Early decision is a common early admission policy used in college admissions in the United States for admitting freshmen to undergraduate programs. It is used to indicate to the University or College that the candidate considers that institution to be his or her top choice. Candidates applying early decision typically submit their applications by the end of October of their senior year of high school and receive a decision in mid-December. In contrast, students applying regular decision typically must submit their applications by January 1 and receive their admissions decision by April 1.
Some colleges offer either an early decision program or an early action one. Others accept applications in a relatively long window known as rolling admission. Early decision differs from early action in that it constitutes a binding commitment to enroll; that is, if offered admission under an early decision program the candidate must withdraw all other applications to other institutions and enroll at that institution. Early action is not binding, so a student admitted to a school early action could choose not to enroll in that school. Furthermore, early decision programs require applicants to file only one early application, while, depending on the institution, early action programs may allow candidates to apply to more than one early action institution.
Typically, a candidate who has applied early decision can receive one of three outcomes in December. He or she may be admitted, in which case they are bound to attend the school which admitted them; rejected, in which case they will not be able to attend the school; or deferred, in which case they will be reconsidered for admission with the second round of early decision applications or with the regular decision pool and notified later with their final decision. Generally when an applicant is deferred he or she is released from their binding early decision agreement.
