This Saturday marks Penn’s Early Decision deadline for the Class of 2030. Under ED, applicants receive a decision before the new year and, if accepted, must commit to attending Penn in the fall. To the thousands of high schoolers worldwide frantically polishing their thank-you-note supplementals and reordering their activities section ahead of Nov. 1, we have one piece of advice:
Don’t apply early. Step away from that submit button and wait for Regular Decision.
Take it from us — we’ve experienced the spectrum of college admissions paths. One of us was accepted into here through ED. The other came to Penn through the regular pool. And yet, we both agree that waiting to apply in January is by far the wiser choice.
Okay, we know what you’re probably thinking first: “But wait, everyone says applying ED boosts your chances of getting in!” We’ve heard that too, so we ran the numbers. We’ll preface this by saying we’re two humanities majors armed with nothing more than a calculator and potentially misplaced confidence, so take this with a grain of salt. Still, the results are far less encouraging than you might think.
Penn’s Class of 2028 has 2,400 students, and 1,235 of them were admitted ED. 8,683 students applied early, making the ED acceptance rate roughly 14.2%. But before you start celebrating that number, let’s look a little closer at who actually gets admitted during the ED round.
First, considering the accelerated timeline of athletic recruiting, let’s (wrongly) assume that all student-athletes were admitted to Penn ED. Since these students make up 10% of our undergraduate body (so, roughly 240 members in the Class of 2028), they account for 20% of the ED pool. Add legacies, who historically make up about 24% of Penn’s early admits (around 296 students), and suddenly, nearly half of ED spots are already spoken for.
That leaves roughly 699 seats for everyone else — an acceptance rate of about 8%. And that’s disregarding Philadelphia public schoolers, who benefit from Penn’s strong community partnerships, and children of Penn’s faculty. Thus, if you’re a typical applicant, we’re not so sure the math makes sense for you to apply early simply because it “increases your odds.”
Maybe you’re still holding onto the idea that an 8% early acceptance rate is better than Penn’s overall less than 5% admit rate. But holding out for RD can do far more for you in the long run than a barely higher acceptance rate ever could.
First off, a lot can happen between November and January to strengthen a college application — it certainly did for us. We explored newfound academic interests and earned awards at national competitions. Many of our friends at Penn accomplished even more, from becoming Coke Scholar semifinalists to securing spots in prestigious experiences like the United States Senate Youth Program. By applying in the fall, you might just be missing out on the crowning jewel of your awards section, or an amazing experience to expand your “why this major” essay.
More importantly, the process of filling out regular applications, while painful, will almost certainly make your essays stronger. As you come across new prompts or rewrite endless “why us” supplementals, you’ll uncover deeper self-reflections and sharpen your writing. In the end, college applications are a game: the more you play, the better you get. Why apply to your dream school before you’ve even had a chance to practice?
Let’s also not forget that ED is a binding decision. So what if the school you rushed to in November turns out not to be your dream school after all? The waiting period between your application deadline and admission release is the first real pause you’ve had in months, giving you the space to think about what you actually want from college. It’s not uncommon to fall out of love with the place you latched onto before senior year. But if you apply ED, it’s already too late to change your mind.
Ultimately, the school you end up at will shape not just your next four years, but the person you become long after your college years. Don’t rush through the admissions process just to get it over with. One of us did exactly that, convinced that applying early would make everything easier, that winter break could be a celebration, and that senior spring would be blissfully unburdened.
Looking back, it’s clearly short-sighted to let impatience and fear dictate a choice that shapes the next chapter of your life. Three months might feel unbearable as a college applicant, but now it feels like nothing at all.
Contrary to ED, the RD cycle gives you the chance to apply to and hear back from every school that you’re interested in. Sure, the winter might be overwhelming, but come March, you’ll be in the liberating position of choosing between the schools that want you: comparing programs, negotiating financial aid, and imagining where you’ll be happiest. You’ll find that it’s far easier to choose the “right” fit when comparing solidified options, not wild hypotheticals.
And after the RD cycle is done, and you finally enroll, you can enjoy the rest of your college experience knowing that your high school self left no stone unturned. With an ED commitment, on the other hand, you may be locking yourself into years of what-ifs about how your college years could have looked had you applied elsewhere. You could call it masochistic to dwell on those thoughts, but the truth is, no one who applies early is completely immune to them.
Please don’t get us wrong, you should 100% apply to Penn. From world-class professors to the incredible people we’ve met (including each other), we’ve truly loved our time here. But Penn isn’t the only great school, so why limit yourself? Hold onto that application until January and give yourself the time and freedom to strengthen your story and think through your options. If Penn is where you’re meant to be, applying regular decision won't change that.
ANANYA SHAH is a College sophomore studying philosophy, politics, and economics from Atlanta. Her email is aoshah@sas.upenn.edu.
JESSE VAN DOREN is a College sophomore studying political science and earth and environmental science from Baltimore. His email is jessevd@sas.upenn.edu.
