10 Colleges Where Applying Early Helps
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Of all the advantages applying early to college offers, students might find one particularly appealing: a better chance of getting in.
Typically, students can apply to only one school under early decision and must attend if they're admitted. That's not the case for the less-restrictive early action and regular decision options, where students can apply to several schools and decisions aren't binding.
[Learn what happens to students who back out of early decision offers.]
Among the 245 ranked colleges and universities that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey, the average acceptance rate for applicants who applied early decision or early action for fall 2015 was about 63.1 percent, while the average for regular applicants was about 50.2 percent -- a difference of 12.9 percentage points.
But among the 10 schools where applying early is most likely to boost applicants' chances of being admitted, the gap between early and regular acceptance rates was much wider. Those schools admitted an average 83.7 percent of early applicants but just 37.8 percent under regular decision -- a difference of 45.9 percentage points.
At the top of the list is American University in the District of Columbia, which accepted 87.2 percent of early applicants and 32.4 percent of regular applicants. Each of the 10 schools on the list saw a difference of at least 41.7 percentage points, with American University's at 54.8 percentage points.
One school, Meredith College in North Carolina, admitted 100 percent of early applicants compared with 58.3 percent of regular applicants.
Nine of the schools on the list are either National Universities -- which offer a range of undergraduate majors plus master's and doctoral programs -- or National Liberal Arts Colleges, which emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts.
Trinity University in Texas is the list's only Regional University , meaning it has many undergraduate and some master's programs but few doctoral programs.
[Discover tips to complete college applications on time.]
A few schools, including Presbyterian College in South Carolina, Abilene Christian University in Texas and Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, admitted fewer students from their early applicant pools than under regular decision. For instance, for fall 2015, Georgetown admitted 13.3 percent of early applicants and 19.4 percent of regular applicants.
Below are the 10 schools where at least 10 percent of applicants applied early and early applicants had the strongest chance for admission compared with regular applicants for fall 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
School (state) | Percent of early applicants admitted early* | Percent of regular applicants admitted | Difference in acceptance rates (percentage points) | U.S. News rank and category |
87.2% | 32.4% | 54.8 | 74 (tie), National Universities | |
77.3% | 25.5% | 51.8 | 1, Regional Universities (West) | |
94.5% | 47.6% | 46.9 | 146 (tie), National Universities | |
79.5% | 33% | 46.5 | 86 (tie), National Universities | |
90.4% | 44.2% | 46.2 | 53 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges | |
78.4% | 34.2% | 44.2 | 32 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges | |
75% | 31.9% | 43.1 | 49, National Liberal Arts Colleges | |
66.3% | 24.1% | 42.2 | 82 (tie), National Universities | |
88.2% | 46.3% | 41.9 | 51 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges | |
100% | 58.3% | 41.7 | 154 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges |
*Combines early decision and early action programs at colleges that have both. Students should keep in mind that some colleges defer some early applicants to the regular pool, where they have an additional chance of admittance, so the percentage of early applicants who are eventually accepted may be higher.
Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find admissions data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2016 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The admissions data above are correct as of Dec. 13, 2016.
Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com.
