Should You Apply Early Admission?

That frantic typing sound you hear is the sound of hundreds of thousands of seniors scurrying to finish their admissions essay. I often get asked the merits of applying early because of the supposed higher admit rates. My quick take? I applied regular decision because I knew my essay wasn’t ready. My long take? See the answers below, inspired by this helpful U.S. News article on the topic, which featured my advice.

First, let’s break it down. What is early admission exactly? A new article in the Washington Post explains how it works:

“Under early-decision admissions, an option that many private colleges and universities offer, students apply to one school — and one school only — by an early deadline and then must attend if accepted. In that respect, early decision differs from other application routes: It is binding. If you back out, there can be serious consequences that limit your ability to attend other schools and damage your high school’s relationship with the college and you. And therein lies the anti-meritocratic rub.”

Does early admissions actually work to improve a student’s chances?

That article breaks down some impressive stats that indicates yes, it does.

“In fact, applying early decision has been found to be the equivalent of scoring an extra 100 points on the SAT, with acceptance rates that can be more than double those during regular decision. The edge is strongest at top universities: In recent years, schools such as the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth have admitted roughly half of their students through early decision. At Tulane and Bates College, about two-thirds of some classes have been filled that way.”

That said, this process is now the subject of a recent class-action lawsuit. The article goes on to explain: “Brought on antitrust grounds by four current and former college students, the suit accuses 32 highly selective colleges and universities of ‘price-fixing’ by prohibiting early-decision applicants from comparing financial aid offers. It’s a novel legal argument, but it underscores the unmeritocratic nature of early decision, which gives students with the ability to pay that premium an advantage and disfavors anyone who can’t.”

This begs the next natural question: Should you apply early admissions if you need financial aid?

The short answer seems to be no.

‘Some argue that early decision can be made more equitable by requiring schools to meet a student’s full demonstrated financial need. But as former Harvard financial aid officer and college admissions counselor Amy Kirkcaldy told me, ‘A family’s definition of demonstrated need almost never aligns with the school’s definition.’ So in practice, the reform could backfire: Kirkcaldy warned it might “cause schools to turn down students occasionally, [when] they know that they can’t afford to meet 100 percent of demonstrated need.”

So given the focus on this new unfair advantage, the question remains: Should you apply early if your essay isn’t ready?

Here’s the excerpt from the U.S. News article I was quoted in:

“College-bound students should be careful not to apply early just because it seems like everyone else is, cautions Yelena Shuster, a New York-based independent admissions counselor. She won't work with high school sophomores ("They have a lot more growing to do," she says), and she recommends not diving into the  admissions essay  until late junior year or the summer before senior year. 

That way, "students will have had more experiences that might make good topics," she says, not to mention improved writing skills. 

Shuster points to a client who wrote an essay about his passion for magic. Only by the fourth revision did he realize that the hobby helped him communicate and made him less shy, she says. He was accepted early to  Columbia University's class of 2022.”

See below for more of my tips, based on questions I get asked all the time!

We keep reading that your best chances are to apply much earlier than the standard application windows. Do you find that to be true?

There is a perceived slight advantage to applying for "early action" or "early decision" but those are set dates that each college advertises and Harvard in particular disputes that advantage. Sending your application well before the early action date of November 1 has no advantage and may even be a disadvantage if your submission is lacking. Remember that most admissions officers are traveling well into fall and doing their high school visits, so they won't even be able to read anything before the stated November 1 deadline. As long as you leave enough time to avoid any glitches, applying the week before is more than enough time.

What about starting the essay sophomore or junior year?

I believe anything before the spring of junior junior year is too early to start working on the admissions essay. You still have a year of life experiences ahead of you that could potentially end up being the perfect topic (and you will be one year stronger as a writer at the end of that year). For tips on how to get a head start on the personal essay earlier in high school, I recommend starting journaling to get used to writing about yourself in the first person.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on October 2019 and has been updated with new relevant information.