Most US college applications opened in August 2021 for students who plan to apply to colleges for fall 2023 enrollment. The application open dates may vary somewhat, but generally, college applications become available by late August or early September.
The application deadlines required by most schools fall between November and February. In this article, the four general options including early action, early decision, regular decision and rolling admission will be discussed with a list of 50 schools and their deadlines.
Table of Contents
- Types of College Application
- College Application Deadlines for Fall 2023
- Quick Tips on When to Apply for Colleges in the Fall
Types of College Application
There are four most common types of application deadlines and you can make your own decision about which application you submit. Find out about each of these applications and decide the most suitable option for you when applying for US colleges.
Early action
Early action deadlines allow students to apply for schools early and find out whether they are accepted before the regular admission season starts. Most common early action deadlines fall in early to mid-November, but it is always important to check the websites of the schools you are applying to.
The reason early action can be a great option is that it does not require students to attend the particular school they are admitted to and does not require a response until the national college decision day, May 1, allowing students sufficient time to compare college offers. In addition, students will be informed early whether they are admitted or deferred, which will provide them the opportunity to strengthen application for regular decision admittances.
Early decision
Early decision is somewhat similar to early action that students hear back early from colleges. However, the difference is that early decision requires a commitment to enroll. In other words, students should be completely ready to attend a particular school when applying via early decision.
Being admitted on early decision brings students the freedom from all worries related to college searches and applications. However, one major concern students may have is that they are entering the school without learning about the financial aid offers that might be available to them. This means n that students may face problems if they depend on financial aid to pay for their tuition.
Regular decision
Most students apply to schools via the regular decision process. Regular decision deadlines commonly fall between January and February of the college entrance year, and students are likely to hear back from schools in March or April. Regular decision deadlines allow students sufficient time to gather materials, prepare essays, take necessary tests, and even consider other college options.
One downside of applying for a regular decision is that when students are rejected or deferred from prospective schools, they must wait until the following year to re-apply and go through the entire application process.
Rolling admission
Colleges with rolling admission evaluate applicants on an ongoing basis rather than having set deadlines. Depending on the number of remaining spots in the class, the period when colleges open up rolling admissions may vary. Students may benefit from rolling admission with the ability to spread out college applications. Additionally, applying for rolling admission allows students to find out their admittance results earlier in their senior year, allowing students to save time and energy and reducing the stress and anxiety of waiting for a result.
However, since applications are reviewed as they are submitted, there may be circumstances where qualified candidates submit their rolling admission after the remaining spots are filled. Therefore, it is recommended that students not wait until the last minute to submit their application.
College Application Deadlines for Fall 2023
The following table lists the application deadlines of 50 popular US colleges for fall 2023. The schools are listed in alphabetical order.
| School | Early Action | Early Decision | Regular Decision |
| Boston College | November 1 / January 31 | January 3 | |
| Boston University | November 1 / January 4 | January 4 | |
| Brandeis University | November 1 / January 3 | January 3 | |
| Brown University | November 1 | January 5 | |
| California Institute of Technology | November 1 | January 3 | |
| Carnegie Mellon University | November 1 / January 3 | January 3 | |
| Case Western Reserve University | November 1 | November 1 / January 15 | January 15 |
| Columbia University | November 1 | January 1 | |
| Cornell University | November 1 | January 2 | |
| Dartmouth College | November 1 | January 3 | |
| Duke University | November 1 | January 3 | |
| Emory University | November 1 / January 1 | January 1 | |
| Georgetown University | November 1 | January 10 | |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | October 10 / November 1 | January 4 | |
| Harvard University | November 1 | January 1 | |
| Johns Hopkins University | November 1 / January 3 | January 3 | |
| Lehigh University | November 1 / January 1 | January 1 | |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | November 1 | January 1 | |
| New York University | November 1 / January 1 | January 5 | |
| Northeastern University | November 1 | November 1 / January 1 | January 1 |
| Northwestern University | November 1 | January 3 | |
| Princeton University | November 1 | January 1 | |
| Rice University | November 1 | January 4 | |
| Stanford University | November 1 | January 5 | |
| Tufts University | November 1 / January 4 | January 4 | |
| Tulane University | November 15 | November 1 | January 15 |
| University of California, Berkeley | November 30 | ||
| University of California, Davis | November 30 | ||
| University of California, Irvine | November 30 | ||
| University of California, Los Angeles | November 30 | ||
| University of California, San Diego | November 30 | ||
| University of California, Santa Barbara | November 30 | ||
| University of Chicago | November 1 | November 1 / January 4 | January 4 |
| University of Florida | November 1 / rolling | ||
| University of Georgia | October 15 | January 1 | |
| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | November 1 / January 5 | ||
| University of Michigan | November 1 | February 1 | |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | October 15 | January 15 | |
| University of Notre Dame | November 1 | January 1 | |
| University of Pennsylvania | November 1 | January 5 | |
| University of Rochester | November 1 / January 5 | January 5 | |
| University of Southern California | November 1 | December 1 / January 15 | |
| University of Texas at Austin | November 1 / December 1 | ||
| University of Virginia | November 1 | November 1 | January 5 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison | November 1 | January 15 | |
| Vanderbilt University | November 1 / January 1 | January 1 | |
| Wake Forest University | November 15 / January 1 | January 1 | |
| Washington University in St. Louis | November 1 / January 4 | January 4 | |
| William & Mary | November 1 / January 1 | November 1 / January 2 | |
| Yale University | November 1 | January 2 |
Quick Tips on When to Apply for Colleges in the Fall
Planning to apply to college requires significant time and effort. Most students start preparing in their senior year of high school. However, it is ideal to request recommendation letters and take the SAT or ACT starting from your junior year, especially if you are planning to apply for early action or early decision.
Here are some tips on how you can choose the type of application:
- If you are prepared with recommendation letters and exam results and are ready to apply early in senior year, early action and early decision are ideal.
- If you need sufficient time to compare schools, format essays, get English proofreading and essay editing services, or retake exams, a regular decision may be the best option.
- If you are a strong candidate and wish to apply to colleges whenever you want, you can go for rolling admissions.
Be sure to get professional essay editing from Wordvice after drafting your college admissions essays. And use Wordvice’s AI’s free AI Proofreading Tool and AI Paraphrasing Tool to check for any errors before submitting your application materials.