Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA) are two alternatives to regular college admissions that many seniors have used this year.

ED is a binding agreement between colleges and students who apply early. Students who apply early and feel connected to a particular school agree to attending the school if they get admitted.

EA is a second, nonbinding alternative to regular college admissions. It is another early admission which notifies sooner, but does not require attendance to the school.

“For me personally that was a great opportunity because I get really stressed and impatient and I knew hearing back from some schools earlier in the year would take off a lot of that college pressure,” senior Emma Beisner said, who applied to multiple schools EA, instead of just having to choose one.

Beisner said it also made it so that she could apply to fewer schools because she’d already have some schools she’d gotten into before the regular decision deadline.

“I intentionally chose not to apply anywhere early decision for a couple reasons. I did have my heart set on a school but I also knew that my feeling could change over the rest of the year and early decision is binding (and also very rarely provides people with merit-based financial aid),” Beisner said.

The raised chances of getting in through ED and EA vary between different schools.

“I applied ED because the chance of getting in is much higher, and because I would know sooner,” senior Emma Altieri said, who applied to Washington University in St. Louis.

It was a tough decision, Altieri said, because if she got in, she had to attend.

Senior Will McBain said, “When I first started the college process I knew right away I was going to do ED, but I didn’t know where. I wanted to get the stress out of the way and get it over with. Junior year was hard enough.”

McBain, who applied ED to Northwestern, said that it was hard to have to make his mind and think that if he got into the school, he had to go there.

“When you apply ED the college knows that they are your top choice and that if they pick you you have to attend. This generally increases acceptance rates. Northwestern’s usual acceptance rate is around 12% but ED it is like 30%.”

Applying ED saves money because if accepted, scores or application fees no longer have to be sent in, McBain said.

“But don’t apply ED solely for the acceptance boost,” McBain said. “Only apply ED if you really want to go there and you want to make sure you will get in.”