Applying early can sometimes boost your chances of getting in. One study of 14 elite schools by Harvard researchers found that applying early decision conferred an advantage equivalent to an extra 100 points on the SAT. Acceptance rates and the design of early plans can change from year to year; in this table, colleges are ranked by the size of the difference between their early and non-early acceptance rates for the class that entered in the fall 2006. The difference in acceptance rates is figured using unrounded data.
| School | Early-decision and/or early-action acceptance rate |
Non-early acceptance rate |
Difference in acceptance rate |
Freshman enrolled through early plans |
Type of plan (early-decision and/or early-action) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamline University (MN) | 85% | 69% | 17% | 45% | EA |
| Bethel University (MN) | 89% | 77% | 11% | N/A | EA |
| Valparaiso University (IN) | 94% | 85% | 9% | 58% | EA |
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