Dickinson College Office of International Admissions

Early Decision (ED)
What is it?
Early Decision is for students who have firmly decided that Dickinson College is their first choice. A commitment to ED is a binding agreement between you and Dickinson. If you are accepted ED, you must withdraw applications to other schools. It is important to keep in mind that applying ED does not prevent you from applying to other schools before you receive your Dickinson decision, so you won’t be disadvantaged if you are not accepted to Dickinson.

Benefits
Early Decision students are given preference in the decision process. We value your commitment to Dickinson and find that students who are excited to apply ED become our most motivated students both inside and outside the classroom. In the smaller ED pool, students are evaluated individually on their own merits and are not in competition with a larger pool of students. If you are accepted and have applied for financial aid, we will offer you a financial-aid package that will meet your demonstrated need as supplied in your International Student Financial Aid Application and your Declaration and Certification of Finances form. For more details on Dickinson's financial aid for international students, please review our international financial-aid brochure at www.dickinson.edu/international/brochure_FinAid.html .

Deadlines
At Dickinson, we offer two ED deadlines. The Early Decision I deadline is November 15. If you are certain about your intentions, this is a great option for you. You will receive notification of your decision by late December. If you are accepted and enroll, we can begin processing your documents and you can get an early start on obtaining your visa.

The Early Decision 2 deadline is January 15. This gives you a little more time to consider other schools and be sure that Dickinson is your first choice. Since ED 2 is later in the process and we have already made offers of admission to the ED I and Early Action applicants, this ED round is more competitve for admissions and financial aid than ED I.

If you are not accepted to Dickinson in the ED round, your application may be re-evaluated in the Regular Decision round. For that second review of your application, you may submit additional materials to support your application, new standardized test scores and your latest grades.

For more details about Early Decision, visit this section of our Web site: www.dickinson.edu/admit/ed.html.

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Early Action (EA)
What is it?
Early Action is for students who are not ready to fully commit to the binding Early Decision application plan, but who still want to know their decision early.

It is important to understand that EA is the most selective admissions pool for Dickinson. In addition, very little financial aid is awarded to international students in the EA round.

Unlike Early Decision, there is no preference for EA applicants, as it does not require a commitment from the student. Also, EA should not be misinterpreted as a way to demonstrate strong interest in Dickinson College.

Benefits
EA is helpful for international students because acceptance means you may enroll at any time until our final enrollment deadline of May 1. That means you can settle your enrollment early and get a head start on your visa paperwork.

Deadline
Applications for Early Action are due December 1.

Regular Decision
What is it?
In the Regular Decision pool, you are competing in the largest group of applicants for the spaces and financial aid remaining after we have made offers to our Early Decision and Early Action applicants. For this reason, it is important to us that you establish not just your academic credentials but also your interest in Dickinson.

Benefits
This option is for students who are not far enough along in their college search to make a binding commitment and who don’t have a compelling need to have their decision before March. With Regular Decision, you hear from all of the colleges you applied to at the same time and can make a more informed decision.

Deadline
Applications for Regular Admission are due February 1.

If at any point during the Regular Decision process, Dickinson emerges as a strong choice for you, just let us know. We can discuss a deadline extension for Early Decision or, at least, take your level of interest into consideration as we review your application.

We hope this information is helpful.