When high school seniors thought about which prestigious colleges to apply to, they probably thought about applying early to their top choice. Early Decision (ED) is a binding decision which means that if accepted, the student is obliged to withdraw their other applications and enroll in the school. Usually, the only way out of the binding ED contract is due to insufficient financial aid.
High school seniors have been notified by Early Decision schools.
Not only do universities lock in some of the brightest students for their freshman class early, but students also benefit from these types of decisions and will often see higher acceptance rates. Many top schools such as Brown University, Rice University, Cornell University, and Duke University have an Early Decision option. In recent years, as more schools have adopted test-optional policies, acceptance rate trends have changed rapidly. Here are some of the changes from this previous cycle.
More students apply early decision
In recent years, admissions officers have seen an increase in the number of students choosing ED, making it more competitive than ever. Brown University received 6,770 applicants for early decisions, a 10% increase over the previous year. According to their website, it is the fifth year in a row that ED applicants have increased. Dartmouth College saw a 14% increase in the number of ED applicants and had a lower acceptance rate (19%) than the previous two years. Yale University also saw a significant increase. the early application pool for the Class of 2027 was 35% larger than the Class of 2024.
More Underrepresented Students Gain Admission
Universities continue to prioritize admitted underrepresented or first-generation students. For Washington University in St. Louis, 12% of ED enrollees are Pell Grant eligible and 13% are the first in their families to attend college. At Johns Hopkins University, 17% of incoming students are the first in their family to attend college. Of Dartmouth College's admitted students, 17% came from low-income areas.
Big changes in acceptance rates
Some schools have either seen a significant drop in their acceptance rate or, perhaps most surprisingly, an increase. For example, Vanderbilt accepted 24.1% of ED applicants this year, compared to 17.6% from the 2021-22 cycle. Northeastern saw a similar increase, having accepted nearly 6 percent more ED applicants than the previous year. However, several schools saw the opposite: Duke's ED acceptance rate dropped about 5%, and the University of Georgia's early acceptance rate dropped nearly 10% compared to the 2022-23 application cycle.
Colleges do not release data
Last year, Princeton University, Columbia University, Stanford University and Cornell University did not report Early Action and Early Decision acceptance rates. This year, they continued that trend, with the University of Pennsylvania joining them. Stanford has chosen since 2018 not to release the data, saying it is not interested in participating in the “race” to become the most competitive schools. “It's not something that enables students to find a college that best fits their interests, which should be the focus of the whole process,” explained Stanford professor Persis Drell.
More students going test Optional
Michaela Schiffer, counselor at Moon Prep, says for now, the test-optional is here to stay. The test-optional can be a strong option for students with a strong academic record and strong extracurricular activities, but were unable to achieve high scores on any of the standardized tests. Schieffer explains that many more of her students follow this path. This year, 38% of admitted ED1 Emory College students and 41% of admitted ED1 Oxford students did not submit an exam score.
