Research · College admissions · October 2026

Early decision admit rates beat the overall rate at every college that publishes both

As of October 2026: At all 24 colleges in our table that report both rates, the early decision rate beats the overall rate in the same file. The gap is smallest at Rice: 11.26 percent early against 8.01 percent overall. It is biggest at Tulane: 58.21 percent early against 14.46 percent overall.

The table holds all 30 colleges we checked. Each row shows the early and overall applicant and admit counts the college reports in its own Common Data Set. It does not say who the early applicants were.

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

Early decision and overall admit rates, college by college

Sorted by early decision rate, lowest first; the six colleges that report no early rate come last.

First-year applicants at 30 private colleges that run an early decision plan, as each college's own Common Data Set reports them in October 2026. The early counts come from the section on early decision; the overall counts are the same document's full first-year applicant and admit totals. Most rows describe the fall 2025 entering class, but some documents carry a header year that does not match the class their own figures describe, so read each row's cycle column. Admits are not enrollees, and the two rates in a row describe two different groups of applicants. A college that reports no early counts shows a blank, not a zero.

What the two rates in each row actually count

The early rate is the college's own count of early applicants and early admits. The overall rate is the same file's count of every first-year applicant and admit, early round included. So the early students sit inside the overall number. That is why the overall rate is not the same as a regular-round rate.

The year labels need care. Some of these files carry a header year that does not match the class their own numbers describe. Brown's early section is labeled for the fall 2024 class, but its overall totals are fall 2025. Amherst's header says 2025 to 2026, but every number in it is fall 2024. Each row's cycle column names the class its numbers are for. Trust that field over the header.

Where the numbers stop

Duke, New York University, the University of Chicago and Wake Forest all confirm an early decision plan and print its dates. But each one leaves the early applicant and admit fields blank. Those four have an overall rate in our table and no early rate.

Wesleyan and Pomona have no readable Common Data Set. Wesleyan's data-set listing page did not open. Pomona posts its Common Data Set as an interactive dashboard, not a file. So neither college has numbers here.

Two rows carry a warning. Middlebury's early admit count of 409 leaves out its February admits. So its 30.5 percent is lower than its true early rate. Northeastern's most recent file is a cycle older than most of the others here.

What a family should do with this

Start with the promise, not the rate. Early decision is binding. A student who gets in must enroll, and the family must accept that college's aid offer with no other offer to compare it to. A family that needs to compare offers should pick early action or regular instead.

Then pick the one college. Early decision works for a single first choice. A student with three equal favorites does not have one. Visit the college. Read the cost estimate from its own net price calculator. Then ask: would the answer still be yes in April?

Use the table for the college your kid wants most. Read its early rate next to its overall rate. Check which class the cycle column names. Then check the college's own page for this year's dates. A rate from last year's class is history, not a forecast.

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