Early Action vs Regular Decision

From now until October 15, one of the most common questions for the admission office will be “Should I apply for Early Action (EA) or Regular Decision (RD)”? There is the perceived notion that one option is better than the other (NOT TRUE!). If a student applies RD and meets the EA criteria for admission, they will receive an acceptance at a later date. If a student applies EA and is deferred, they will be shifted to the next stage of review and we will review their file in our holistic review process. In reality, the only person that can answer the question of how they should apply is the student who is applying. The big question your should ask yourself is if, by October 15, are you ready for UGA to look at your file. If you feel you would like to have more time to work on your application beyond 10/15, or if you want us to see your fall grades or later test scores before we initially look at your file, you should think about applying RD.

The EA Vs. RD difference is about timing. If a student submits an application for EA, we will review their file in October/November and they will know something by at least mid-December. This “something” could be an acceptance, a denial, or a deferral (which means we want more information before we can make a decision). Early Action accepts are applicants that are extremely strong academically, and that our office determines we would admit without even reviewing the non-academic information. EA denials are students that we determine we would not admit for EA or RD based upon the information we have at that time. Deferred applicants are seen as very competitive academically, and we want to review the file during December through March, when we have much more time to do holistic reviews. RD applicants who apply will receive a decision at a later date, with the last timeline being in late March, when all applicants will know final decisions.

For both Early Action and Regular Decision applicants, give yourself time to get your application together, and do not rush to complete it at the deadline. This is like pushing off writing a 10 page report until the last day, and wondering why it did not turn out as well as you thought it would.

So if you are looking for someone to tell you whether to apply EA or RD, look in the mirror, because you are the person that knows your situation best, so you are the one that needs to make this call.