Glossary · Financial Aid
Early Decision
A binding early application commitment (typically due November 1) where the student agrees to attend if admitted and withdraw all other applications. Early Decision generally offers higher admit rates but eliminates the ability to compare financial aid offers.
What it means
Early Decision is a trade. You give up negotiating leverage in exchange for a higher probability of admission. At selective schools, the ED admit rate can be 15-20 percentage points higher than Regular Decision. At Duke, for instance, the ED admit rate has historically been around 16-18% compared to 5-6% in the regular round.
The binding commitment means you cannot compare offers. If the financial aid package is not what you expected, your only exit is if the school fails to meet your demonstrated need by a substantial margin. Some schools offer an ED release for financial hardship, but the process is uncomfortable and not guaranteed.
For merit aid strategy, ED is almost always a bad move unless the school is your clear first choice and the merit aid is automatic and formula-based (so you can predict it before applying). Applying ED to a school with holistic merit is a gamble because you will not know the merit award until after you are bound. Some schools offer ED II with a January deadline, which gives you slightly more time but the same binding commitment.
Families who need to compare financial aid offers should not apply Early Decision. Full stop.
Worked example
A student applies ED to Vanderbilt and is admitted with a financial aid package that includes $15,000 in need-based grants and a $5,500 loan. The family expected $25,000 in grants based on the Net Price Calculator estimate. The gap is $10,000/year, or $40,000 over four years. Because the commitment is binding, the family has limited options: accept the package, request an ED release citing financial hardship (which Vanderbilt may or may not grant), or pay the difference. They cannot show Vanderbilt a competing offer from Emory or Rice because they were never allowed to apply.
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