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!

Subscribe to our blog

Don’t miss out on the latest college admissions trends, updates, and tips!