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Toss up between early action, early decision: Which choice is right for you
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Written by Ashley Taylor, Staff Writer
The Nov. 1 early action and early decision waits just passed for seniors. Although not mandatory, many students find early action and early decision deadlines appealing because of rumored inflated acceptance rates for those that apply within this earlier deadline. However, many students are fairly clueless when it comes to determining whether or not the early deadlines are for them.
The biggest problem many students face when making the decision whether or not to apply early action or early decision comes from the issue that most individuals don’t even know the difference between the two. The major difference between early action and early decision: early decision binds the student whereas early action does not. Some schools, such as Stanford University, have restrictive early action, but students should not let this confuse them. Restrictive early action only means that they can’t apply to any other schools early. So, which option should students choose? Although different for every student, the answer lies in what each individual wants to achieve by applying early.
Oh early action, so often confused with early decision. Honestly, a much better alternative for most students. All the unsure students that simply want an early answer – choose early action. All the individuals that want a better chance of getting into the hardest school you’re applying to – choose early action. All the hopefuls that long to go to a school (you have never visited in your life) based off of what other people have told them – choose early action! Although early action may not be offered at all schools, don’t choose early decision as an alternative. Early action fills in well as an alternative to early decision but definitely not the other way around.
Moving on to early decision, the most commonly confused and therefore misused option. If a student knows for a fact they want to attend their university choice, early decision proves to be an excellent option. Many schools have much higher acceptance rates for early decision because it shows the universities that the students are dedicated to their school, which they find very appealing when looking for students to admit. However, I cannot stress this enough – if students are not 100 percent positive that they want to attend the school they are applying early decision to, they should not apply early decision. Early decision binds the student and therefore if they apply early decision and get accepted in December, they must attend that university. Let me just go ahead and clear up some common misconceptions about early decision too many people have. Let’s say I apply to Yale under the early decision plan. If by some miracle Yale accepts me in December, I must withdraw all other college applications. If I realize I cannot afford to go to Yale, I better start cranking down on those scholarships because I will still be attending Yale in the fall even if it requires me to take out student loans I’ll continue paying off until the day I die. If UT gives me a full ride and Yale gives me no money, I will still be attending Yale in the fall. If I go to visit Yale at the end of November and I realize I hate it, I will still be attending Yale in the fall. So if students decide to apply early decision, they better have no doubts.
Although early decision and early action are appealing to some students, not all students should use these options. Here’s the bottom line, students should apply to college whenever their application comes across in the strongest way possible. If they want to use the first semester of senior year in order to help give their GPA a final boost, it would probably be in their best interest to wait until regular decision to apply.
Ultimately, the decision to apply early action, early decision, or regular decision lies in the hands of each individual. Although college applications are very stressful for the majority of students, applications should not under any circumstances be rushed. The timing of the application definitely affects the strength of the application and can have a detrimental or enhancing effect, so choose very carefully. When it comes to applying to college, there are many aspects that students have no control over. However, students have complete control over they include in their application and when they send it in. Make sure the decision made helps the application and doesn’t hurt it.
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February 4th, 2010 at 3:19 am
I was just chatting with my friend about this yesterday at the resturant. Don’t remember how in the world we got on the topic actually , they brought it up. I do recall having a wonderful steak salad with ranch on it. I digress…
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