ED II: The January Safety Round
Some schools run a second binding Early Decision round in January. ED II closes on or near January 4-5 at schools that offer it (typically the same schools running ED I). ED II is useful for students deferred at a competitor's ED I round, or students who decide during winter break that early application makes sense. Schools that allow ED II limit ED II applications to students who did not file ED I elsewhere.
The Common App portal enforces single-ED agreements: a student cannot submit two binding ED agreements to two different schools. Filing ED I at one school and ED II at another is permitted because the contracts run in different time windows. Filing ED II at the same school as ED I is generally not allowed.
The Selective Privates Beyond the Ivies
The November 1 wall extends well past the Ivy League. The major selective-private institutions typically close early rounds on November 1, 2026:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology runs Early Action closing November 1, 2026. Stanford University runs Restrictive Early Action closing November 1, 2026. The University of Chicago runs Early Action and Early Decision on dates every cycle; the 2026-27 cycle closes November 1. Duke University runs Early Decision closing November 1, 2026. Northwestern University runs Early Decision closing November 1, 2026. Johns Hopkins University runs Early Decision and Early Action closing November 1, 2026. Caltech runs Restrictive Early Action closing November 1, 2026. Vanderbilt University runs Early Decision and Early Action closing November 1, 2026. Washington University in St. Louis runs Early Decision and Early Action closing November 1, 2026. Rice University runs Early Decision closing November 1, 2026.
Each school's deadline is its own; check the school's Common App portal page and admissions site for the exact submission cutoff. Most deadlines are 11:59 PM applicant local time, but the exceptions matter.
Public Flagship Priority Windows
State flagship publics often publish priority rounds earlier than their regular deadlines. The priority round focuses scholarship consideration and honors college applications. The October 15 priority window is the most concrete example. In Florida, Florida State University closes Early Decision and Early Action priority scholarship consideration by October 15, 2026. In Georgia, Georgia Tech publishes October 15 as the priority scholarship deadline for Georgia residents. Honors colleges at several state publics run priority rounds by October 15 for scholarship consideration.
The November 30 wall is the second-most-important date for state publics: the University of Texas at Austin, University of California (UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD, UCSC), and several other large state systems close priority scholarship windows on November 30. The flagship public deadline for Regular Decision at Michigan, UNC, Virginia, and Georgia typically falls in early January.
What Happens After November 1
Early Decision and Early Action applicants receive decisions in mid-December 2026, with most schools targeting December 15. Three outcomes: admitted (binding for ED, optional for EA/REA/SCEA), denied (terminal), or deferred (moved to RD pool). Deferrals are increasingly common at the most selective schools, and a deferred ED applicant still has a meaningful chance at RD.
EA/REA/SCEA applicants receive the same December timeline but are not bound. The May 1 reply date applies to all admitted students at the same college. ED admits who back out lose their deposit and risk high-school counselor sanction.
What Happens After January 1-5
Regular Decision applicants receive decisions in late March through early April 2027. Waitlist movement continues through the waitlist process and typically runs into June; May 1 is the binding reply date. Admitted students who hold a waitlist offer at a second school have until mid-July to release that offer and accept the waitlist admission; each school's incoming class deadline is in late August.
Most Ivies notify ED applicants in mid-December 2026 and RD applicants in late March 2027. The Ivies coordinate release dates within clusters of two to three days; Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Princeton typically cluster around March 25-26. Brown and Penn cluster around March 30-31.
What to Do in October
Eight operational items in the next four weeks. Confirm Common App account access and essay draft progress (the 2026-27 prompts are stable from August 1, 2026). Submit transcript requests to the high-school counseling office and fee waiver if eligible. Confirm two teacher recommendations and submission plans. Schedule or confirm SAT/ACT testing window; the October 3, October 17, and November 7 SAT dates are the last ones for Class of 2031 RD consideration. File the CSS Profile by November 1 for any CSS-Profile-required school (about 400 colleges). Draft and finalize the ED/EA personal statement and portfolio supplements. Confirm financial-aid conversations with family before any ED signature. Set up the Common App school list with deadlines and document-checklist per school.
The October calendar is a checklist, not a panic. The November 1 wall is the deadline that the rest of the cycle points toward; everything else is built on top of that wall.
Read next
PSAT October 2026: What Your School Picked (and What It Costs) is the test-side calendar families file before the November 1 wall, and FAFSA 2027-28 Deadlines: The Calendar Nobody Should Skip is the financial-aid counterpart that opens October 1 and runs the priority date against state-grant deadlines alongside the recruitment deadlines.
Fazlur Rahman
