This post is not intended to be exhaustive of all schools Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA) policies, but instead to demonstrate that early action and early decision are powerful tools in the admissions process. Note that Bates College acceptance rate below was 21% for regular admission and 69% for ED students.

We would note that we very much encourage students apply EA instead of ED as it is non-binding. For questions on specific colleges’s various ED and EA policies, current clients may contact us here

Class of 2019 Admissions Statistics (Regular Admissions vs. Early Decision)
Institution Applied Admitted Rate Applied (ED) Admitted (ED) Rate (ED) Link Link (ED)
Amherst 8,566 1,006 12% 482 172 36% Link Link
Barnard 6,655 1,301 20% Link
Bates 5,636 1,208 21% 400 276 69% Link Link
Boston College 29,400 8,232 28% Link
Boston University 54,757 17,522 32% 1,664 741 45% Link Link
Bowdoin 6,790 1,009 15% 666 208 31% Link
Brown 30,397 2,580 8% 3,016 617 20% Link Link
Claremont McKenna 7,152 698 10% Link
Colby 373 188 50% Link
William & Mary 14,950 5,000 33% Link
Columbia 36,250 2,228 6% Link
Cornell 41,907 6,234 15% Link
Dartmouth 20,504 2,120 10% 1,859 483 26% Link Link
Duke 31,180 3,465 11% 3,180 815 26% Link Link
Emory (Emory) 20,519 4,796 23% 1,253 478 38% Link Link
Emory (Oxford) 9,736 3,715 38% 453 184 41% Link Link
George Washington 19,780 9,000 46% 1,057 750 71% Link Link
Georgetown 19,481 3,202 16% 6,840 907 13% Link Link
Georgia Tech 27,250 8,521 31% 11,702 5,273 45% Link Link
Hamilton 5,434 1,304 24% Link
Harvard 37,305 1,990 5% 5,919 977 17% Link Link
Harvey Mudd 4,119 523 13% 434 74 17% Link Link
Johns Hopkins 24,717 3,065 12% 1,865 538 29% Link Link
Kenyon 7,077 1,689 24% Link
Macalester 6,031 2,352 39% Link
Middlebury 8,894 1,512 17% 667 280 42% Link Link
MIT 18,306 1,467 8% 6,519 625 10% Link Link
NYU 60,322 18,500 31% 7,749 2,500 32% Link Link
Northwestern 32,124 4,187 13% 2,793 1,011 36% Link Link
Pitzer 4,149 536 13% 405 118 29% Link Link
Pomona 8,091 790 10% 717 138 19% Link Link
Princeton 27,290 1,908 7% 3,850 767 20% Link Link
Rice 17,900 2,600 15% Link
Scripps 2,613 731 28% Link
Stanford 42,487 2,144 5% 7,297 743 10% Link Link
Swarthmore 7,817 950 12% Link
Tufts 19,064 3,000 16% 1,839 530 29% Link Link
UNC - Chapel Hill 17,149 6,235 36% Link
UChicago 30,192 2,365 8% Link
Notre Dame 18,156 3,577 20% 4,700 1,400 30% Link Link
UPenn 37,267 3,697 10% 5,489 1,316 24% Link Link
USC 51,800 9,050 17% Link
Virginia 30,853 8,786 28% 16,092 4,856 30% Link Link
Vanderbilt 31,474 3,470 11% Link
Vassar 7,567 1,937 26% Link
Williams 6,883 1,159 17% 593 244 41% Link Link
Yale 30,237 1,963 6% 4,693 753 16% Link Link