Finding your number one college can be the most relieving feeling. The hundreds of schools emailing you can become overwhelming, especially for an undecided student. Applying for your school is fairly easy, with basic questions about yourself and family until you come up to  ‘Early Action’ and ‘Early Decision’. Before senior year, I definitely had no idea what either of those terms mean, and clicking on the wrong one can make a huge mess. Know the difference of these two terms can save you from going to a school you didn’t want to go to and a ton of cash.

Early action is a huge commitment that most students probably aren’t ready to make. Not every school has them, but a student who agrees to early action is committing to that school if they get in. A student can only do early action for one school because it’s binding; you cannot say no to the school after committing to early action. If worst comes to worst and you do early action and decide you don’t want to go there, it risks a lot. Some schools will make you pay fines or even pay their tuition, even if you aren’t attending. In some cases, school may call other schools you apply to and put you at risk of not getting into the other schools. Early action is a huge deal and done incorrectly, can seriously mess up your application process.

Early decision is a much more basic concept that most colleges have. Early decision is simply sending in your application at an earlier deadline to get a response sooner. Early decision is super helpful for seniors because you know the schools to consider and know if they’re giving you money in the form of scholarships. The more time you have to debate about a school, the less stress you have over the school year.

A lot of college deadlines are in the month of November so applying to college should be at the top of your to-do list!