Applying Early Decision or Early Action is very wise. If you’re a high school junior and you’re starting to seriously think about where you want to attend college in less than two years from now, we’ve got some advice for you. If you read nothing else on our college admissions blog, we urge you to apply Early Decision or Early Action to the college(s) you most want to attend. Just take a look at our Ivy League Admissions Statistics if you’re not buying into the fact that you should apply Early Decision to Columbia if you dream of being a student there. Or Dartmouth via Early Decision if you dream of being a student there. Or Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, or Yale via Single Choice Early Action if you dream of being a student at one of these institutions.

Take a cold hard look at those Ivy League admissions statistics. Notice the disparity in the admissions rate when comparing Regular Decision to Early Decision or Early Action? If you choose not to apply Early, you’re applying to a college in which about half the class is already filled through their Early program. That’s the cold hard truth of the matter! Why apply to a college when it’s already half full? College admissions at the top universities in America is selective enough. Don’t make it harder on yourself.

The fact of the matter is that you can only attend one college anyway. Unless you transfer. But who wants to transfer? You want to go to a school where you’ll be happy. It’s quite simple. So if you can only attend one college, you might as well commit to that college in the Early round rather than making no commitments and applying to a host of universities in the Regular Decision round. Don’t waste your Early card! It’s so very valuable. Use it wisely. And absolutely use it!