University of Southern California’s First Early Action Results

On Friday, January 20, 2023, according to a newsletter sent to counselors, the University of Southern California (USC) admissions officers admitted its first ever class of approximately 2400 Early Action candidates, a 5.9% admit rate.  40,600 first year applicants requested admissions by the November 1, 2022 Early Action deadline, which was also the deadline for any students to be considered…

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The Seldom Told Story of Early Admissions

In the next few weeks, students who applied early admissions, both Early Action and Early Decision, will be: Admitted, Denied, or Deferred to the Regular Decision pool. Yet, in Teenager the three admissions responses (respectively) translate to: Validated (or Vindicated), Rejected and In-Between rejected but not a rejection. For students (and sometimes parents), the admissions process is inherently personal, the…

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Twas Days Before The Early Admissions Deadline…

Twas days before the first Early Admissions deadline Students are furiously typing, their parents fretting Online applications half completed Teenagers rationalizing the form “won’t take that long to complete” Yet, their parents hover, murmuring about “crashed servers”, Admonishing not to submit at the “last minute”, literally 11:59 pm On the deadline day Still visions of acceptance letters danced in their…

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Early Admissions Explained

Applying to college is confusing enough, as a teenager pauses to reflect on their young life to date in order to enter adulthood with an understanding of themselves. Then, in determining when to apply, applicants can only add confusion. So, to dispel urban legend about Early Admissions, I’ll explain Early Action, Early Decision and differences between Early Decision 1 and…

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The Risks of Applying Early Decision

Many students as well as their parents believe that if they apply Early Decision they have an “advantage” given the higher admit rate over regular decision. However, given Early Decision is a binding choice, where students MUST enroll (legal but is it constitutional?) If admitted, considering the pros and cons therefore is prudent.  While the percentage of students admitted from…

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Full Circle: Early Decision is Regular Decision Again and The College Admissions Rat Race Continues Unabated 

Tulane University admitted two-thirds of their Fall 2022 class, through Early Decision, essentially transforming early admissions into Regular Decision. If Tulane is setting a trend (our base case) or will remain an outlier in college admissions (not likely), depends on whether students and parents continue to apply early admissions believing in their worth as candidates or (more likely) gaming the…

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To Apply Early Or Not That Is The Question

“I’ll have a better chance of admission if I apply early, right?” is a popular question at this time of year, every year. Applicants, seeking any seeming advantage in the admissions process, believing the objective is winning a vaunted acceptance letter, can naively choose to apply during early admissions rounds.  Groomed since Pre-K, many current Gen Z’ers, like Millennials, many…

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Changes to Early Admissions for Fall 2021

College admissions officers are changing Fall 2021 early admissions opportunities, both Early Action and Early Decision. Early Action is defined as applying typically in November to receive an admissions decision in mid-Winter, without having to commit to enrollment until May of the following spring. Early Decision means applying early to receive a mid-winter admissions decision and an acceptance is a…

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Fall 2021 Admissions Policies Turned Upside Down

With many different colleges amending admissions policies to be test-optional, no longer requiring SAT or ACT scores to be submitted with first year applications, as well as many K-12 schools and community colleges shifting grading policies to universal Pass/No Pass or expanding Pass/No Pass options for students at least for the Spring 2020 semester, the Fall 2021 college admissions cycle…

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Potential SAT or ACT Cancellations due to COVID-19 Concerns

Updated: March 11, 2020 7:52 pm As some public health officials are recommending restricting large public gatherings greater than 10 people to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus and some schools, which are testing centers are closing, the potential exists for cancellation of the March 14, 2020 SAT and the April 4, 2020 ACT, as well as subsequent SAT’s…

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