Why Your Students Should Apply Early Decision

By: Pat Rametti

For so many students, this month is the time to decide where to go to college for the fall. At Uncommon Schools, many of our students made the decision months ago because they were admitted via early decision. Students who are making plans for where to apply in the fall should consider early decision. 

Some students go into the college application process uncertain of the path they want to take because they don’t have enough information or are fearful of rejection. This often leads to undermatching, the phenomenon where low-income students enroll at less selective colleges—often with lower graduation rates— than they are academically qualified for. I assisted    Ashley-Ann, who graduated from Uncommon last year, in overcoming her fears about applying to NYU early decision. Once at NYU, she wrote to me and said, “I was very hesitant to apply to any school since I was unsure of what school would be the best match for me. Because of you, I felt confident to apply to NYU. I am a part of the Presidential Honors Program at NYU and will have the opportunity to travel with my school to different countries and to different attractions in NYC.” 

About 450 colleges offer early admission plans and we have found that Uncommon grads who enroll at colleges via early decision attend schools with higher graduation rates and receive more generous financial aid packages than those who didn’t apply Early Decision (ED), or applied ED, but did not get in. The number of colleges that enrolled more than 60 percent of their class through early college decision grew from 4 in 2018 to 14 in 2022. And though most people assume early decision is a tool for the wealthy, our data suggests that there is an opportunity to increase early decision’s utility as a tool for minority enrollment.  

Since 2010, 875 students have enrolled at a college where they applied Early Decision or Single Choice Early Action. These students have earned $151 million in grants and scholarships to 97 colleges and universities across the U.S. One in three students did not borrow any loans to pay for college.

In 2019, nearly three out of every four Uncommon students who applied early decision were accepted. Since the pandemic, our early success rate has declined to about 57%. This drop reflects the reality that — in the backdrop of declining overall college enrollment — demand for access to higher education among minority students has increased and is outpacing supply. Uncommon students are not only competing with students at other college access organizations for coveted seats at selective colleges, but they are also competing with each other.  

Early Decision Or Not?

The biggest hurdle for students on the fence about ED to overcome is their own indecisiveness. Most often, if given the option, students would make the same decision about where to enroll in January that they would in April. Some would argue that waiting to compare financial aid packages is better than committing early to one college, but we have seen our students receive millions of aid for college that they would not have been able to access otherwise. 

When to Skip Early Decision

Yes, there are some students for whom applying early decision does not make sense. For example, students whose families are concerned that their Student Aid Index is considerably higher than what they can afford would likely benefit from comparing multiple offers. However, many institutions that offer ED also meet full need, making ED a particularly effective strategy for students from low-income households. Students who had a notable downward trend in junior year may also want to hold off on applying early and instead focus on a strong first half of senior year.

Keeping Options Open 

When a student decides to apply ED, they’ve reached the pinnacle of preparedness in their college application process. Sometimes, Uncommon students apply ED1 to one school and have an ED2 option lined up in case their first choice does not pan out. And if the ED2 application doesn’t yield the desired outcome, they have a list of 8 other schools to apply to. We also have students who are not ready to commit to applying ED in November but do make the commitment before winter break and go ED2 to their top choice.  

When our students arrive at the decision to apply ED, it’s not because they are under the illusion that only one school can be the perfect fit. They apply ED because they know that colleges have limited seats and financial aid dollars, and the early bird gets the worm. And most importantly, they apply ED because they understand that college admissions is not a meritocracy, and they recognize the competitive advantage applying ED can provide. After all, colleges know that their best applicants have a dozen or so other applications out there, so for admissions offices, ED alleviates much of the uncertainty that comes with accepting a student in Regular Decision.  

Patrick Rametti is the Senior Director of College Access and Success and has been leading college access teams for 11 years at Uncommon Schools. Previously, he worked for New Jersey Seeds, a nonprofit that prepares motivated, high-achieving, low-income students for admission to private schools and colleges across the country. Rametti began his career as a teacher for AmeriCorps in Washington D.C. Rametti has led the codification of Uncommon’s college counseling and alumni support model, and has overseen the growth of the team from a staff of 15 to a staff of 62. Despite recent declines in college enrollment and persistence during the pandemic, Uncommon HS graduates continue to persist in and graduate from college at rates that are among the highest in the country.