As you narrow down your list of colleges you plan to apply to, juggling various application dates will become crucial. For some of your top-choice and reach schools, you’ve likely considered or already submitted an Early Decision application. For the rest of the schools on your list, you’ll need to prioritize and plan around various application deadlines for Regular Decision.
Start Early, Work Often
Remember to start applications early and working on them periodically. This will ensure a polished product when the deadlines approach. You’ll also want to avoid working on all your applications around the same time. This can often lead to silly and avoidable mistakes. Instead, focus and finish one set of applications so you can fully apply yourself to the next one.
Keep Track of Deadlines
Make sure to check the deadlines for all colleges you have on your list as they vary between schools. With so many varying deadlines for different schools, it’s important to keep track of which college’s applications you’ll need to complete first and leave enough time to complete the rest. The earlier you complete your first applications, the more you’ll be able to pace yourself and complete your later applications.
For example, if you’re applying to one school with a January 1st deadline, but several schools with a January 15th deadline, you’ll want to complete the earlier application first, then get ahead and try and complete one of the latter applications ahead of time so you’re not scrambling to complete two applications at the same time.
For colleges and universities that offer rolling admissions, remember that your chances of admission are much higher the sooner you submit your application. You should try and prioritize these applications if you can.
Here are Early Decision Dates for the class of 2026 for some of the top schools in the US:
School Name | RD Application Deadline |
|---|---|
University of Florida | November 1 |
University of California Schools | November 30 |
Pennsylvania State University | December 1 * |
Barnard College | January 1 |
Boston College | January 1 |
Columbia University
| January 1 |
Emory University
| January 1 |
Fordham University
| January 1 |
Harvard University
| January 1 |
Northeastern University
| January 1 |
Princeton University
| January 1 |
Swarthmore College
| January 1 |
Syracuse University
| January 1 |
University of Miami
| January 1 |
University of Richmond
| January 1 |
Vanderbilt University
| January 1 |
Wake Forest University
| January 1 |
Washington and Lee University
| January 1 |
Wesleyan University
| January 1 |
Cornell University
| January 2 |
Yale University
| January 2 |
Amherst College
| January 3 |
California Institute of Technology
| January 3 |
Carnegie-Mellon University
| January 3 |
Dartmouth College
| January 3 |
Johns Hopkins University
| January 3 |
Middlebury College
| January 3 |
Northwestern University
| January 3 |
University of Virginia
| January 3 |
Washington University in St. Louis
| January 3 |
William & Mary
| January 3 |
Boston University
| January 4 |
Duke University | January 4 |
Rice University | January 4 |
Tufts University
| January 4 |
University of Chicago | January 4 |
Bowdoin College | January 5 |
Brown University | January 5 |
George Washington University | January 5 |
Georgia Institute of Technology | January 5 |
Hamilton College | January 5 |
Harvey Mudd College | January 5 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | January 5 |
New York University | January 5 |
Stanford University | January 5 |
University of Pennsylvania | January 5 |
University of Rochester | January 5 |
Santa Clara University | January 7 |
Wellesley College | January 8 |
Georgetown University | January 10 |
Williams College | January 10 |
American University | January 15 |
Carleton College | January 15 |
Colgate University | January 15 |
Haverford College | January 15 |
Loyola Marymount University | January 15 |
Southern Methodist University | January 15 |
Tulane University | January 15 |
University of Colorado – Boulder | January 15 |
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill | January 15 |
Villanova University | January 15 |
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor | February 1 |
University of Wisconsin – Madison | February 1 |
Florida State University | March 1 * |
Clemson University | May 1 * |
*These colleges offer rolling admission.
Remember, this list is not exhaustive. Add the relevant application deadlines to your calendar, and good luck!