What is the difference, if there is any, between the two?
How big of an advantage would it be for Harvard or Columbia?
Thanks.
Applying Early/Early Decision Forum
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subtle
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- Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:43 am
Re: Applying Early/Early Decision
Early Decision - School promises to get you a decision by a certain date if you apply before a certain date and sign an agreement. It can increase your chances of getting in slightly, by showing that you're interested. It's a binding agreement to attend if you're admitted.
Early Action - School promises to get you a decision by a certain date if you apply before a certain date and sign an agreement. It can increase your chances of getting in slightly, by showing that you're interested. (I think--I could be mistaken, so someone please correct me?--EA doesn't help as much as ED.)
Applying early - Applying early just helps you out. Think of it this way: if a school has 1,000 applicants in the first two months competing for 100 seats. Let's say 50 people are admitted. Now, let's say that a school has another 1,000 applications in the second two months for the remaining 50 seats. It just became that much harder for you to get in. This is, of course, an oversimplification: law school classes are bigger (in some cases, not by much), there are well over 2,000 applications per school in a cycle, and schools don't admit the exact number of seats to be filled because not all students who are admitted will attend, but you understand the picture.
Early Action - School promises to get you a decision by a certain date if you apply before a certain date and sign an agreement. It can increase your chances of getting in slightly, by showing that you're interested. (I think--I could be mistaken, so someone please correct me?--EA doesn't help as much as ED.)
Applying early - Applying early just helps you out. Think of it this way: if a school has 1,000 applicants in the first two months competing for 100 seats. Let's say 50 people are admitted. Now, let's say that a school has another 1,000 applications in the second two months for the remaining 50 seats. It just became that much harder for you to get in. This is, of course, an oversimplification: law school classes are bigger (in some cases, not by much), there are well over 2,000 applications per school in a cycle, and schools don't admit the exact number of seats to be filled because not all students who are admitted will attend, but you understand the picture.
