Early admission
Encyclopedia
Early admission is a college admission plan in which students apply earlier in the year than usual and receive their results early as well. This benefits students by reducing the number of applications to be completed at one time, and by providing results early. It benefits colleges as they generally know what their accepted student pool will look like before the regular admission process begins. Most colleges that participate in early admission request applications by October 15th or November 1st and return results by December 15th. On September 12, 2006, Harvard University
ended its early admissions program, a move that will have profound effects on college admissions nationwide. Harvard Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons explained the move was intended to decrease the privileging of wealthy applicants by the early admissions process. In 2007, the University of Florida
, the University of Virginia
, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, and Princeton University
joined Harvard when they announced that they were discontinuing their early decision admissions in an effort to help foster economic diversity in their student bodies.
Common early admission plans include:
Some schools define early admission differently, considering applications from exceptionally qualified high school students who wish to enter college after the junior year. Students interested in this kind of early admission typically have outstanding high school records and have exhausted the educational opportunities available to them at their high schools.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
ended its early admissions program, a move that will have profound effects on college admissions nationwide. Harvard Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons explained the move was intended to decrease the privileging of wealthy applicants by the early admissions process. In 2007, the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
joined Harvard when they announced that they were discontinuing their early decision admissions in an effort to help foster economic diversity in their student bodies.
Common early admission plans include:
- Early actionEarly actionEarly action is a type of early admission process for admission to colleges and universities in the United States. Unlike the regular admissions process, early action usually requires students to submit an application by November 1 of their senior year of high school instead of January 1...
— a program that is not binding - Early decisionEarly decisionEarly decision is a common early admission policy used in college admissions in the United States for admitting freshmen to undergraduate programs. It is used to indicate to the University or College that the candidate considers that institution to be his or her top choice...
— a program that is binding
Some schools define early admission differently, considering applications from exceptionally qualified high school students who wish to enter college after the junior year. Students interested in this kind of early admission typically have outstanding high school records and have exhausted the educational opportunities available to them at their high schools.