It’s official: the college admissions season is upon us! Application deadlines are beginning to come and go, the FAFSA was made available on October 1 and juniors and seniors alike are spending their weekends at SAT and ACT testing centers. And when all of the applications, forms and tests are done, high school seniors must prepare for the long wait to hear back from schools.
Unless they’re applying to schools with rolling admissions policies.
What is Rolling Admissions?
If a college has a rolling admissions policy, it means that they accept college applications during a given window of time. There are no early decision, early action or regular decision deadlines. Rather, students can apply as early or as late into the application season as they want. Colleges either have a rolling admissions policy or they don’t. It’s not an option you can choose at any given college.
What are the advantages?
Rolling admissions applications are said to be a lot less stressful. There is only one deadline to meet, and it typically doesn’t occur until Spring. It allows applicants breathing room to retake standardized tests or really hone their essay. This type of deadline also isn’t binding like early decision or early action at other schools.
Rolling admissions schools put applicants at an advantage if they apply early. Schools with regular deadlines look at all of the applications together, comparing one application to another. However, rolling admissions schools make decisions as the individual applications come in – which leads to the greatest benefit of all. There is hardly any wait time between when students submit applications and when they hear an admissions decision back from the college.
Which schools have a Rolling Admissions policy?
The best way to find out which schools have a rolling admissions policy is to check their admissions websites. However, to make matters a little easier, U.S. News and World Report has compiled a list of the top 12 national schools with rolling admissions:
1. Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) – University Park, Pennsylvania
2. Purdue University – West Lafayette, Indiana
3. University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minnesota
5. Michigan State University – East Lansing, Michigan
6. Binghamton University (SUNY) – Binghamton, New York
7. University of Tulsa – Tulsa, Oklahoma
8. Indiana University – Bloomington, Indiana
9. Rochester Institute of Technology – Rochester, New York
10. Stony Brook University (SUNY) – Stony Brook, New York
11. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry – Syracuse, New York
12. University at Buffalo (SUNY) – Buffalo, New York
2. Purdue University – West Lafayette, Indiana
3. University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minnesota
5. Michigan State University – East Lansing, Michigan
6. Binghamton University (SUNY) – Binghamton, New York
7. University of Tulsa – Tulsa, Oklahoma
8. Indiana University – Bloomington, Indiana
9. Rochester Institute of Technology – Rochester, New York
10. Stony Brook University (SUNY) – Stony Brook, New York
11. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry – Syracuse, New York
12. University at Buffalo (SUNY) – Buffalo, New York
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Kathryn Knight Randolph
Associate Content Editor
Kathryn Knight Randolph is the Associate Content Editor at Fastweb. She has 17 years of higher education experience, working first as an Admissions Officer at DePauw University before joining Fastweb. In b...
