Your College Admissions Options

Did you know there are four types of college admissions options for students? Now that it's almost time to head back to school and start thinking about the admissions process, whether it's preparing to take your college entrance exams, like the ACT or SAT, or actually sitting down to write your college admissions essays to kick-start the applications process, you should know all of the admissions options that exist. It's never to early to become knowledgeable about the admissions process and the earlier you know, the better. That way, you can begin to prepare for any option you like, rather than waiting and finding out that it's too late for a particular option. Utilize the following outline of college admissions options to determine which one is right for you by learning more about what each option entails. There are four options for college admissions, outlined below:

1. Early Decision

Early decision should be utilized when you have a top school you’d like to attend no matter what. You must be sure that this is the school you’d like to attend, if accepted. What’s most important to remember about early decision is that it’s a binding contract. When applying through early decision, if you are accepted, you have already agreed to attend. If you apply to a school via early decision and apply to others in the meantime, you must withdraw your applications to the other school if you are admitted to the early decision school.

2. Early Action

Early action is similar to early decision; however, the key difference is that it’s not a binding agreement. You can apply to more than one college via early action and decide which school you’d like to attend that you’ve be admitted to. The benefit of early action is that students have more of a chance of being accepted, since not as many students have applied.

3. Regular Admissions

If you’re applying during the standard application period, usually from the beginning of December to mid-January, you’re application will fall under the category of regular admissions. If you’re unsure of what schools you’d like to attend or would like more time to prepare your application, essay and test scores, it is likely regular admission will become your route of application. If you apply during regular admission, expect to hear back from schools during the months of April and May.

4. Rolling Admissions

Rolling admissions is an option, but it’s not utilized by all colleges. Students are considered in the order in which their application was received, since space is limited. A college participating in rolling admissions will keep accepting applications until they've reached full capacity.