Hunched over a desk, the room illuminated by the glow of a computer screen, and poring over essay drafts–how senior Janie Brunell spent a large chunk of the fall of her senior year.

The reason behind Brunell’s work: the Early Decision (ED) application. Early Decision is a binding process where, when admitted, applicants to a specific college must withdraw all other applications from other colleges and are required to attend that institution after signing the Early Decision Agreement form.

Brunell settled on Villanova University as her ED school; Villanova is a private, catholic university in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

“I decided to apply Early Decision after visiting a bunch of schools and still comparing every school on my list to Villanova,” Brunell said.

Brunell past interest contributed to her decision to follow the ED path.

“I have always been visiting Villanova, and I really liked it, but I didn’t know what other colleges had to offer. So, I think in the summer was the time when I decided to go the ED route,” Brunell said.

When it comes to applying to a college through the Early Decision route, a focus such as Brunell’s is essential for completing the rigorous requirements. These include supplemental essays, the Common Application, and maintaining communication with advisors and family within a three-month application period. While not for everyone, ED allows students to demonstrate a commitment to a specific university, which can raise their chances of admission depending on the institution. ED also allows for students to hear if they’ve been admitted roughly three months earlier than if they had applied through the Regular Decision admission path.

“If you get in, you know earlier than regular decision so your nerves are relaxed,” Brunell explained.

More and more students are opting for the ED route: at the University of Pennsylvania, ED applications are up roughly 9.5% from 2016 to 2017, according to Inside Higher ID. Students typically apply ED to a college if they have researched colleges extensively, are familiar with the financial requirements, and are positive that the school matches their academic, social, and geographical interests. Brunell meets all of this criteria.

“I decided to apply early decision to Villanova University because I immediately fell in love with the school and there’s no other place I want to go. So, I thought that Early Decision would be the best option,” Brunell explained.

However, she also acknowledged some of the downsides.

“One negative is that you are bound to agreement to attend that school, so if you want to go to another school later in the process, then you can’t back out,” Brunell said.

For Brunell, extracurricular opportunity was the biggest part in her decision.

“I think the most important factor was how much you could do in the city and how much there was to do off campus, and how involved the college was in the city,” she added.

Brunell’s plans for college directly coincided with choosing ED and were a part of her decision to follow the route.

“My plans for college include studying some sort of business, and so Villanova has a really good business school.”

Brunell has advice to future applicants considering ED: trust your gut feeling.

“I would advise them just to go with what you think, and don’t second guess it, because it’s all going to work out.”

Originally published in the November 2018 edition of The Rubicon.