrastinated, maybe you haven’t done any research yet. Maybe you don’t know what you want to study. Maybe you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up. All of those are definitely questions that we talk to our students about here at CollegeAdvisor.

So if you need more time, then regular decision is definitely your game. It gives you the ability to, to really, really drill down based on your scores, your GPA, your senior year. It will allow you to really, really, really pick out some colleges that you’ll match well with. Um, cons of applying are our regular decision.

I would say for me, um, and thinking about this, it really is a little later notification. It doesn’t give you a ton of time to kind of pivot. So this year, you know, I’m sure all of you know, the kerfuffle that was the FAFSA application. So for students who are applying regular decision, if you’re not getting your decision until mid March, or perhaps early April, then, um, You may be in a bind if you have not, um, if you’re not able to afford the colleges that you were admitted to.

So that’s the only tough thing is it does truncate your timetable a little bit more than the students applying early decision and early action, but it’s okay. Definitely still doable. Just again, that price calculator and be organized. And then of course it’s a shorter timeline to prepare to move into college.

So my senior year I graduated and then my parents moved. We knew we were moving, but it, I knew where I was going very early on in the process. So I was able to do my goodbyes, have my last ice cream or pizza and things like that from, um, from my hometown, which was really important to me. So I just recommend, you know, if you’re a student that has that attachment and you’ve really, really, really don’t love change, try doing early action or early decision.

So it gives you some time to acclimate to the college process. Alrighty. So how students can figure out, um, the best course of action for them is definitely to talk with your family. Uh, every student I’m sure, you know, whether it’s public, private. small school, large school, you have some type of college counseling.

Now, you know, every college counselor is not made the same or made equal, so I recognize that. Um, I went to a very large high school with 1, 700 students, so there are like, you know, five, six hundred students in my class. Um, my high school is only ten through twelve, and then we had a lower school. So, for us, we had six guidance counselors for all of us.

Um, I was very fortunate and we started this process very early on in my senior year. But the biggest thing for me was talking to my family. There’s nobody that knew me better. Um, and what I wanted to do than my parents, my sister, my, you know, even my aunts and uncles. So yes, I definitely can open up a can of worms and remember your own voice in these conversations, but talk to your family and weigh the options and weigh the things that you all need to figure out.

So is it costs? Is it that you need to visit? Is it, um, do you not know what type of setting you want to be in? Do you not know the school size? Talk to your family and kind of evaluate the things that are important to you so that you can get a plan of action. And then, of course, um, taking a look at your testing and being realistic about testing.

So, luckily for us, I think, you know, COVID did bring about the idea that we can evaluate students without testing, which is amazing. Um, but for the students who are required to take testing, perhaps it’s an engineering program, perhaps it’s a, um, direct entry medical program. You really need to take a look and see, um, what programs fit within your academic capabilities.

Because the number one thing we look at when we’re evaluating your application is, while we look at everything, your academics is number one. So be realistic. If you, if the school you’re applying to, you know, requires, or the average student has a 1300 for a particular program, but you only have 1200, be realistic about that and have some backups.

Um, there’s nothing worse than coming to, you know, beginning of April and you have no places that you’ve been admitted that you truly want to go. For the students on the call who are in athletic recruitment or being looked at for sports, take into consideration all of those factors. Like I said, I, Was recruited to play two sports.

I wanted to play both sports when I went to college. It was not a was a non negotiable for me. Um, it was something that I had done forever. And, you know, I just wanted to make sure that there was not somebody going to be standing in my way. If you are an athlete, again, that’s one of those things that you truly have to evaluate and be honest with yourself.

If you are not made for Division II, then you should, you know, not be looking at schools that are Division II. If you are made for Division I, awesome, you probably would know by now. Um, you’d probably be getting those looks and such, but just be realistic with your ability. It’s just like testing. If you are a runner and the students that you’d be running against are around this average for a score, Or a time rather, than when you’re not there, know that going into it.

Again, there’s nothing worse than the disappointment, um, of, of not being prepared for what you signed up for. So what’s the last advice I would give students deciding between early action, early or regular applications? Um, I think, like it says, the number one thing for me is to be organized. I think that this entire process is insane.

My job, I work at a university and my sole responsibility is to convince students who are 17 and 18 to come to my college, right? Like this is one of the largest decisions that students would, will make, um, before their 21st birthday, which is insane. So go into this. and have some fun, but also think about the, the downstream ramification.

So if you don’t know what you want to do, applying early allows you to explore more and not worry about those deadlines. If you know what you want to do, it still gives you that option. So be active. Ultra organized. I always advise students create a new email. Um, I’m guilty of this myself. My email was like soccer girl, you know, 2004, not great for, um, recruitment or applications.

So get that new email, get organized, stay on top of it. Everybody’s got to be part of the process. Even your dog should be part of the process. But being as organized as possible is super, super important. We also suggest that students try to do at least one school early action because there’s nothing like a quick burn.

Um, if you are applied to a safety school early action, just so you know. It’s a good feeling to be admitted to a college. It’s a really, really great feeling and it’s truly is a feat. And then take into consideration your finances. So does your family have the ability to pay? Um, if, if they don’t, are you willing to take out loans?

Do you have a co signer? Do you have somebody that will be helping you pay finances is the number one thing. I think our students end up talking to, um, university officials for at our open houses and accepted students say, because it’s a big issue. So if you’re not comfortable taking on debt, don’t apply to that private school that only gives, you know, 2 percent scholarships.

There’s nothing worse than being let down. Um, so just know that. And then with some of the scholarship programs for different universities, there is a requirement for additional documents or interviews and all of that. And sometimes that is in that early portion. So when you are creating your lovely color coded spreadsheet, make sure that you, um, take into consideration any kind of deadlines that the university or college might have for financial aid.

Lydia: All right. Thank you so much. That’s the end of the presentation part of our webinar. I hope that you all found this information helpful and remember that you can download the slides from the link in the handouts tab. Now we’re going to move into the live Q and A where I will read the questions that you all submitted and Joanne will answer them.

So the first question that we have is, Is it a bad idea to apply restrictive early action to a school that you know is an extreme reach for you? I’m assuming this means in terms of admissions.

Joanne: Yeah. Um, I don’t think so. I mean, I think if you know that it’s a reach, then you know that it’s a reach. It definitely is a gamble, but I think restrictive allows you to, to, it’s one of the, It’s just like kind of like early decision.

So it tells them that you’re super interested. Um, just make sure that you’re not, if you, you’ll not miss deadlines for other universities. That’s the only advice that I would give you. But if that’s your number one indicator and it will allow you to, um, to not be bound to that school, I think it’s a good idea.

And then of course you’ll be in that early mix of that, um, the, the smaller population of applications.

Lydia: Okay. And in that same vein, is there such thing as a college that is just too far of a reach for a student that it actually might be a bad idea for them to choose that school for early decision, and maybe choose a school that’s still a reach, but more realistic?

Or should you always choose your aptitude? Absolute dream school for your early decision.

Joanne: I wouldn’t choose my absolute dream school for my early decision. I think that I would do a target school that you are super pumped about. Um, the thing with reach schools is. It’s eliminating the possibility of scholarships and other opportunities when you’re applying early, so I would hate to have a student apply early decision to a super reach knowing that they likely won’t get admitted.

Now, a reach school, and you can back me up on this Lydia or disagree, I think the average GPA is within, you know, two to three, 2.5, two points of that GPA or the SAT score. Like, let’s say it’s an 1100 as the average and you have an 11, a 1090. Like those are the kind of the numbers that you want to work with.

Picking those super reach schools just for the sake of it. It’s kind of a waste of time. Um, and I’ll tell you just a little bit of insider information. If you are that far from the average incoming student. We typically don’t even fully review an application because you really have to match those academics, which is not what people want to hear.

But the reality is, if we invite you to this college and you’re not able to do the academics, it’s not well. And we’ve wasted a seat on a student who’s not academically eligible. So I would say if you have a school that you love and you would be just fine going there, apply their early decision. Don’t waste it on your, um, like super way out of the way reach.

Lydia: Right. I would agree with that. Um, I think that if it, if you are trying to apply early decision to a school where it would truly be a miracle for you to get in, to some extent, um, it, it probably isn’t the best decision for early decision. And that’s only because early decision is kind of this is. magical card or some of some sort that you can play to increase your chances, but increasing your chances at a school that you already had, you know, less than a one percent chance of getting into, you know, doubling a zero percent chance doesn’t actually increase your chances.

So choosing a school that maybe like you just needed a little bit of an extra push to get into would be better. So I think a target or even a lower reach. So like you were saying, if maybe the median GPA is a 3.8, but you have a 7, that’s a better approach than, you know, you have a 2. you decide, I’m going to apply early decision to Harvard.

That’s not showing demonstrated interest to Harvard, even if you have a 2.5 GPA still is not going to get you there most likely.

Joanne: And we will say there, obviously there’s an outside chance for everything. But with the amount of doors that test optional has opened, you still have to be realistic with the GPA.

Like don’t think that that is likely going to happen. It likely will not happen.

Lydia: And if you are a student that has a chance of being one of those major outliers where you have a two point something GPA and a low You know, 1100 1200 SAT score and they’re applying to an IV and you still have a chance.

You probably know your circumstances that would give you a competitive edge, whether it’s athletics or, you know, being a legacy or something like that.

Joanne: You’re in the band, there are circumstances. So again, not super recommended. We are not here to tell you what to do or not do, but it just doesn’t seem like a smart plan to me.

Lydia: Um, Another question we’ve got is, if we want to accept early, once we get an early decision, or early action decision, and wrap up the application process, can we do that? I’m assuming this is for early action, where you still would potentially have the ability to, to make another choice if you wanted to.

Joanne: Yeah, so if you decide and you have been admitted, um, you can just. Email typically or there’s a form within a portal that you fill out and let the other schools know you know what I’m not being, I’m not actually still considering. And I appreciate that question. I think it’s super important because we hear time and time again, well, you know, you admitted so and so and I know he’s not coming and you know, there’s a student that wasn’t admitted.

So can I take their spot? It’s really helpful to the admissions office if you do that as soon as possible. So I would say, yes, there is a form. Usually it’s, The vast majority of schools have a quote unquote portal. Um, log onto the portal and just take yourself out of the running. It’s greatly appreciated.

Lydia: Um, another question that we have is if I apply early decision to a school, but I do not get in, can I still apply to other schools after I find out?

Joanne: Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, so if you didn’t get into that school, you should apply to other schools and. You should replace that one for sure. For sure.

Lydia: Yeah. And I, I always tell students, even if you are applying early decision and you know, it would be binding if you were accepted, you should already have a plan to apply to other schools, regular decision, because you don’t know if you’re going to get an early decision and you don’t want to find out.

Like you said, it’s usually that notification is sometime around the holidays. That would be a terrible plan to find out around Christmas that you didn’t get into your early decision school and then have to scramble to fill out applications in that one week before other applications are due. So you want to already have those materials prepared and on deck in the case that you do not get accepted to your early decision school.

Joanne: And it’s definitely about having a plan, right? So your average advisor would say, yes, we will apply early action, and then we’re going to continue preparing your other applications. Like the, just because you’ve applied early decision does not mean that process stops. The process stops if you apply and are admitted.

But if we don’t know yet, we still have to prepare just in the off chance that you are not able to go.

Lydia: Right. Another question we got is, How many schools total should a student apply to? Should the number be different if you’re planning on applying early versus only doing regular decision?

Joanne: Yeah, so the average student should apply to 10 schools, um, 10 to 12 ish.

So Common App maxes out at 10. We don’t recommend doing more than that because it does get really stressful because you’re going to have to submit, then remove that school from the Common App, and it just causes a lot of, you know, whatever, what have you. So 10 is really the optimal number. to reach a bunch of them that are on target and some safety schools, like to reach two safeties and then the other eight or six can be, um, your targets.

So nothing too crazy.

Lydia: Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, the, the number that you choose depends on, I know sometimes I’ve worked with students who may be they or their family. knows like we want to apply to a bunch of really highly ranked competitive schools that for any student, regardless of if you had a 4.0 GPA and a perfect SAT Would still be considered a reach, right? Like if you want to apply to four Ivy’s And then Stanford and University of Chicago. It really doesn’t matter what your academics are. That’s going to be considered a reach school because of how selective they are. So if you have a lot of schools like that that are on your radar and you know you want to apply to, that list may need to be a little bit longer in order to ensure that you have a healthy amount of options at the end of the process because we can’t put all our, all our eggs in that basket.

But if you’re going the route of what Joanne was describing where, you know, you have two reaches, two safeties, and then a good amount of targets that are pretty much. on par with your academic profile, then 10 is a solid number. It really just depends on what you’re looking for. So, um, another question that we have is, If we are in the running for an Ivy League school, would they accept early decision or early action?

So I’m assuming they’re asking, do all Ivy Leagues have an early application?

Joanne: I think most of them have something early. I think it’s usually early decision. Um, they usually have like 81 or 82, um, options early on in the, in the fall. Um, but again, it’s, School to school, and then all of them have that regular decision.

I don’t know many IVs that have early action. You can back me up on that, Lydia, but most of them are ed one, ed two, and regular decision.

Lydia: I know. Um, well this isn’t an Ivy League, but I know for example, university of Chicago has. both an early action and an early decision option. Um, so yeah, but I think that you’re right.

All the early, all of the Ivy League schools do have some sort of ED type option. So, um, another question

Joanne: that’s in relation

Lydia: to something that you were talking about earlier, which is basically you were describing how the only real way to get out of that ED contract is that you have to demonstrate that you.

cannot afford to go to that school. Is that can’t afford based on that net price calculator that you were talking about? Or is it basically the family stating we cannot afford this regardless of what the calculator may say?

Joanne: So the family doesn’t really get a say in breaking the ED agreement, which is really tough, but it’s that the financial aid usually, so it’s in at my school, it’s myself.

So I evaluate and we take a look at your FAFSA, right? So your unwillingness to take out loans, even though you’ve been offered federal loans, whether it’s a subsidized or unsubsidized. You would still be required to take those and then continue. It does have to be a very extenuating circumstance. For example, I, there was a student who, um, I can’t remember what hurricane their family was in a couple of years ago.

The family lost their house and the parents said, we need them to stay close because we don’t know if we can afford to give them the extra cash to go to your university. That makes sense, right? Um, but your unwillingness to take the loans that have been offered within a financial aid package, that doesn’t make you not able to financially afford it because that’s money on the table.

Um, so it’s a very much a case by case basis. Usually there’s committees who determine, but it’s the university You have to fight whatever the university says that they’ve demonstrated that you can pay. You have to prove to them that you truly can’t, which can be a very lofty battle for some people. So not recommend.

Lydia: Yeah, that sounds very difficult. Um, so in that case, um, if you are a student that knows that financial aid is going to be And a very important thing for you and the terms of the financial aid, whether it’s a certain amount of grants versus loans, and you know, whether it’s a federal loan versus private, would you say that that kind of student probably should not pursue the early decision path?

Joanne: Absolutely. Um, if you are unwilling or you don’t have cosigners and you know you’re going to have to take loans, they don’t meet full need. Um, they don’t have lots of endowed scholarships that you automatically qualify for. It’s a bad idea. It’s just, it’s a bad idea. It’s like trying on a wedding dress that you love that costs a million dollars.

Don’t try it on if you know you’re going to love it. Just move on and find another school. There are thousands of colleges in this country that will fit your need. Um, while it’s a bummer, you’ve got to move on from it because nobody wants to take on that debt. And like I said, we will, we will make you pay for it.

Lydia: And another question regarding early decision and financial aid. If you apply early decision to a school, Should you assume that that has basically ruined any chances of you being considered for a scholarship or a merit scholarship because they know that you’re going? Or do colleges generally evaluate all students the same in their consideration for a scholarship, regardless of whether they apply early?

Joanne: Yeah, every student is considered the same for scholarships, whether you apply early or late. Um, there are some schools where endowed scholarships do run out sooner rather than later, but for the most part, we evaluate you all the same. Many colleges are doing it based off of this new FAFSA or the CSS profile, so there wouldn’t be any disadvantages there.

Lydia: Uh, so another question that we got that is, um, more just general admissions question, which is if someone looks on a university website and they see that 25th percentile, 75th percentile for GPA or SAT score, is that usually reflecting all admitted students across all departments, including like the engineering department and things like that?

Or is it? Specific to a certain program,

Joanne: so it depends on the school. Um, like there are schools that will break it down by the program and department, and then there are other schools that will just do a general profile. Usually, if you ask the admissions office if it’s selective program, they will let you know, and they’ll give you some insight on the average GPA for the major you’re applying to, but for the most part if they’re reporting right on the admissions website it’s generalizations about the fall incoming class the current fall incoming class.

Lydia: That’s good to know. And if a student really wants to apply E. D. but they’re not able to get their family on board for it, is, does that pretty much mean that it’s just not going to be an op, an option for them? Or is there any way for them to apply early decision without the support of their family?

Joanne: So I wouldn’t say it’s a support.

It literally is a signature, right? So if your parents aren’t going to sign it, then There’s no way getting around it. Early decision is so important to colleges, which is why we don’t allow you guys to kind of mess around with it. Um, I am sad for that question because I feel that in my core. Um, but hopefully the college has an early action that allows us them to still see if they could be in the running there academically.

But unfortunately without that parental signature, there would be nothing we could do.

Lydia: And in terms of senior year grades, are senior year grades, especially that first semester or activities that someone participates in senior year, are they any less important for a student that’s applying early compared to a student that’s applying regular decision?

Joanne: So I think all of the components are important, which is why we ask you about them. And we ask you what classes you’re currently in. So yes, we may not see grades, but we do like to see what you’re up to in your senior year. So if there is an activity that you started that year, that’s super important. Put it on there.

We, we want to see, you know, what’s going on. And also, we want to see that you’re finishing strong. Senior year is not just focused on your applications and, um, graduation. It’s focusing on continuing the things that were important to you during high school. So we do want to see that stuff. We do evaluate that stuff for most early action, early decision.

They’ll require at least first term grades. So if you’re caught, if your university does it, or your university or high school doesn’t do that, most of the admissions officers will reach out and say, can I get a status report on the student to see how they’re doing? Um, and, and any kind of information they can get from your guidance counselor.

So those couple of months. Do they do matter? And then for students who do apply early action and early decision that are admitted, mid year grades are very important because we want to know that you are the person that you said you are in your application. So did you take those four years of math, science and English, or were you coasting?

We’d like to make sure that you’re continuing on that upward trajectory.

Lydia: It’s good to know. Um, And we’ve got one question that kind of segues into what I’m about to say. So, uh, they’re asking, do public high schools provide counselors to assist seniors in getting organized and staying on top of college application deadlines, or is it beneficial to get private college counselors?

Um, so. I will say not every public school does. Um, as someone who worked at a public school, um, I, at different public schools, I can say that not every, um, high school has dedicated, um, advisors. Pretty much every high school will have some sort of counselor. To support your student to some extent, but sometimes that can be, you know, one counselor to counselor, maybe three that are working with an entire class of seniors.

So if you need a student who. needs that support being organized and getting really detailed advice. Um, it would be beneficial to seek out a private college counselor. So, uh, one resource that we have is CollegeAdvisor. Uh, so we are a team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts who are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process and one on one advising sessions.

We’ve already helped over 6,000 clients in their college journeys. After analyzing our data since 2021, we found that our CollegeAdvisor students are 3.6 times more likely to get into Stanford, 4.1 times more likely to get into Vanderbilt, and 2.7 times more likely to get into Harvard. Increase your odds and take the next step in your college admissions journey by signing up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admissions specialist on our team using the QR code on the screen.

During this meeting, we’ll review your current extracurricular list and application strategy, discuss how they align with your college list, and outline the tools you need to stand out in a competitive admissions world. Now we’ll go back to the Q and a

Joanne: and I think we give free sessions. Don’t we?

Lydia: Yes. So if you scan the QR code here, you’ll get a free 45 to 60 minute session with one of our experts just to get an idea.

And then in that call, you also get to learn about some of our paid programs where you can get continuous support with things like that. You know, being organized, staying on top of things, and also just expert advice, like what you’re talking about here, Joanne. So, um, another question that we’ve got is, um, So in what ways do colleges just make sure that there is fairness and equity in evaluating early applicants versus regular decision applicants?

Is there, I know that there’s the advantage because of the demonstrated interest, but is there a way that they ensure that they’re not, over or under accepting early applicants in comparison to those who apply regular.

Joanne: I would love to say that there is a thousand percent equity, but I think the unfortunate part is there is not.

Um, we, we just don’t know, right? Like we have, we have no idea. I think in the last four years of my career, um, anchored with COVID and then this FAFSA debacle. It has been an insane thing to try to figure out how many students we should admit in early decision, early action. And then that leaves us with how many students to admit in regular.

And then based on that, how many will come? So we try to be as equitable as possible. There are for sure. I’ve worked at universities where they say, you know what, we’re just going to admit the majority of our students EA or ED. And they call it a day. And then for the students who are applying regular, it’s like, you know, a 3 percent chance you’re getting admitted.

We have no idea. We have no idea. The college student changes every year. We do a profile on college students and college bound students and families. And there is no way for us to predict how the students will perform. If there are more students who are applying, we don’t know. I think the tough part about this business And from my side of things is it’s a people business run by people and not by computers that has 100 percent checks and balances.

The good thing about this process, it is as people process. So we get to know your student and we learn about them, which is why we want them to come to visits and take our phone calls and come to the events on campus. We want to get to know you because we hope that by knowing you, we’re admitting a student who really wants to be in our seat and it’s not a number.

It’s a human who wants to be on our campus. So while I want to say that it’s equitable, I don’t know that it is. And this landscape changes from, I would say month to month at this point with everything that’s going on. But I’m hoping that when I get older, it will change from year to year, but I don’t know.

So unfortunately, I think it’s more of a macabre out view that we just, we’re trying, um, and, and I can’t speak for other universities, but we do the best we can. It is what it is. Truly the answer that I can give you and I don’t know if it’s equitable. And in every case, I’m sure that it’s not, but we really do hope we’re doing the best by these students who are applying

Lydia: and speaking of equity and trying.

So he thinks as fair as possible. Um, is it ever the case that certain majors possibly have a bigger disparity and acceptance rate between early decision and regular decision? Or is it usually a similar boost for the whole school, um, whether you’re playing, applying early decision versus regular decision.

Joanne: Disparity in majors is always going to be a thing. Um, so I work at a place where we have, you know, top five majors, political science, psychology, biology, um, business management. accounting, right? Like those are the hot button majors right now. And then on the flip side of things, we have leisure studies and, you know, just philosophy.

So with the boom in applications, I think that students are applying to some of those more traditional majors as well. Um, and I think that when you’re talking about being admitted, we try to give some love to the majors who don’t typically see students. But I will say this. If you have been denied at a university or waitlisted or deferred, changing your major typically doesn’t help your chances on that.

So applying to math just for the sake of applying to math typically doesn’t help us. And I will tell you, you know, I had a student I highly advised against it. They were like, they wanted to do biology at a research one institution, very tough to get into. It was a reach by a couple of points. And she’s like, I’m just going to apply.

as um, undecided. It, it, it truly doesn’t matter. It’s academic based because those leisure studies and those philosophy conversations are still going to be at that 3. 9 GPA academic requirement. It doesn’t matter. So we are typically admitting students for whatever major based on their academic capabilities.

So keep that part in mind. Does it help? It depends, but I’m going to tell you after reading applications for 10 plus years, I can sniff it out, right? Like, I know that you want to do X, Y, Z, like, don’t try to tell me that you don’t, or, you know, that if you’re talking about being a doctor and you’re applying undecided, like, that’s wild.

Like, be honest in the process. it will reward you in the end. We don’t like finding things out weird ways. Please don’t do that. Please don’t.

Lydia: Definitely agree with that. It’s, even, even when I’ve worked with students who aren’t completely sure what they want to do, a lot of the times when we start actually putting together their activity list and writing their essay, It starts to kind of reveal itself.

Joanne: So

Lydia: yeah. Um, yeah. So especially,

Joanne: and then you think like you don’t want a student to be leaving stuff off of their application just to like, not, for us to not slip that path. But I’m like, don’t don’t do that. Just be honest with us. Like honesty is the best policy. We always find out. We talk to each other.

All these colleges talk

Lydia: exactly. And especially if you’re trying to apply to some really obscure major because you think it’s not going to be as competitive, this expectations are going to be similar. Any other major where they’re going to be looking to see evidence that you actually want to pursue it.

So if you’re applying for, you know, I don’t know, classics or something like that, there should be evidence that you’re interested in Latin or Greek or something like that. But if there’s no evidence of that anywhere in your application, that’s actually probably a bigger hindrance to you than if you had just applied, say as a biology major, and you have science Olympiad and all these things that actually make sense.

Correct. So another question that we’ve got is for a student that is really passionate about a school and wants to apply early decision to increase their chances and meeting all that criteria of, you know, they can afford the financial risk and things like that. But they may be concerned about the organization part and staying on top of the deadline.

What advice would you have for them?

Joanne: I would Take a weekend, get your spreadsheet together and literally put checks and balances in and goals. So I have a student like this that she’s like, I just not organized. I’m like, okay, that’s fine. I literally went in, did all the research, got all the information that I needed on her spreadsheet.

And then I put calendar invites for both of us. And it’s as basic as like, okay, work on such and such essay for two hours. And that’s like, Like a meeting appointment. Hey, are you working on it? Cool. You I’ll see you in a little bit. Send me the essay when you’re done. Use technology to your advantage. I know all of you are pulled in thousands of different directions.

There’s so much for you to do at all times. You got to work on it. If you are a senior right now and you haven’t started your college profile on the Common App, get started. You can do that right this second. Applications will open up usually around August 1st. It gives you two weeks to get your profile up and running.

Get started. Just take that leap and get as organized as possible. Everybody’s got to be on the same page. You should have a dedicated day. I think the reason sometimes students love working with us is, and I don’t know if this is the same for you, Lydia, but I have students where I meet at the same time, Every week that time and that’s it and they know they should have their stuff together, their deliverables ready to go and if they don’t, we’re playing catch up for a week to get them back where they’re going.

But put those calendar invites, set alarms, 20 minutes to work on an application is better than no minutes to work on an application. This is super important. It is daunting, super fun also, but getting organized is the only way to get this done.

Lydia: Yes, I agree. Getting organized is a must, even if you’re not planning on applying early.

Um, it’s just there’s so much and especially I feel like in this day and age where there are a lot of students that want to apply to these super selective schools and that puts them in a position where they are applying to 15 plus schools. There’s no way that you can do something like that. And not have a really, really clear plan and be starting early and have someone there who’s like staying on you and keeping on top of it.

Um, so that’s why I definitely recommend if you’re someone who knows that you may not be super organized or, you know, your child is not super organized and great at holding themselves accountable. A service like CollegeAdvisor can really be helpful because it kind of makes applying to college almost like a class that they have to attend where there is that sense of accountability because if you just see everything as just one big deadline, oh, everything needs to be done by December 31st, it’s so easy for things to fall through the cracks.

Joanne: And don’t do it for them. It’s easy to get caught up in that. Don’t do it for them. You’re not doing your student any assistance by writing their name. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care if it’s just their profile. Don’t do it for them. They can do it themselves.

Lydia: And one last question before we wrap up, which is if a student applies early and is deferred rather than just outright rejected.

What should they do next?

Joanne: Yeah, so that’s a great question. I would do. Most colleges will allow you to submit on your portal like a letter of continued interest. Really focus on your grades. If legacy stuff is something that’s important, you can always have an alum write a letter, but it’s really about writing that specific, highly specific letter to the admissions officer telling them why you want to be there.

And I’m not talking like blanket generic stuff. Go to the campus. If you can talk to students, get specific information about that college and tell them what that college is going to do for them in the end and what you’re going to do with that education. So that’s basically the deferment and then deferred students know that we will always look at your mid year grades.

So it’s super important that you have kept up with your grades, if not exceeded. Um, going into your senior year, that January, February time ish when those grades come out is important. So you want to make sure that you are on point.

Lydia: Definitely. Yeah, I think if you are deferred, following up is always going to be important, especially if you have things that have changed since you last applied?

Like, I know sometimes students will get awards and recognition between, um, like in that fall, late fall to winter time. So, the more information you can provide the better. All right, um, that concludes our presentation for tonight. Thank you so much to everyone who came out and watched, and thank you most importantly to our presenter.

And that is the We’re just going to go over the, um, calendar that we have for the rest of the month. As you can see, we have a few more webinars planned. So if you enjoyed listening to our presenter Joanne tonight, uh, we also have some more topics that will be going on, uh, for the rest of July. So we encourage you to join us again, but thank you all for joining us and I hope that you enjoy your night.

Thank you for joining. Uh, Early, um, the early decision and early action and regular decision. What’s right for you? Webinar.

Joanne: Bye everybody.