Understanding Application Deadlines: Early Decision I, II, Early Action, Restrictive, Rolling, and more

Webinar Transcription

2024-05-20 – Understanding Application Deadlines – Early Decision I:II, Early Action, Restrictive, Rolling, and more

Hello everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisor.com‘s webinar, Understanding Application Deadlines, which include Early Decision One, Two, Early Action, Restrictive, Rolling, and more. We are going to cover it all. My name is Lonnie Webb, and I will be your moderator for today. Um, so just to let, you know, you know, the ordinary room with the webinar.

On the sidebar, you’re able to see our Q and a tab where you can actually start submitting your questions. Now, please keep the question coming because at the end, we will have a live Q and a and then also, if you would like to download the slides, there’s also a tab where you can go ahead and download them at any time.

If you’re experiencing any technical difficulties, please feel free to send me a private message and I will do my best to support you. Okay, so now getting into our webinar, let’s first meet our panelists.

Hey, everyone. Good morning. Good afternoon. And good evening. I always like to cover all time cells in case you’re watching this in a different one. But my name is Brandon Mack. I am your presenter this evening. I am a former admission officer at Rice University, my alma mater. I started at Rice as an admission officer and worked my way up to being an associate director of admission.

So I actually got to chair undergraduate admission committees for all of the undergraduate schools at Rice. I’ve also worked with the National Association for College Admission Counseling, which is one of the main organizations dedicated to the field of college admissions. on how to make the admission process more accessible and equitable.

So after being in this field for over 15 years, I definitely have seen it all and very happy to talk to you about the various different decision plans and application processes, uh, that govern the college admission process. Okay, well, we are looking forward to learning more about it and just answering folks questions.

And before we get into that, that we want to get a sense of the great level that everyone is in because it gives us the opportunity to speak directly to our audience. So let us know. And I’m starting to see the responses coming in. I’m going to give it two more seconds. Okay, here we go. Um, so Brandon tonight we have An even split between 9th grade and other, and other could be a parent, educator, um, we have 38 percent that are in the 10th grade, another 38 percent that are in the 11th grade.

So, so far we have 9th, 10th, 11th grade, and other. Um, so with that, Brandon, I will turn it over to you to, uh, get us into our topic for today. All right. Awesome. Well, we’re very glad to have all of you here and this will definitely be applicable to all grade levels because having a sense and knowledge of the college admission process in terms of application methods and deadlines is always very helpful in approaching the process.

So the first question that we’re asked for tonight is what are the two main admission timelines and when are things due? So generally, in the college admission process, there are the early processes and then there’s the regular process. The early process is the, It’s going to have an earlier deadline and at times it’s going to have an earlier notification period.

So, for example, early decision, early action and priority deadlines will often be, um, have deadlines that are in October. November and December of your senior year. It’s very important that you know that everything here occurs in your senior year. So for those of you who are very eager to start the process, you shouldn’t start the process in your freshman, sophomore or junior year.

Everything starts in your senior year. So for early decision, early action and and priority deadlines, the usual initial deadlines may be October 15th, November 15th. November 1st, November 15th, or December 1st and December 15th, you will find that there are some institutions that have early decision to an early action processes that do go into January, but in general, it’s going to be October, November and December for those earlier, early, early decision, early action and priority deadline.

Generally, because you are applying early, you’re going to find out the decision even earlier. So typically in December is when you’re going to find out your decisions for early decision one, uh, admission decisions. Um, January is a great time when you’re going to find out usually some of your, uh, early actions.

And then February is also a good time when you find out about early action and priority deadlines. And it also can be when you find out for early action two deadlines. So keep that in mind in the fact that the early processes is exactly designed for that, for you to, uh, to have an earlier deadline and then to also get notification of your deadlines by an earlier time period.

Similarly, for especially early decision decisions, you usually have to make your decision if you’re going to commit. To that institution earlier. So I know for some institutions where November one is the deadline for early decision, you usually will find out about your decision usually about mid December.

So about December 15th and you have to make a commitment of that decision. By January 1st. So once again, you can see it is an earlier timeline and sometimes a quick timeline, especially for those early decision schools. But for early action schools, you generally do not have to make the decision until May 1.

So you still have this, uh, longer timeline. Period of time, even though the decision and the notification is earlier. Now, once again, all of that is in relation to the early processes. The regular process is the main application process for a college or university. Generally, those deadlines are going to be in January.

Some institutions do extend those deadlines far earlier, but typically for many of your highly selective and competitive institutions, the regular decision deadline is going to be January 1st, maybe January 15th, or even as late as February 1st. The notifications are going to happen in March and April, and then the national acceptance date for you to make a decision For a college university is May one.

So as you can see, with the two main admission decision timelines, the difference is once again with the earlier process, you have an earlier deadline and you receive the notification even earlier and with the regular process, it’s later. And then also the notification is going to be later. And when you have to make a decision is even later.

So now we get into the differences between a lot of different acronyms. That’s 1 thing you’re going to find in the college admission process is that we like acronyms. So you’re going to find a lot of them. And so this evening, 1 of the things that we want you to understand is the difference between early action.

Single choice early action, uh, restrictive early action, and early decision. So first let’s talk about early action. What early action involves is that an applicant is applying early, but the decision is non binding. So that’s usually the biggest difference between these different choices is whether or not it’s binding.

What we mean by binding and non binding is if it is non binding, you are not making a commitment to attend that institution. But if it is binding, you are making that commitment. And I’ll definitely explain that a little more when I talk about early decisions. But for early action, you are simply applying early to that institution, and as such, you’re also going to get the decision of whether or not you’re admitted to that institution even earlier than other applicants who choose to apply for regular decision.

So, as such, you’re applying early, but you’re not making a commitment to that institution being the institution that you’re going to attend. You still have the opportunity and ability to compare your admission offers with other institutions. So that’s early action now, single choice, early action, which is also often referred to as restrictive early action.

So you may see institutions that refer to it either way as single choice, early action or restrictive early action. They’re both the same thing in this situation. Applicants may not apply. Early action or early decision to any other institution, with there being some exceptions, but the acceptance of that offer, once again, is non binding.

So, once again, in this situation, the way that it differs from early action is that you are applying early. But you cannot apply to any other institution for early decision or early action. You can apply to other schools for a regular decision. You just cannot apply to any other school for early decision or early action.

Once again, for some of these institutions, there are going to be restrictions and some exceptions to that rule. So for example, with some schools, you can apply early action to other public institutions, even though your single choice early action or your restrictive early action school is a private institution.

They do make the exception that you can still submit early action to a public institution. So for example, for Um, Princeton and you see some other institutions listed here, you do have the ability to apply to let’s say, um, the University of Texas at Austin because of the fact that it’s a public institution for early action, but you couldn’t be able to apply to another school for early decision or early action if it is a private institution.

And once again, in doing this, you’re making a commitment to that institution that you’re applying early, and that that’s the only school that you’re applying early to, but once again, the decision is non binding, and so you still have the opportunity and ability to be able to compare your other admission offers from other institutions.

Some examples of some institutions that do single choice early action or restrictive early action include Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. Then you have early decision. Now early decision is where it does get to be binding. So in early decision, this is for applicants who are applying early and are making the commitment that if they’re admitted, they are going to attend that institution.

So therefore, it is binding. You apply to only one school for early decision and one school only, and that school should be 100 percent without a doubt your first choice. So once again, you’re doing this because you’re making that commitment to attend that institution if you are offered admission. So once again, just to clarify.

Early action is you applying early, but there is no binding commitment. If you are admitted, you can apply to multiple early action schools. You can apply to multiple regular decision schools, even if you are applying early action. Now, single choice early action or restrictive early action means that once again, you’re applying early, but you’re only committing generally to applying to that school early and are not going to apply to other institutions for early decision or early action.

And you still have the ability to compare all of your different admission offers because it is non-binding. And then with Early Decision, you can only apply to one Early Decision school because you’re committing to that school being your first choice, and that if you are offered admission, you are going to accept that offer.

And once again, you can apply to one Early Decision school, and usually with Early Decision, you still have the opportunity and ability to apply to other schools for Early Action. Or apply to other schools for regular decision. You’re just making that commitment that you’re only applying to one early decision school.

So as you can see, there’s a lot of nuances in between these, different, these different decision processes. So it’s always important to ask those questions to make sure that you have a full understanding of how to do their. Or don’t be afraid to ask those questions.

So does early, uh, does applying early affect the students? Chances of being accepted. So generally, there is a higher rate of acceptance under early decision because you are making that commitment. Once again, early decision is a way to signify to a college or university that, you know, you’re They are your first choice that you’re making that commitment.

And as such in order to honor and respect that commitment that you’re making, generally, there is a higher chance of acceptance now for early action and single choice, early action, all the other permutations. Generally, there is a slightly. Higher rate of acceptance under those processes, but for some institutions, there actually isn’t a difference in the chances of acceptance between early action or regular decision.

So, you always, once again, want to ask the specific institution that you’re interested in, is there a differential between the acceptance rate for early decision versus regular decision and early action versus regular decision, and even early decision versus early action and regular decision. For those institutions that offer all three, but generally the highest, um, impact in terms of your chances of being accepted is going to happen.

If you apply to a school for early decision.

So what are the pros of applying for early decisions? The pro for applying early decision is that you are demonstrating the highest form of demonstrated interest. So for those who may not know, demonstrated interest is a factor that is considered in the admission process. What we mean by demonstrated interest is how have you communicated with that college or university to let them know that you are interested.

One way of demonstrating interest is to go to a college fair and fill out that card to show that you have interacted with that college or university. Another way is when they come and visit you, you go to their high school visits and let them know that you have attended. When a college or university is in your town and is there for a big reception, maybe even with other colleges and universities, attending those sessions is another way of demonstrating interest.

Also visiting a college and that means visiting them either through their online information sessions or online campus tours is another form of demonstrated interest, but also physically visiting that institution. All these are ways of demonstrating that you are interested in that school by engaging with them.

The highest form, though, of letting a college or university know that you are, uh, that you are interested in them is through applying for early decision. So, as such, that is the pro with that, is that you are demonstrating to them in the most highest form that if you are admitted to that school, you are committed to attending.

So, there’s some pros to that. Also, you receive the decision earlier. So once again, typically for early decision applicants, you usually apply by November 1st or November 15th. And typically you will find out the decision earlier than regular decision applicants. So as such, you know, where you stand with that particular school and it can make the process or the remaining part of the process even easier, or you are congratulations and done with the college admission process.

Uh, another thing is, is that you potentially have Two chances for admission because of applying for early decision. Typically, with an early decision process, you have one of three decisions that can be made. You can be admitted, so congratulations, you’re admitted and welcomed into that institution. You can be denied, which means that it is the end of the process.

Or, you can be deferred, so that means that your application will then be considered along with everybody else in the regular decision admission process. The benefit of that is you will already what demonstrated the highest form of demonstrated interest through applying early decision. So that may even give you an advantage in the regular decision process.

So another benefit is that you really get two opportunities to be considered. Whereas those students who apply for regular decision only get one chance of being considered for admission during that admission process. Another benefit, and personally it’s my favorite benefit of applying early decision, is that you can relax.

Once you’re admitted into your early decision school, because you made that commitment, you know where you’re going to go to college. And generally, you’re going to be excited about that decision because it is your first choice. So this gives you the opportunity to relax. to relax and enjoy the remainder of your senior year because you know you’re on to your dream school.

And then finally, for some institutions, applying early will give you access to specific scholarships that are only reserved for those students who apply for early decision. And it can also give you an opportunity for specialty programs. This can include leadership programs, honor programs, research opportunities.

So that’s another benefit to consider when applying for early is that if you want. An opportunity to have those special experiences. You have to apply early and make that commitment because the institution is reserving those opportunities for those who they know are truly committed to them and attending that particular school.

So with that, I’ll turn it over to Lonnie for our next poll. Thank you, Brandon. Okay. So with that, we have our next poll. We want to know, where are you in the college application process? So believe it or not, I know we have 9th and 10th grade students here with us. Um, the process is It begins really early, um, and it entails various components.

So let us know where you are. Perhaps you haven’t started, but I’m sure after listening to this webinar, you’re probably going to be ready to start moving into your research phase. So let us know if you are researching schools. Perhaps you’re getting an early start on working on essays, whether they’re essays for college or even essays for scholarships, um, or maybe you’re getting your application material together and they’re almost dead.

We’ll see. Uh, okay. So as I was speaking, you all were doing a really great job. We’re getting those responses in. So we have about 63 percent of our audience are currently in the research phase. Uh, followed by that, we have 32 percent that haven’t started, but again, I know after this webinar, they’re going to be ready and know what they have to do to get started.

And we have 4 percent that are currently getting their application material together. So that’s really, really great to hear. So I’ll turn it back over to you, Brandon. Thanks so much. And that’s awesome to see that all of you are in some stage. For those of you who are doing the research, definitely include learning about these various different processes as part of your research.

And for those of you who haven’t started, consider this as a way of you getting started in that particular process. So once again, we’re glad to have all of you at whatever stage you are in the college admission process. So let’s talk about the cons. So we talked about the pros for early decision. Now some of the cons to consider as you are engaging in this.

So with the earlier deadline, you have to put in the work. So remember, typically for early decision, it’s going to be a month, maybe even a month and a half earlier than the regular decision process or even the early action process. So as such. You have to make sure that you’re going to put in the work to submit that effective application because you’re going to have less time to submit that application than the other applicants.

So therefore, you need to make sure that you’re going to make that commitment to putting in the work to put in the best application possible. The other con is you can only apply to one school for early decision. Only one, because once again, you are making a commitment. So that can be a con for some people in terms of making that commitment, knowing that I have to love this school so much that I am going to go to that school and say no to any other school, because not only do you sign an early decision agreement, your parents also signed that agreement, as well as your counselor, that you all understand that.

You are making that commitment that if admitted, you are going to attend that institution. So therefore, a con can be that you may have love for another institution or may want to consider another institutional offer. But you have to make that commitment right then and there. If you are applying to an early decision school, um, another con can be not having enough time to explore other institutions and options.

So, once again, I’m glad that many of you are doing your research right now, in terms of figuring out the schools that you want to apply to for early decision, because you are having to apply earlier and also because of the fact that you’re having to make that commitment. You may not have as much time to explore those other options to fully understand, is this the school that you want to go to?

So you have to consider that in terms of applying early decision or not. If you need that additional time to explore other institutions and to also explore your other options. But for me, probably one of the biggest cons for applying for early decision is with respect to financial aid. Once again, in general, you are making the commitment that irrespective of financial aid, you are going to attend that college or university.

So, usually what this means is, is that you have to be comfortable with what the institution is going to offer to you in terms of need based aid. So, You don’t have the ability to really be able to negotiate with other institutions because you don’t have the ability to apply to them and receive a financial aid offer, nor do you have the ability to consider the financial aid offers, including merit scholarships from other institutions.

By applying for early decision. So you have to consider that. I always tell students if the condition of accepting an early decision offer is because you receive a merit scholarship, you’re going to actually be better off not applying early, but instead, applying regular decision to all of the institutions you’re interested in to give yourself that full ability to be considered and to consider.

All of your options and compare your financial aid offers. So please consider these things when making that decision. You should only apply early decision if the school is number one, your first choice. And two, if you’re going to be happy with the need based financial aid package, potentially offered from that school.

So what are the pros for applying early action? The definite pro for early action is getting the earlier notification of your admission decision. You’ll know before other students that you’ve been admitted. You’ll know what schools are already kind of locked in for you. And so that could definitely be a very great benefit of applying for early action.

You also have a little less stress because once again, you know that you have submitted the application and you know that you’re in consideration for that school. You don’t make a commitment with early action. So once again, you’re applying early, But you’re not making that binding commitment that comes with early decisions.

So this could also lead to a little less stress because you’re putting in that application. But once again, it’s without the commitment that is attached. Early action is also another indication of demonstrated interest. Now, as I mentioned, early decision is the highest form of demonstrated interest because the commitment is attached, but through you applying early action, it’s also an indication to the institution that you’re interested because you want to be put before them first, before the other regular decision students, you will have that notification.

Earlier, which means that you’ll be given a lot more consideration to that institution. So once again, it’s another form of demonstrated interest in comparison to early decision. Early action generally gives you a little bit more time, but also because of the fact that you are applying early. Means that you have more time to apply to other institutions with later deadlines.

And so maybe you know that this is a school that you’re interested in, and you don’t have to do as much research for, and you know what their, um, supplemental questions are, so you feel it’s going to be easier for you to apply to that institution. That then builds up capacity for you to apply to other schools that you’re interested in, and use that additional time.

To do further research into why you want to go and go to that school and also be able to address the supplemental questions for that application with more time. Um, the other benefit for applying early action is because you get the notification earlier, you know, that you have a secured option for college, you’ll know that I’ve been admitted to this school.

I know I have a place that I can go for college that I would be happy with, but it still gives me the opportunity and ability to compare my other offers and then similar to early decision. There are some institutions that will have specific scholarships. Uh, earmarked for students who apply early action.

Also, when it comes to financial aid, because you’re applying earlier, you will get access to need based financial aid earlier than students who are applying later. Which means that, uh, once again, it’s less likely that there will be, um, less money available for, for financial aid because you applied through early action.

So, what are the pros for regular decision? So, for regular decision The biggest pro is you get the most time to submit your application. Um, I always tell students that when it comes to these particular processes, early decision, early action, and regular decision, as long as you submit the application on or before that deadline date, you’re going to be considered for that particular decision plan.

Unlike regular or unlike rolling admission processes where there really is a benefit to submitting the application as early as possible on your admission chances for these different types of processes. So once again, Your, uh, early decision, your early action and your, uh, regular decision processes, there isn’t a benefit in submitting the application early because you won’t get the decision any earlier than the notification deadlines that they have associated with each of those decision plans.

So for regular decision, you get the most time to submit that application. So this really gives you the ability to be able to fully think about why is it that you want to go to that school, what you specifically want to study at that school, and also to put that time and attention to other aspects of your application.

Um, you can also include more information for consideration, such as, for example, your first semester senior grades. So if you know that you want that A.P. bio class or that A.P. chemistry class to be submitted and reflected in your application because you’re applying for premed, it may be to your benefit to apply for regular decision because it gives the fullest amount of time for those grades to be submitted.

Completed and also submitted for consideration for the admission process. It also gives the opportunity for additional testing to be submitted. Generally for standardized testing, the test has to be completed on or before the deadline date. So for those who apply for regular decision, they have the ability to take November and December testing, knowing that those test results will be fully considered in the regular decision process.

But for those students who apply early, Their last opportunity could be the October test, so therefore you’re giving yourself some additional opportunities to submit test to submit and conduct testing that you wouldn’t necessarily have if you applied under the early decision processes or the early action process.

Once again, and I can’t, uh, emphasize this enough, applying regular will give you the biggest opportunity to thoroughly research and consider all of your options. If you apply early decision, you have to consider that one opportunity and that’s it. Cause generally as part of the acceptance is not only are you agreeing to accept the offer of admission, you’re also agreeing to withdraw.

All of your other applications for admission and also committing that you will not apply to any other colleges and universities, at least through regular decision, you get the opportunity ability to compare all of those different options. If you’re admitted to a scholarship program, if you received a merit scholarship, if you’ve been accepted to an honors program versus what are the other institutions providing?

So you get that thorough opportunity in time. And you’re also, once again, able to compare. All of your financial aid options equally by the time that you reach April 1st, which is usually the notification deadline for all schools. You will know what schools you’ve been admitted to what schools you receive need based financial aid from what schools have you received merit based aid from and so this gives you the ability to compare all those different admission offers, but you can also use that information to negotiate your financial aid between each school.

So maybe one school offered you a lot of financial aid, but it’s a bit, but most of it is through loans versus another institution that offered you a merit scholarship as well as generous grants, which is free money. You don’t have to pay back. You can use the information about that institution that offered you the grants and the merit scholarships.

To give to the other institution that you may be more interested in, but they only offered you loans to negotiate your financial aid so that it becomes a more attractive offer for you to attend that institution. Regular decision will give you the best ability to be able to negotiate in that way. That early decision and early action doesn’t generally give you the same ability and leeway to do that.

So what are the cons of applying for regular decision? The biggest con is that it is going to be the most competitive applicant pool. The reason being is because generally the early, the regular decision admission pool is going to be the largest pool. It’s going to be the one with the most students who are in that particular applicant pool who are bringing all sorts of different opportunities and abilities, all sorts of different experiences.

And also, at that particular point, it’s going to be a lower acceptance rate because the institution knows they have as many students among that applicant pool that they can pick from. Whereas you may look. Like a better student in a smaller applicant pool, which early decision and early action is going to offer to you.

It is the least form of demonstrated interest because once again, you’re just applying under the regular process. Just like everyone else. In a sense, you’re kind of shooting your shot. Or just putting it out there, so you’re not demonstrating as much interest as the other students who are making that commitment through early decision or making that interest known through early action for regular decision.

You also have the longer wait times for your decisions. So, with early, I mean, with regular decision, you do have the longer or the longest waiting time for your decisions. So with early decision, generally, as I mentioned, you apply by the beginning of November. You usually are going to find by the middle of December.

So as you can see, about a month and a half. For regular decision, it can be two to three months, maybe even up to four months, after you submitted that application, before you find out if you’ve been admitted. So you can see, You have a longer time to wait also for some institutions, because you’re applying for the regular decision, you may have limited housing options, whereas those students who applied early will get the first ability to select the housing of their choice because they made that commitment.

And because of the fact that they have demonstrated that interest through applying early. So this could also impact. What choices do you have in terms of where you will reside when you attend that institution? You also have less time to make a final decision because generally, um, let’s say they make it by April 1, you have to know by May 1, which time you’re going to, you’re going to, which institution you’re going to commit to.

Whereas for those students, especially who apply early action, they get multiple months to be able to make that decision since they don’t have to make the decision until May 1 in many cases. Another con is that you don’t have the opportunity to have a deferral decision, so you won’t be considered for additional consideration.

For regular decision, usually your decisions are the following. Admitted, so congratulations, you’re in that university. You are waitlisted, which means that you have to wait for someone who did not Accept that offer of admission and for the institution to see what spaces they have remaining to then be offered a position of admission.

So you don’t get that same full consideration once again, as those students who did, who applied for, uh, for early decision. Um, and so, or you could be denied, in which case that is the end of the process. And then also, you’re limited in your re application options. So once again, you’re denied for that year.

You may not be able to apply once again until that next year, whereas some students who apply early may have some other re application options. So all of these things are things that you should consider when deciding how you’re going to apply to a college or university. Now in terms of how to figure that out, here’s some things that you should do and consider.

First and foremost is do early college research. So I’m very glad that many of you who are watching this webinar right now are in the college research stage. Looking and seeing why you want to go to that particular college or university, if it has everything that you’re looking for, if it’s going to offer you the experience that you’re looking for, is going to help you in making that decision.

Because you’ll know. This is the school for me. I’ve asked myself those questions. I’ve done the research. I know this is my 100 percent without a doubt dream school. If that’s the case, that’s a great reason to apply for early decision, but also if you’re kind of interested, but at the same time, don’t necessarily want to make that full fledged commitment.

That could be a great reason to apply for early action rather than applying for the regular decision process. I definitely encourage students and families to have a very early conversation about finances and financial aid. Once again, because of the binding nature of early decision, you are making a commitment, especially when it comes to financial aid and the consideration of other financial aid offers and merit based scholarship offers.

So as such, I definitely encourage you to have an early conversation. Do the net pRice calculator, which is a federal mandate that every single college and university must have a net price calculator where you can enter your family’s financial information into the calculator and get a sample financial aid package, which will be based off a need based aid.

You can use that information to determine. Is this going to be a financially feasible option if we were to apply early decision? Cause that’s giving you a rough estimate of the type of financial aid you would receive if admitted under early decision. So having that early conversation about finances and conducting and using those tools, such as the net pRice calculator will be helpful in making this decision.

Please be honest with yourself. Please be honest with yourself. Remember, this is your first choice. It is not your parent’s first choice. It is not your CollegeAdvisor’s first choice. It is your first choice. So you have to be very honest that you are applying to this school because you truly want to go to that school.

And once again, you should apply early because it is your first choice. And not because the potential for increasing your chances of admission. I know many people are trying to strategize, um, for the best results. But once again, the guiding principle should be that this school is your first choice. You should not do it because you feel it’s gonna give you a strategic advantage in the admission process.

I have had students in the past try to apply to institutions because they see the differential between early decision and regular decision. And because of that bigger increase in the chances of admission, they decide that that’s going to be the guiding reason for why they apply early. And because they did not do enough of that research work to really demonstrate why they connect to the institution.

It actually led to a deny because the institution could clearly see that the student wasn’t interested in the institution. They were just applying early because of the increase in their chances of admission. So, once again, doing that early work. Being honest with yourself is actually going to be way more beneficial than applying simply because you think it’s going to improve your chances of admission.

The interest has got to be there. And once again, do you feel that your application would be stronger if you have more time to develop a stronger profile? So if you need that additional time. To improve your grades, if you need that additional time to submit stronger testing, and if you need that additional time to, let’s say, maybe get an award or finish up that research and get a publication out there.

That could truly extend or improve your profile. Those could be reasons to decide to wait to apply for regular rather than applying for early decision or early action. So with that, I want to open up the floor to any questions and answers about this wonderful process. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much, Brandon, for sharing all this great information about the different application processes.

So with that, we are going to move into our live question and answer. So you’ll see on your dashboard that there’s a Q& A tab. That is where you can go ahead and submit your questions. And then I will pace them so that everyone is able to see them. If you notice that your Q& A tab may not be working, try exiting out of the webinar and re entering through the custom link that we sent you in your email.

Alright, so we’re going to our first question and it reads, If you have been awarded a scholarship, can you use that to leverage for other colleges? So yes, you can use the fact that you were awarded a scholarship, uh, to negotiate with other colleges and universities. Uh, generally you would, uh, contact that is the other institution, let them know what scholarship that you received and see if maybe they could, they can match it or maybe exceeded or maybe make other, um, adjustments.

So it is a possibility. Now, not all institutions will allow that. But you can always ask. I mean, there is no hurt in terms of asking what they can say is no, they’re not going to reject you because you ask or rescind your offer. But you can definitely use that information to leverage and negotiate with other institutions.

Okay, thank you. So our next question reads, um, where can I go? Because you mentioned about the admission rates. Um, so where can I go to view admission data? On the rate of students who are being accepted early decision versus regular decision. Is that information available to see for the colleges? Yes. So that information is generally going to be available.

It can be available through the institution’s admission website. They generally Publish the acceptance rates of early decision versus early action versus regular decision. You can also always contact the admission office itself to request that information. And also, this information can be available through other sites, such as the Common Data Set or even U.S. News and World Report. Awesome. Alright, our next question reads, Are there advantages to applying regular decision later in the application cycle? So, When it comes to this, remember the deadline is the deadline. So as long as an, as an application is submitted on or before the deadline date, it will be accepted and received full consideration.

If you submit it after the deadline date, you are at the discretion of the institution. If they are even going to consider you. For admission, so be very careful when it comes to the later this of your application, meaning it cannot be past the deadline date. Now, in terms of is there going to be any sort of benefit in in regular decision of applying?

very early versus later, there really isn’t a benefit. So for example, for most institutions, the application opens up on August the 1st. So even for a regular decision application, you could conceivably submit your application by August the 2nd. Now. If you’re applying for regular decision, even though you applied August the second, you are not getting that, uh, decision any earlier than everyone else who’s applying regular.

So hence, your application will be considered just like someone else who applied by, let’s say the, the regular decision deadline is January one. Someone who submits by December 31st will receive the same consideration as you. What’s probably gonna be the major difference. All that time that has passed all that time of them thinking and developing their essay.

All that time where they develop some extra additional extracurriculars. All of that will have passed. That will be in that December 31st application. That is not in the August 2nd application. And notice the one thing I didn’t say that was being considered was. The date in which you submitted the application.

So, consider all those things when it comes to submitting an application, especially for regular decision. Got you, got you. Thanks for mentioning that. Um, so our next question reads, um, How important are extracurricular activities in the college admission process? So extracurriculars are an important part of the process.

But one thing that I want to make very clear in general, there isn’t a weighing system when it comes to the admission process in terms of saying one thing is more so than the other. It truly is a holistic process, but I want y’all to follow me here when it comes to a very highly selective admission process.

And this will be true for any institution regardless of selectivity. What’s the number one thing that most of those students are going to have in common? They’re going to have in common that they can do the work by that. That means that they have great grades, that they have challenging academic curriculum, that they have great letters of recommendation.

Generally, those are going to be the things everyone has in common. The things that people don’t necessarily have in common are going to be their extracurriculars. So that’s one way of being able to differentiate yourself, not only in terms of how successful you are and how active you are, but it also what do you do?

Secondly, will be your essays because you all have a different perspective and the essays are generally where we get a lot of that perspective. So once again, all these things are equally as important. But extracurriculars essays are ways of being able to differentiate yourselves. So that’s another reason for why you should consider them to be important, because often that’ll be where we see.

Not only can you do the work because you’ve demonstrated that in the classroom, these are the additional things you are going to bring outside of the classroom. Through what you’ve been involved in extracurricular wise. Great. Great. Okay. So continue to keep the questions coming in and the Q and a tab. I want to share more about the work that we do here at CollegeAdvisor.com for those in the room who aren’t already working with us.

We know how overwhelming the admission process can be. You know we’re talking about the difference between early action, early decision, regular decision. We know that can feel overwhelming. CollegeAdvisors team of over 300 former admission officers and admission experts are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admission process and one on one advising sessions.

We’ve already helped over 6,000 clients in their college journeys. After analyzing our 2021 through 2023 data, we found that CollegeAdvisor students are 3.6 times more likely to get into Stanford University, 4.1 times more likely to get into Vanderbilt University, and 2.7 times more likely to get into Harvard University.

Increase your odds and take the next step in your college admission journey by signing up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist to our team on our team using the QR code on the screen. During this meeting, you’ll receive a You know, plenary assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations.

At the end, you’ll also learn more about our premium packages we offer that will pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, helping you determine, you know, which application deadlines you would like to pursue, and much, much more. Okay, so we will continue to Leave that QR code on the screen as we continue with our remaining questions.

All right, Brandon, are you ready? Let’s do it. Okay. So our next question reads, Does the application cycle differ for a possibility of playing a sport, you know, for college? So yes, there is a possibility that this will differ because the recruited athlete process is generally going to be governed by the coach.

And so you always want to definitely follow the advice. of your coach, um, who is recruiting you for that particular sport in terms of submitting the application information. Um, generally, most of our athletes are going to go through the same process in terms of going through either early decision, early action or regular decision, but oftentimes they’re also going to get some advice.

from the coach who is recruiting them in terms of submitting the application. But generally for our recruited athletes, they’re gonna go through maybe a bit of a different process. But also, if you are under consideration, um, for just general admission and you want to be considered for playing that particular sport, You usually are going to still have to make a decision between early decision, early action and regular decision, but you’ll want to reach out to the athletic department to get some advice in terms of how to proceed with the application process.

All right, next question is when, um, how much weight does the standardized test scores such as the SAT carry in the admission decision? So once again, as I mentioned, this is a holistic process. So that means that admission officers look and consider every single aspect of the application equally and don’t weigh one thing one more so than the other.

So when it comes to standardized testing, it is considered, but once again, it’s not going to be a make it or break it, but here’s one thing I want you to consider. When it comes to academics, your transcript says way more about who you are as an academic student than the SAT and the ACT does. Because the transcript is who you are for over four years of your education.

The SAT and the ACT is who you are for one Saturday out of your life. So buy that inherently. It’s not going to be a make it or break it because it’s one day in comparison to four years of education. So when it comes to that testing, do your best, but no, there’s going to be so many more factors that they’re going to look into.

Yeah, I love the way you put that, Brandon, because I know there’s a lot of stress, you know, around the standardized tests. And so they making that comparison to like your work that you’ve been doing at your school. You know, it’s definitely a high priority as well. Yes, most definitely. Um, so someone asked this question, um, in our survey.

Um, when, when did the S. A. T. S. A. T. scores have to be submitted for 2025 graduates? So this would be students who are currently juniors. Yes. So this will be for those of you who are about to embark on the, on the, on the college admission process. So So for those of you, um, who are considering submitting the SAT and the ACT, as mentioned, it just has to be submitted on or before the deadline date.

So once again, for early decision, if those decision deadlines are November 1 or November 15, then you need to submit your test scores before that deadline, before that deadline date. Same thing for regular decision, as long as it’s submitted Before on or before, you know, January 1st or January 15th generally will be accepted.

The other thing to consider is that colleges and universities will always follow up with you to let, you know, what the last day of accepting any materials are. Also, consider that when it comes to submitting your testing and that they will let you know, this is the last date that we’re going to accept any testing.

Okay, next question is, does the timing of your application submission impact the decision making process? So as mentioned previously, it does not. So when you submit does not have a bearing on the decision process for early decision, early action, or regular decision schools, it will have an impact. If the school is a rolling admission institution, because rolling admission means, and we didn’t necessarily cover it in the presentation with the, with the definition or a slide, but just for everyone knows a rolling admission school means that they’re making those decisions as they receive them.

So the earlier you submit the more favorable because they still have space in their class. The later you submit. The less chances of admission because their amount of spaces has gone down because they’ve been admitting through that rolling decision, but in general for, um, institutions that do early action, early decision or regular decision, there is not going to be a benefit of submitting early versus submitting late as long as it’s within the deadline date.

It’s only after the deadline date that you run into issues. What happens if I’m deferred or rejected from my early decision school? Great question. In the event that you are deferred, remember, you will automatically be considered for admission, uh, in the regular decision pool. The biggest thing, though, is, is that if you are deferred, You need to keep in contact with the institution.

That means you need to send them updated grades. You need to send them a continued letter of interest. You need to update any testing that you’ve done. You need that continuous communication because if you are deferred and you stop communicating, the, uh, the, um, assumption is made that you’ve moved on and that you’re applying to other schools and considering them.

If you are denied though, that is the end of the process at that point. Okay. Um, how long, um, are the SAT scores valid? So in general, S. A. T. And this is going to depend on institution. Some institutions, your S. A. T. Scores are valid as long as you can produce an official score report offered by the college board.

For some institutions, they’re very clear that they give you a time limit on what S. A. T. Scores that they will accept. Usually the general, um, The general, that generality is five years. If it’s conducted within the past five years, they’ll still accept it. But you always want to check with the specific institution on their rules with respect to what S.A.T. scores. They will accept. Okay. Um, let’s see. We know this next question reads. Um, we know that different schools offer varying courses and levels of rigor. Do admission officers compare transcripts between different schools are only amongst students within the same school? That is a great question.

When we evaluate transcripts, we evaluate transcripts within the context of the school that you’re coming from. So we don’t compare transcripts between schools because we know every school is different. Not every single school offers the same AP’s. Not every school offers the I.B. Diploma. Not every single school offers the Cambridge program or any number of education system.

We look to see what is offered within your school, and that’s how we evaluate your transcript. So once again, we don’t say, Oh, this school is better because they have this versus this other school. We say, How well is this student performing within this school based off of what this school offers? Great.

And our final question for this webinar will be, How do regular decision timelines affect my senior year grades? Great question. So I want every single student who is watching this, regardless of grades level to understand this. All of your grades in high school matter. 9th grade matters. 10th grade matters.

11th grade matters. 12th grade matters. So even if you are applying early, while we may not necessarily consider your first semester senior grades in the admission process, we will still see the first semester senior grades and the second semester senior grades. So you want those grades to still Be at the level that they’ve been since you’ve been in high school.

Now, for those who are applying regular, generally, regular decision applicants, we will consider your 1st semester senior grades once they are available. So, typically, you want your counselor or your school to submit your transcript. That shows your first semester senior grades as soon as they are available.

But once again, I cannot stress enough. All the grades matter. So for our upcoming seniors, don’t get senioritis. Yes, yes. Do not get senioritis. Your grades matter. All count all the way to your last final. Um, they still count. Um, okay, I’ll take this last session because we have still have another minute. If you get a lower score than required, does that matter?

So, if you get a lower score than required, once again, you have to remember. This is gonna depend on institution. For many institutions, they do not have a required SAT or ACT score. So it’s a holistic process, so it’s something you have to consider of is the score going to impact the way that they view me in relation to the other parts of my application?

Now, for those institutions that do have required SAT and ACT scores. It’s something that’s still going to be considered because even for those schools that have required scores, they still have the ability to admit students, even through a holistic process. So, once again, it’s going to depend on the institution in terms of how that score is going to be treated, but a lower score more than likely is going to be something that’s going to be figured in into the admission decision.

All right, so that was our last question for our webinar. So thank you so much, Brandon, for sharing all this great information and definitely answering all those questions. I even learned some great information too, to support me. Um, so with that, everyone, I do want to let you know that we do have some upcoming webinars still for the month of May.

Every month we are hosting a variety of different webinars, all geared towards helping you through the college admission process. And so you will see them right on your screen. So we definitely hope to see you in an upcoming webinar. And with that, everyone, that now concludes our webinar. And so thank you again, Brandon.

And like everyone, have a great morning, evening, afternoon, et cetera, wherever you may be. Thank you for joining us. Bye bye.