The Pros of Early Decision

• Relieves stress: This doesn't mean developing "senioritis" just because you've been accepted early. But not knowing what college you'll attend is often a maddening experience. Early admission can have definite psychic benefits.
• Lets you plan ahead: Early admission enables you to get a head start on housing accommodations, financial aid, and preparing yourself for college life.
• Saves time and money: If you get accepted to your chosen college, you can save untold hours and literally hundreds of dollars in filing applications to other schools.

The Cons of Early Decision

• Senioritis: Once admitted, some students develop acute "senioritis." This condition afflicts hundreds of thousands of high school seniors each year, rendering them inactive and slothful because they know they've been accepted to their college of choice. Bad idea! Colleges have been known to rescind offer letters when a student's senior-year grades drop dramatically.
• Committing early limits you: Remember, under the early decision process, you are obligated to accept an offer. If you are not positive you want to attend a school, don't apply under early decision.
• Many counselors advise against it: Applying early may actually hurt your chances of getting in to the school you've selected. Because only top students are encouraged to apply early, it stands to reason the pool of early admission applicants exceed the competition during the regular application cycle.
• Financial Aid: Since you will only get a financial aid offer—from the school that accepts you early-decision—you can't know whether or not you'd have scored a better deal at another school. So for students who need as much financial aid as they can get, applying early sometimes just isn't an option.

Action, Action, We Want Action
Some schools offer early action programs that permit students to apply and receive their notification early, without committing to attending the school if accepted. Right now, there are two kinds of early action programs: unrestricted and single-choice. Unrestricted means you can apply to other schools' early action programs; single-choice means you can't. Whichever early action program your target school offers, these programs can be risky for less-than-stellar candidates. Early action applicants are generally very well-qualified, so it's hard for an applicant to stand out.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...
Some colleges feature rolling admissions, which means that they accept students throughout the application period. It's always to your advantage to apply early to such a program because there are more spaces open early on!

Whether you apply through early, rolling, or regular admissions, it always pays to have everything done early. It takes a lot of pressure off you, and it can help your admissions chances. Make sure you find out all the details of the admissions programs of schools in which you're interested, because requirements can vary.