American universities offer several application calendars, and the choice is made in the autumn of the final year, often without the family realising what it commits them to. An early decision application is a contract: if the university admits the student, they go. For a French family comparing universities in several countries, it is a decision to make with full knowledge.
Early decision vs early action: the definitions
The College Board distinguishes them as follows. Early decision (ED) is binding and made to a single university: if it admits the student and offers enough financial aid, they must attend and withdraw all other applications. Early action (EA) commits to nothing: the student applies in October or November, gets an answer in December or January, and has until 1 May to decide.
In between, some universities offer restrictive early action, REA or single-choice early action: it does not commit the student to attend, but limits the other early applications they may submit. Regular decision (RD) is the normal calendar: application in January, answer in March or April.
Early decision deadlines 2026: five universities
| University | Early plan | Deadline | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford | REA | 15 October 2026 | Mid-December |
| Harvard | REA | 1 November 2026 | Mid-December |
| Yale | Single-choice early action | 1 November 2026 | Mid-December |
| MIT | EA, non-restrictive | 1 November 2026 | Mid-December |
| Columbia | ED, binding | 1 November 2026 | Mid-December |
The rules of restrictive plans differ in the details. Harvard forbids, during its REA, any other early application to a private university and any early decision at a public university. Yale, by contrast, allows non-binding early action at a public university, and applications to universities outside the United States.
Regular decision deadlines
On the normal calendar, deadlines fall in early January: 1 January at Harvard, 2 January at Yale, 4 January at MIT, 5 January at Stanford. Decisions arrive from mid-March to early April.
2026-2027 calendar. Dates published by Stanford, Harvard, Yale, MIT and Columbia for autumn 2027 entry, checked on 3 October 2026. They change from year to year and should be checked on each university's deadlines page.
Financial aid and early decision for an international student
This is a decisive point for a French family. Columbia and Penn review international applications taking the request for financial aid into account: they call this "need-aware". Penn states that an international student who does not apply for aid at the time of admission will not receive any for the rest of their studies. Columbia indicates that a student admitted ED can only be released from their commitment for financial reasons, after discussion with its aid office.
An ED is therefore signed after doing the sums: what the university costs, what aid the family can expect, and whether it is ready to give up the answers of other universities, in France, the UK or Canada.
Which to choose from France
Early decision makes sense for a student with a clear first choice, an application ready by 1 November and a family sure of the funding. Early action, where it exists, has almost only advantages: an answer in December, with no commitment. For a student also applying to the UK, the calendar overlaps with UCAS, whose deadline for Oxford and Cambridge is 15 October: both need preparing at the same time from the summer.
We build this calendar with families at Carmine: the list, the order of applications, the choice of early plan. For the rest of the application, see The Common App from a French lycée and Scholarships for an American university.