Is Applying To College ‘Early’ Now A Necessity for Getting In?

Why am I focusing on changes at this one school? Two reasons:

1) Because time is of the essence – students can begin applying there (and everywhere else) in two weeks, and applying early — whether by early action or early decision — should be a critical component of every student’s admissions strategy!! (see below)

And 2) Michigan is one of the most popular schools; they received nearly 100,000 applications last year — that’s a LOT of essays to read and frankly more than the staff can handle (hence the high number of deferrals and waitlists every year). Bottom line: Michigan is seen as a bellwether university. What happens there is tracked (and likely to be imitated) by other flagship public universities. In fact, Michigan’s decision to adopt ED is designed to create more certainty, for them, in the admissions process and to protect their yield. As visa qualification for international students becomes more uncertain, more colleges will react in ways that protect yield and, in turn, selectivity.

So to address the former: Will applying early help my chances for admissions?

Our answer: Yes… and then again, no.

Annoying; but it really does depend on your situation. Here’s why.

There are four ways to ‘apply early’ to college: early decision, early action, restrictive early action and rolling admissions.

The first, and the most restrictive way is to apply Early Decision.  It’s binding. If you are accepted under an Early Decision plan, then you are (pretty much) obligated to enroll. The only way out is if they stiff you financially, but that gets complicated. The student, the parents, and the school guidance counselor all sign the Early Decision Agreement. So, the only time I recommend Early Decision is if you are absolutely sure that this is THE school for you (which means you’ve visited it while in session), AND if you are sure you can meet your Student Aid Index (formerly Expected Family Contribution), for four years, without going into significant debt!

If you meet these two conditions, then Early Decision does potentially offer you an admissions advantage at some — I’ll say MANY — schools.  And if you get accepted, you are done by the middle of December, so there’s an early sense of relief.  Which is nice.  But my general position for most families, especially if a student is not convinced that Faber College is choice Numero Uno, is to “Avoid Early Decision”. I’d much rather that you have multiple admissions AND financial aid offers. Early Decision is a great recruiting tool for the universities because you have to commit to them before THEY have to offer you money, and it boosts their yield. Not only does it ensure that they fill their class with the most motivated students, it also ensures that they do so at the highest price point possible.  Not exactly a buyer’s market. FYI, universally, the Admissions and Financial Aid folks we’ve met with through the years have always made sure to make this a point of emphasis. “If financial aid or merit aid is important to paying for college for one of your families, then you simply should not let their student do it .”  We’ll be discussing these issues , especially their import in light of the increased number of applicants, with actual Admissions Directors during our free webinar on July 30).

Now, unlike Early Decision, Early Action plans are non-binding. Under Early Action, you will still have to submit your application and sometimes your financial aid forms early (usually by November 1st), and in some rare cases you may only be allowed to apply Early Action to one school (as in single-choice or Restricted Early Action at Stanford, for example).  Like Early Decision, you will be notified about acceptance by mid-December, but you can still apply Regular Decision to other schools and wait until May 1 to make your final decision.

I actually like Early Action; it also offers a slight admit advantage, though less than ED, AND it literally forces you to get your stuff done, early! Which is nice.  In fact, one thing I drill into all my students’ heads is to be early on ALL their applications…whether the college has a formal program or not. Many schools have rolling and/or priority deadlines: Indiana, Univ. of South Florida, Penn State and Purdue offer rolling admission (and many early applicants will get their decisions within weeks), and all offer priority deadlines.  I prefer that most of my students prepare to complete all applications by Thanksgiving at the latest – not only do you avoid last minute snafus with technology, vacations and illness; you’ll also get the admissions officers while they’re still relatively fresh, or before they get burned out by the December 31 onslaught.

To reiterate, if you’re the parent of a 12th grader interested in Michigan, we suggest you take caution before making that Early Decision commitment. ED is a very risky proposition financially unless you know in advance that you can afford the full cost of attendance at the school you’re considering or that the financial aid history of that school will cover your needs. As you know we keep records on university generosity and admissions outcomes and would be happy to review your circumstance should you be wrestling with whether the benefits outweigh the costs (literally) for your child. 

Last two points on being early vs. early decision: we tell our students to get their applications done as early as possible (preferably Nov 1) whether the schools to which they are applying have a formal early program or not. It’s a subtle but great way to let the school know that you’re serious about them and your education, AND that you don’t procrastinate. Finally, while many of the schools we work with will be ACCEPTING applications after Aug 1, few will actually be starting to ‘read’ them until after Labor Day. You still have time to ensure that you have the right strategy and the best application to implement that strategy – but the clock is definitely ticking!