Applications rise for early admission decisions to colleges

Many binding early decision and nonbinding early action programs for college education are seen an increase in number of applications lately.  Many colleges offer early admissions in December of each year for the following fall semester admissions.  Boston University has seen an increase of 41 percent in early binding decision applications while Cornell and Vanderbilt have seen increases of 16 and 21 percent respectively.  The nonbinding programs at the University of Chicago and the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tec) have seen increase of applications of 19.5 and 17 percent respectively.  The increase in the number of applications for early decisions is not universally up for all institutions.  It is unclear why some see more applications while others are getting less.

The deadline for regular applications is January 1^st.  Early decisions are a good gauge for those who are applying by the regular deadline.  Early admission programs require college bound applicants to finish High School education by November and receive decision by colleges before January 1^st.  This allows the students to apply to other institutions before the regular deadline.  Those who are accepted early can take the stress off of them.  Decisions are binding and if not honored students may lose a sizable portion of the deposit.