Early Decision Acceptance Rates by School: 23 Colleges, 19 With Same-Cycle Comparisons

October 12, 2026

TL;DR: Early applicants are admitted at a median of 3.2 times the rate of all other applicants across the 19 colleges in our table with same-cycle figures, and 3.3 times at the 16 with binding Early Decision. The range runs from 1.5 times at Rice to 8.8 times at Northeastern. For the Class of 2030, Brown admitted 16.5% of Early Decision applicants against 3.9% of everyone else, Vanderbilt 11.9% across both ED rounds against 2.8% in Regular Decision, and Yale 10.9% through Single-Choice Early Action against 3.2% (university releases; our calculation). Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, NYU and UChicago publish no current early-round rate. The table covers 23 colleges. To decide where a binding application belongs, schedule a consultation with Oriel Admissions.

What are Early Decision acceptance rates by school?

The table pairs each college’s most recent published early-round admit rate with the rate for all other applicants in the same entering class. Every pair comes from one cycle, so no row mixes years. Where a college publishes no early figure, the row says so.

School	Early plan	Early rate (cycle)	All other applicants	Early multiplier	Source and notes
Harvard	REA	8.7% (Class of 2028)	2.7%	3.2x	692 of 7,921 (Harvard Gazette); comparison from 1,937 of 54,008 overall (Harvard Gazette, March 2024); last published early figure, since Harvard stopped round-level releases from the Class of 2029
Yale	SCEA	10.9% (Class of 2030)	3.2%	3.4x	779 of 7,140 (Yale News); 18% deferred
Princeton	SCEA	Not published	Not published	Not published	Has released no admission data during its cycles since 2022
Columbia	ED	14.0% (Class of 2029)	4.0%	3.5x	819 of 5,868 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set
Penn	ED	13.3% (Class of 2029)	3.7%	3.6x	1,266 of 9,503 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set
Brown	ED	16.5% (Class of 2030)	3.9%	4.2x	890 of 5,406 (Brown); 1,674 Regular Decision admits
Cornell	ED	20.9% (Class of 2030)	7.6%	2.7x	1,653 of 7,919 per the Cornell University Factbook
Dartmouth	ED	21.6% (Class of 2029)	3.8%	5.7x	768 of 3,552 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set; no count or rate announced during the cycle
MIT	EA	6.0% (Class of 2029)	3.6%	1.7x	721 of 12,052 per MIT admissions statistics; non-binding. For the Class of 2030, MIT reported 655 Early Action admits of 11,883 (5.5%), but its statistics page has no Class of 2030 totals yet
Stanford	REA	Not published	Not published	Not published	Stopped publicizing application numbers in fall 2018
Duke	ED	11.9% (Class of 2030)	3.7%	3.2x	731 of 6,159, or 847 counting QuestBridge Match admits (Duke Today); 2,083 Regular Decision admits
Northwestern	ED	20.4% (Class of 2029)	5.8%	3.5x	1,212 of 5,939 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set
Vanderbilt	ED I + II	11.9% (Class of 2030)	2.8%	4.2x	7,727 ED applications (Vanderbilt); Regular Decision 1,382 of 48,720
Rice	ED I + II	11.3% (Class of 2029)	7.4%	1.5x	647 of 5,748 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set
Emory	ED I + II	22.2% (Class of 2029)	8.6%	2.6x	1,049 of 4,728 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set; ED I alone admitted 29.0% for the Class of 2030
Northeastern	ED I + II	35.3% (Class of 2029)	4.0%	8.8x	1,910 of 5,404 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set; comparison group includes Early Action
NYU	ED I + II	Not published	Not published	Not published	About 25,000 ED applications for the Class of 2029 (NYU); the Common Data Set leaves ED counts blank
Boston College	ED I + II	33.4% (Class of 2028)	13.8%	2.4x	1,434 of 4,288 per the 2024-25 Common Data Set, the latest BC has posted
Tufts	ED I + II	32.0% (Class of 2029)	8.5%	3.8x	1,071 of 3,344 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set
Villanova	ED I + II and EA	59.8% (Class of 2029)	25.9%	2.3x	1,005 of 1,680 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set; comparison group includes Early Action
WashU	ED I + II and EA	27.0% (Class of 2029)	9.3%	2.9x	1,333 of 4,934 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set; comparison group includes Early Action
Carnegie Mellon	ED	20.6% (Class of 2029)	10.3%	2.0x	553 of 2,680 per the 2025-26 Common Data Set
UChicago	ED I + II, EA	Not published	Not published	Not published	Common Data Set leaves ED counts blank; overall 4.5% for the Class of 2029 (UChicago class profile)

Early admit rates and same-cycle comparison rates for 23 colleges. Sources: university releases, admissions statistics pages and Common Data Set 2024-25 and 2025-26 filings, read October 2026. Comparison rates and multipliers are an Oriel Admissions calculation: admits outside the early round divided by applicants outside it, which includes deferred early applicants admitted in spring.

Methodology: the early multiplier is the early admit rate divided by the rate for all other applicants in the same class. For colleges with two binding rounds, the Common Data Set reports one combined count, so ED I and ED II appear together. Where a college also runs Early Action (Northeastern, Villanova, WashU), the comparison group includes those applicants, so it is not a pure Regular Decision rate. Duke and Vanderbilt publish Regular Decision counts directly; the other comparison rates are our calculation from published totals.

How big is the early advantage across colleges?

Across the 19 colleges with a same-cycle pair, the median multiplier is 3.2. Among the 16 with binding Early Decision it is 3.3. The spread is wide: Rice (1.5x), MIT (1.7x) and Carnegie Mellon (2.0x) sit at the low end, Brown and Vanderbilt (4.2x) and Dartmouth (5.7x) at the high end, and Northeastern stands apart at 8.8x. Non-binding plans show smaller gaps: MIT’s Early Action multiplier is 1.7x, while Yale’s single-choice plan reaches 3.4x.

How should you read the early multiplier?

The raw multiplier describes the pool, not any one student’s odds. Early pools differ from regular pools in who applies, and part of every gap reflects that. Vanderbilt admissions leadership told The Vanderbilt Hustler that admitted early and regular students looked identical on test scores, class rank and the number of advanced courses, and that what differed was the size of the pool: about 7,000 early applicants against about 48,000 in Regular Decision. Research that controls for applicants’ observed credentials also finds an edge, though from older data: a 2009 NBER study of applicants from the 1999-2000 school year found that an Early Action application was associated with a 17 to 20 percentage point increase in the chance of admission at selective colleges, and an Early Decision application with a 31 to 37 point increase (Avery and Levin).

In the view of Oriel Admissions, the multiplier helps a student who is already a strong candidate and whose application is ready in November. It does little for a student whose file is not. Our Early Decision vs Regular Decision breakdown works through the same-cycle data in more detail, and the ED vs RD advantage calculator runs the numbers for any school.

Why do fewer colleges publish Early Decision data?

Several colleges have stopped releasing early-round figures. Harvard says it no longer releases data after its early and regular rounds and now publishes one admissions profile each fall, starting with the Class of 2029. Princeton decided in 2022 not to release admission data during its admission cycles. Stanford stopped publicizing application numbers in fall 2018. Dartmouth announces no admit count or rate during the cycle. The Common Data Set does not fill the gap for early action plans: its early action item asks only for dates and whether the plan is restrictive, not for counts (CDS 2025-2026 template). Only Early Decision counts appear there, and some colleges, including NYU and UChicago, leave them blank.

Families are asked to make binding commitments with less information than a few years ago, which is the pattern our College Admissions Transparency Index grades.

Which rules apply to ED, EA, REA and ED II?

Early Decision is binding: an admitted student enrolls and withdraws other applications, although an aid applicant may wait for the aid notification first. Early Action is not binding. Restrictive Early Action is not binding but limits other early applications. ED II is a second binding round with a January deadline. We keep dedicated guides on each: Early Action vs Early Decision, restrictive early action, Early Decision II strategy, the ED II schools list, and what happens if you break an Early Decision agreement.

The NACAC Guide to Ethical Practice says colleges should release an Early Decision applicant who is not offered a financial aid award that makes attendance possible. In our experience, that is the release families most often need, so run the net price calculator before signing.

How should families use these numbers?

The multiplier belongs to prepared applicants. In our view, a rushed essay or a weak junior-year transcript gains little from an early round.
A binding round is a financial decision. The student commits before comparing aid offers, so the family should know the net price first.
Plan the whole early round together. Pick the Early Decision target where fit, the published edge and the family budget agree, and map an ED II option before November. Our pages on Early Decision notification dates and what to do after a deferral cover the next steps.

Frequently Asked Questions About Early Decision Acceptance Rates

How much higher are Early Decision acceptance rates than Regular Decision?

Across the 19 colleges in our table with same-cycle figures, the median early multiplier is 3.2 times the rate for all other applicants, and 3.3 times at the 16 with binding Early Decision. Dartmouth ran 5.7 times for the Class of 2029, Brown and Vanderbilt 4.2 times for the Class of 2030, and Northeastern 8.8 times for the Class of 2029.

Which school has the highest Early Decision acceptance rate?

In our table, Villanova admitted 59.8% of early applicants for the Class of 2029, followed by Northeastern at 35.3%, Boston College at 33.4% for the Class of 2028, and Tufts at 32.0%. Several of them also admit a larger share of their other applicants, so an early rate alone does not show how selective a college is.

Does applying Early Decision really increase your chances?

Partly. Some of the gap reflects who applies early, and some appears to be a real edge: a 2009 NBER study of 1999-2000 applicants found an Early Decision application was associated with a 31 to 37 percentage point increase in the chance of admission at selective colleges, and an Early Action application with a 17 to 20 point increase. In the view of Oriel Admissions, the edge helps students whose application is ready in November.

Which colleges no longer publish early acceptance rates?

Harvard stopped round-level releases from the Class of 2029, Princeton stopped releasing admission data during the cycle in 2022, and Stanford stopped publicizing application numbers in 2018. NYU and UChicago leave Early Decision counts blank in their Common Data Sets, and Dartmouth announces no rate during the cycle.

Can the Common Data Set show early action acceptance rates?

No. The Common Data Set asks colleges for Early Decision applications and admits, but its early action item asks only for dates and whether the plan is restrictive. Early action counts for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford or MIT therefore come only from university releases.

What is the difference between ED, EA, REA and ED II?

Early Decision is binding. Early Action is not binding. Restrictive Early Action is not binding but limits other early applications. ED II is a second binding round with a January deadline, used by students who decide later or who were deferred or denied in December.

Is Early Decision binding if the financial aid is not enough?

The NACAC Guide says colleges should release an Early Decision applicant who is not offered a financial aid award that makes attendance possible. Each college words its release in its own way, so read the policy before signing the agreement.

When do Early Decision results come out?

Early Decision I and restrictive early action results usually arrive in mid-December. ED II results usually arrive in February: according to their admissions pages, WashU lists February 12 for fall 2027 applicants, and Vanderbilt, UChicago and Middlebury list mid-February.

About Oriel Admissions

Oriel Admissions is a college admissions consulting firm advising families nationwide on elite university admissions strategy, with offices in Princeton, New Jersey and New York. Our team pairs deep admissions expertise with a distinctive 360 approach spanning academic planning, extracurricular strategy, essays and application execution. To discuss your strategy, schedule a consultation.