Harvard and Princeton have just reintroduced their Early Action (EA) programs for the class of 2016. As a result their EA applications have soared. Harvard’s EA applications, for example, are up 5.9% from 2006 when they last had EA.
Other schools that have had EA or Early Decision (ED) have seen some decrease in applications: Yale’s ED applicants are down from last year by 18%, Columbia’s are down by 6%, and MIT’s are down by 4.7%.
Overall, however, ED/EA applicantions are up, especially for schools that have Non-Binding EA or ED. Students who have their credentials in order are happy to apply early but don’t always want to commit to a school before hearing back from most of their applications.
Other schools’ EA/ED applications are up: Cornell is up 3.7%, Dartmouth’s is up 5.5%, and Brown’s is up 5/5%.
In the past schools have accepted, on average, somewhere between one-quarter to one-third of their Earlty Action or Early Descion applicants.