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Early Action Acceptance Dates

You’ve submitted your early action applications and now are waiting to hear whether or not you’ve been accepted. Just when do schools start sending out their decisions? Well, it really depends upon the school and the application deadlines. Read on to find out more.

Early Action Deadlines

Before we get into the possible acceptance timelines, let’s address the early action application deadlines because the two are directly related. Many of those deadlines are November 1st, although there are some schools with deadlines as early as October 15th, such as UNC Chapel Hill and University of Georgia. And then there are other schools that have extended their deadlines to November 15th, and even December 1st, like Sacred Heart University – at least that has been the case in the past.

Early Action Acceptance Timelines

Generally, the earlier the deadline, the earlier you will receive a decision. Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule. For example, Northeastern has an early action deadline of November 1st, but you will not receive a response from them until mid to late January. Then there are other schools with the same deadline, but you will hear back from them before the December holiday break. There are even some early action schools that you will hear back from as early as November. As you can see, the acceptance dates really vary by school.

To get an idea of the acceptance dates for the schools to which you have applied, we recommend doing a bit of research online to see what their timelines were in the past. But note those dates could change. We have found that with more and more students submitting early action applications, schools are getting overwhelmed with their early action pool and are automatically deferring many applications to the regular decision pool because they simply can’t review all of them. This was the case with the University of Michigan a few years ago.

We are sure you are chomping at the bit after submitting your early action applications to hear their decision. Just remember that when you receive your decision is dependent on the school’s own timeline and the volume of applications they have received. You may not hear about your acceptance decision before the middle to the end of January, although we’d say that you’ll hear from the lion’s share of schools before the holiday break.

Looking for help with the college search and application process? We help students and families through the entire college planning journey – from search, applications and essays to interview prep, financial aid consultation and final school selection.

Contact us at info@signaturecollegecounseling.com or by phone, 845.551.6946. We work with students through Zoom, over the phone, and by email.