College Admissions Terms to Know
January 13, 2015
Studying in the United States requires you to understand an application process that may be different from your home country's. Navigating the U.S. college admissions process is important to successfully studying and maintaining your status in the United States. The first step of the process includes applying and gaining acceptance to a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified school.
To apply to an SEVP-certified school, you must submit your application by the school’s deadline. This date will be listed on each school’s website and may vary depending on the school and program. To help you during the application process, below are some application terms from the U.S. Department of Education that you may encounter:
- Early Decision: Early decision is an admissions policy that allows you to apply early to a college or university. Early decision, unlike other admissions options, is binding. This means that when you apply to a college or university using early decision, you are committed to attending if you are accepted. As a student, you must withdraw all other applications upon acceptance, but are free to apply to other schools until an admission’s decision is made. If you are not accepted, you may continue to apply to other colleges and universities.
Early decision deadlines are much earlier in the school year than regular decision deadlines, usually requiring interested students to submit their completed application by October or November. Applying early decision to a U.S. college or university indicates that the selected school is your top choice and may increase your odds of acceptance.
- Early Action: Early action is an admissions policy that allows you to apply to schools before the regular decision deadline. Unlike early decision, early action is not binding. If you apply to a school via early action, you do not need to attend the institution if you are accepted. A student may apply via early action to more than one school. Students may also wish to apply to one school for early decision and other schools for early action.
- Rolling Admissions: Many large, publicly funded U.S. schools have a rolling admissions policy. Rolling admissions means a school accepts applications continuously until the institution or program of study fills all available spots for the upcoming semester. This means the school evaluates student applications as they receive them and fills spots accordingly. Applying early to a school with rolling admissions can increase the odds of acceptance because there may be more available spots.