Early Decision v Early Action

Traditionally, many colleges, particularly ivy league colleges, have accepted up to one-half of their incoming students from their early applicant pool. Because this pool of applicants tends to be significantly smaller, and because the odds of acceptance are greater, applying early can often improve a student's chances of acceptance into his/her college of choice. 

In general, early applicant programs can be divided into two categories: 

Early Decision is usually binding, meaning the student is making a promise to attend, if accepted.  Students seeking this form of early admission are expected to submit an early decision application to only ONE school.  However, this type of decision can present problems for students who need financial aid, as there is little leverage for negotiating.

Early Action is usually non-binding, meaning the student are not obligated to attend the school if accepted.  Students may apply "Early Action" to multiple schools, allowing them to compare offers before making a final decision. How long the student has to decide can vary from school to school.

Differences between the SAT and ACT

For those of you considering the ACT as an alternate test for college admissions, here is some basic information about the two tests.

The SAT is designed and produced by Educational Testing Service and is administered by the College Board.  The test is given 7 times each school year and is more popular in the Northeast and the West Coast. The test is 3 hours and 45 minutes long and contains 10 sections that test students' abilities in three areas: Math, Reading, and Writing.  In most sections of the test, questions are organized by ascending order of difficulty and become increasingly "tricky" toward the end of a section because of the intentional inclusion of "attractors" (incorrect, but plausible answers).  The SAT does include a written essay, but does not include trigonometry or science questions.  The SAT is negatively scored, meaning students lose 1/4 point for incorrect answers.  Therefore, knowing when and how to guess is a key strategy for the SAT.  Overall SAT scores range between 600 and 2,400 points. 

The ACT is administered by ACT, Inc.  The test is given 6 times each school year and is more widely used in the Midwest and Southeast.   The test is 2 hours and 55 minutes long and contains 4 sections that test students' abilities in four areas:  Math, Reading, English, Science.  The ACT also has a 30-minute Writing test, but this fifth section is optional.  The ACT includes science and trigonometry questions.  Most sections of the ACT contain a passage, scenario, or other information about which multiple questions are then asked. The ACT is positively scored, meaning students do NOT lose points for incorrect answers. On the ACT it is a good idea to leave yourself a bit of time at the end of each section to randomly fill in answers for unanswered questions.  Composite ACT scores range between 1 and 36.