Research · College applications · October 2026

Fall 2027 college application deadlines at 50 colleges, plus UC and Cal State

Name: Fall 2027 college application deadlines at 50 colleges, plus UC and Cal State
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: The Common App opened on August 1, 2026, and UC and Cal State take fall 2027 applications only from October 1 to November 30, 2026. At the 50 colleges here, November 1, 2026 is the most common early deadline, and regular deadlines outside California land in early January 2027.

The table holds each college's own posted dates for fall 2027 first-year entry. Five rows are blank, because those colleges publish no fixed date we could read.

Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.

The findings, in plain English

November 1, 2026 carries the most weight. It is the Early Decision date at Penn, Cornell, Brown, Northwestern and NYU. It is the Restrictive Early Action date at Harvard, Yale and Stanford. It is the Early Action date at a long list of state flagships. Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana and Tennessee are all on that list. A few colleges close earlier: Georgia Tech, UT Austin, Florida State and North Carolina all set their first early round at October 15, 2026.

California runs one window and no early round. All nine UC campuses here show the same dates, and so do the three Cal State campuses. The filing period opens October 1, 2026 and closes November 30, 2026. Neither system has Early Decision or Early Action, so filing in October rather than November changes nothing. That window also shuts a month or more before most private colleges read regular applications.

A few large publics never really close. Penn State, Pitt and Alabama post a priority date rather than a final one, and Arizona posts only an Early Action date. The regular column is blank for all four. Michigan State shows February 1, 2027 for a guaranteed decision and April 1, 2027 as its regular date. Central Florida runs Early Action on October 15, 2026 and keeps regular open to May 1, 2027.

The four application systems

One row per system, with the fall 2027 filing window it publishes.

System	Opens	Closes	Source
Common App	2026-08-01	—	Source
University of California (all campuses)	2026-10-01	2026-11-30	Source
California State University (Cal State Apply)	2026-10-01	2026-11-30	Source
ApplyTexas	2026-08-01	—	Source

These are the four systems most families meet, with the dates each one publishes for fall 2027 first-year entry. The Common App and ApplyTexas have no closing date of their own: each member college sets that, and those dates are in the second table. UC and Cal State share one filing period across every campus, and the UC application itself opens August 1, 2026 even though nothing can be submitted until October 1.

Fall 2027 deadlines at 50 of the most-applied-to colleges

One row per college, with its own posted dates. A blank cell means no date published for that plan.

College	Early Decision I	Early Decision II	Early Action	Restrictive Early Action	Regular Decision	Priority	Note	Source
University of California-Los Angeles	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of California-San Diego	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of California-Berkeley	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of California-Irvine	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
New York University	2026-11-01	2027-01-01	—	—	2027-01-05	—	—	Source
University of California-Santa Barbara	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
Northeastern University	2026-11-01	2027-01-01	2026-11-01	—	2027-01-01	—	—	Source
University of California-Davis	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	2026-11-01	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-02-01	—	—	Source
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	—	—	2026-11-01	—	—	2026-12-01	—	Source
San Diego State University	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of Southern California	2026-11-01	—	2026-11-01	—	—	2026-12-01	Regular Decision date not stated on the cited page.	Source
Boston University	2026-11-02	2027-01-05	—	—	2027-01-05	—	—	Source
California State University-Long Beach	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
Florida State University	2026-10-15	—	2026-10-15	—	2026-12-01	—	—	Source
Purdue University-Main Campus	—	—	—	—	—	—	Dates not stated on the cited page.	Source
Ohio State University-Main Campus	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-01-15	—	—	Source
University of California-Santa Cruz	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
Arizona State University Campus Immersion	—	—	—	—	2027-02-01	2026-11-01	—	Source
University of California-Merced	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-01-05	—	—	Source
The University of Texas at Austin	—	—	2026-10-15	—	2026-12-01	—	—	Source
Cornell University	2026-11-01	—	—	—	2027-01-02	—	—	Source
University of Florida	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-01-15	—	—	Source
University of South Florida	—	—	2026-11-02	—	2026-12-16	—	—	Source
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of Wisconsin-Madison	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-01-15	—	—	Source
University of California-Riverside	—	—	—	—	2026-11-30	—	—	Source
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	—	—	—	—	2026-11-15	—	—	Source
University of Central Florida	—	—	2026-10-15	—	2027-05-01	—	—	Source
Clemson University	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Source
University of Pennsylvania	2026-11-01	—	—	—	2027-01-05	—	—	Source
University of Maryland-College Park	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-01-20	—	—	Source
Michigan State University	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-04-01	2027-02-01	—	Source
The University of Alabama	—	—	—	—	—	2026-12-04	—	Source
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	—	—	—	—	—	2026-12-01	Rolling admission; December 1, 2026 is the scholarship-consideration deadline.	Source
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	—	—	2026-10-15	—	—	—	—	Source
Columbia University in the City of New York	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Source
Harvard University	—	—	—	2026-11-01	2027-01-01	—	—	Source
University of Virginia-Main Campus	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Source
University of Arizona	—	—	2026-11-01	—	—	—	—	Source
University of Colorado Boulder	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Source
Indiana University-Bloomington	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-02-01	—	—	Source
Stanford University	—	—	—	2026-11-01	2027-01-05	—	—	Source
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	—	—	2026-10-15	—	2027-01-06	—	—	Source
Yale University	—	—	—	2026-11-01	2027-01-02	—	—	Source
Northwestern University	2026-11-01	—	—	—	2027-01-04	—	—	Source
Brown University	2026-11-01	—	—	—	2027-01-05	—	—	Source
Texas A & M University-College Station	—	—	—	—	2026-12-01	—	—	Source
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	—	—	2026-11-01	—	2027-01-05	—	—	Source

Each date is the college's own posted deadline for fall 2027 first-year entry, printed as the year, month and day it falls on. A blank cell means the college publishes no date for that plan, or publishes none we could read: Clemson, Purdue, Columbia, the University of Virginia and CU Boulder print no date at all. Three rows carry a note of their own: Pitt, USC and Purdue. Pitt's December 1, 2026 is a scholarship-consideration date on a rolling process, not a closing date, and the pages for USC and Purdue state no regular-decision date. No row here showed the prior fall 2026 cycle instead of fall 2027. UC Merced's and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's rows carry their system's filing period, because neither campus page served a date of its own. Deadlines move, so the college's own page is the final word.

The early plans are not the same promise

Early Decision means one college and a promise to attend if admitted. The table shows it at ten of the colleges here. Three of those run a second binding round in January, called Early Decision II: NYU, Northeastern and Boston University.

Early Action is non-binding. It is an earlier answer with no promise attached. Restrictive Early Action is non-binding too, but it limits where else a student may apply early. Harvard, Yale and Stanford all set it at November 1, 2026. Each of the three writes its own limits, so read them one at a time.

Five rows are blank, and three others need a word

Clemson, Purdue, Columbia, the University of Virginia and CU Boulder print no date here. The deadline pages for Columbia and Virginia gave no date at all. Purdue's deadline table did not appear as text on its page. Clemson's and CU Boulder's pages say the fall 2027 application is open, but neither says when it closes.

Three other rows need a word of explanation. Pitt's December 1, 2026 is a scholarship date, not a closing date, and its process is rolling. USC's page gives the November 1, 2026 early date and no regular one, so that cell is blank. Penn State posts Early Action on November 1, 2026 and a recommended December 1, 2026, and names no final close.

What a family should do with this

Put the earliest date on your kid's list at the top of the calendar and work backward from it. For a California family with any UC or Cal State on the list, that date is November 30, 2026, and the window does not reopen. Essays and recommendation requests have to be done before it, not over winter break.

Then read each college's own page once in the fall, because dates move. A blank cell here means the college published no date for that plan. It does not mean a late application is fine. Where a college posts a priority date and no close, earlier is simply better, because the scholarship money is attached to the early date.

Questions parents ask

When did the Common App open for fall 2027?

The Common App opened on August 1, 2026, and UC and Cal State take fall 2027 applications only from October 1 to November 30, 2026.

When is the UC application due for fall 2027?

All nine UC campuses here show the same dates, and so do the three Cal State campuses. The filing period opens October 1, 2026 and closes November 30, 2026.

What is the most common college application deadline?

At the 50 colleges here, November 1, 2026 is the most common early deadline, and regular deadlines outside California land in early January 2027.

Method & sources: The dates are each college's own posted deadlines for fall 2027 first-year entry, as its admissions page read in October 2026, plus the four application systems' own pages for the first table. The rows are 50 of the 100 most-applied-to colleges, in the order the file holds them, and they cover first-year applicants only, not transfer or graduate applicants. Five colleges publish no fixed date that could be read from their own pages, so their rows are blank: Clemson, Purdue, Columbia, the University of Virginia and CU Boulder. A blank cell on any other row means the college does not offer that plan.

This brief as data: /research/college-application-deadlines-2027.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).