Depending on where you are in your college search and application, you are either eagerly waiting to find out if you are accepted or already accepted and waiting for the next few steps to be finished. You had to make a decision. Now that it is November, early decision for colleges is either closed or close to being closed. But the question often comes up if you should apply for Early Decision or Early Action. There area few major differences between Early Decision and Early Action.

Early Decision is binding. You made your commitment to that school. You may not apply to more than one college under early decision. At this time, if you apply to a school and you are rejected or deferred. Rejected applicants cannot apply again that year whereas deferred applicants will be reconsidered during the regular admission period and can apply to other schools. The deadline for Early Decision is often in November and will find out by December.

Early Action is non-binding. This means you are not bound to attend a certain school if you are accepted there. At this time, you are able to apply to multiple colleges. Early action deadlines usually fall at the same time as early decision. One obvious advantage of early action over early decision is that it allows you to apply at several colleges and you can compare financial aid packages.

If you are like me and you are sure that you’ve found your best-fit school, you know it’s the one you want to attend, you are accepted for admission, and know that you can afford the tuition, go ahead and apply Early Decision. But if you are uncertain and not sure where you see yourself, apply for Early Action to keep your options open.