So I realised there's nothing on this site about what ED and EA is, or at least, not much. This was written in response to a parent's comments on the tagboard.
ED/EA is a US admissions policy. ED: early decision, EA: early admission. Typically, you apply to a US college under an ED/EA plan or RD (regular decision) plan. As the name suggests, ED/EA means you apply earlier, and you also receive your decision earlier, around mid-December. If you apply RD, you only get your decision in April.
Now the difference between ED and EA. ED is binding, which means if you apply ED to a college and you get in, you are committed to go there. Obviously, you can only apply ED to one school. I'm not really sure what happens if you don't honour an ED agreement, but I'd rather not find out all the same. Schools that have ED options include Duke, Cornell, Columbia, UPenn, and most of the LACs.
EA is non-binding, so you have until May to decide if you do want to go to the college or not. For most schools that offer an EA scheme, you can apply to more than one school under EA. It's common for students to apply to one ED school (their top choice), and a bunch of EA schools in case they don't get into the ED school. However, there are two colleges that offer EA but limit you to apply early only at that college: Stanford and Yale. Schools that have unrestricted EA options include MIT, UChicago, UMich, UIUC.
This is all just about applying early. You can still apply regular to as many colleges as you want, except if you get accepted into your ED school, you're obliged to withdraw all other college applications.
There are also some schools that don't have an early scheme, meaning you can only apply regular and get your decisions in April. These include Harvard, the UC schools, UWM.
As for local universities, they don't have ED/EA options. Although NUS High students have to apply earlier to NUS (Dec 1-31) compared to their A-level counterparts, everyone gets their decisions at the same time in April or May. The hallmark of ED/EA is receiving your decisions earlier.
Okay that's it for now, happy holidays!
Actually you CAN break the ED contract if you can't afford to go there.
ReplyDeleteReally???
ReplyDeletemm thats what I heard too. like if you have extenuating circumstances like no $$ to go there or a much better financial aid package elsewhere (which means you had to apply somewhere else that is non-binding to begin with) then you can break it.
ReplyDelete@Zhong Ming: yale does not have ED.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: sorry, didn't spot the mistake earlier - it's edited now. yale's SCEA.
ReplyDeleteWith reference to breaking ED contract, funding, and scholarships:
ReplyDeleteStudents with no $ should NOT apply ED w/o FA if they would be relying on a scholarship. E.g. Adam wants to go to Duke under PSC scholarship. He cannot afford Duke without scholarship. He should not apply Duke ED while indicating he won't apply for FA.
@Fiona Foo: but can students on scholarship apply EA and RD to schools w/o RA?
ReplyDeletesorry *FA
ReplyDelete@Fiona Foo: but can students on scholarship apply EA and RD to schools w/o RA?
ReplyDeleteYes, because EA and RD are non-binding. ED means you 100%-super-chao-sure that you would attend.
@Fiono Foo: Hmm but students on scholarship can apply ED without FA since the organizatio can sponsor their studies right?
ReplyDeleteOkay let me re-explain. Let's say Adam is this Year 6 boy who wants to apply for unis. He fell in with Duke University, and he hopes to become a PSC scholar. He is not sure whether PSC will accept him. He cannot pay for Duke if he does not get a PSC scholarship. Applying to Duke ED w/o FA(saying he will go to Duke no matter what) is not really ethical, because he might not have funding from PSC.
ReplyDelete