Early Decision Deadline

Early decision applications are usually due between October and December of your senior year and they are binding. This means that if you get accepted to a school where you apply early decision, you are contractually obligated to attend. For this reason, you should only apply to an early decision school if you are sure it’s your number one choice. If you are accepted, you will be asked to withdraw all your applications at other schools. Be sure to ask the admissions counselor at that university what the school’s policy is if you are accepted early decision but are not given enough financial aid to attend.

If you are certain of your choice, however, early decision applications can be a great option. If you receive an acceptance you will be able to focus your spring semester on applying for scholarships rather than waiting to hear back from schools. Additionally, some colleges have higher acceptance rates for early decision applicants. (Most schools would rather accept students who will definitely accept their offer than ones who might say no.)

Early Action Deadline

Early action applications are usually due between October and December of your senior year, but are non-binding. In other words, you can still decide not to accept the offer if you’re admitted. Keep in mind though, that the deadlines for making your decision are usually earlier than regular decision deadlines, so you may still have to make your decision about the school before you hear back from your other options.

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Regular Deadline

While not all schools offer early decision or early action deadlines, most have a regular decision deadline. This deadline is usually due sometime between January and April of your senior year, though a handful of schools have deadlines as late as July. This application is non-binding.

Rolling Deadline

If a school offers “rolling” admissions that means it accepts applications throughout a range of dates. Generally, the earlier you apply, the better. Rolling deadline decisions are non-binding, so there’s no disadvantage to applying earlier. Applying later in the cycle can put you at a disadvantage when it comes to getting financial aid.

On-Site Admissions / Instant Decision Day

Some schools will offer “on-site” admissions to select students during campus open-houses, college fairs, or high school visits. This form of admission can be offered throughout the year. Keep in mind, however, that you should never immediately accept an on-site admissions offer and no admissions officer should ever ask you to do so. Just because it’s easy doesn't mean it’s your best option, and you still need time to think and do research. This process is also known as “Instant Decision Day” and colleges who partake in this may still require items such as your GPA and test scores. Research each university’s deadline so you are aware of the timelines in advance!

Be sure to add all the schools that you are interested in applying to within the Colleges tab and then let your Strive mentor know when the application deadline is for each of these different schools. (Your list of saved colleges will automatically appear to your mentor when they are signed into the UStrive platform.) The best place to find these application deadlines are on the websites of each of these universities and sharing these deadlines with your Strive mentor will ensure that the two of you are on the same page as to what schools you are interested in and when each of your applications needs to be completed by.