Regular decision

Regular decision (RD) applications are the most common and usually make up the largest proportion of applicants. If you apply early decision or early action you will usually be notified of your decision around November. If you are applying regular decision, then your decision will usually come out in late March. The Ivy Leagues, specifically, have an Ivy Day where all Ivy League regular decisions come out on the same day. In 2022 Ivy Day was March 31.

Early action and early decision | How long does it take to get accepted into college?

The exception to this rule is early decision (ED) applications. These are submitted by November 1st of senior year (usually). If they decide to admit you then you are locked into attending that school that you applied to ED. Early decision and early action results usually come out in the month of December. Colleges can defer early applicants to the regular decision round if they feel that that student’s application is not quite strong enough and that maybe a student in the regular decision round might be better than that student. In this case, you’d have to wait until the day that the college says their regular decision results come out so that you can know your score.

Rolling admissions | How long does it take to get accepted into college?

Most colleges that have high acceptance rates accept applications on a rolling basis, which means that you can submit your application at any time during the year. In other words, the date you apply has no impact on whether or not your application will be accepted. These types of easy to get into colleges sometimes will only consider your GPA when admitting you and don’t look at your extracurriculars or recommendation letters. On the other hand more selective top tier colleges factor in extracurricular activities such as internships, personal essays, and recommendations from teachers or counselors who have worked with you over time. It’s important to do your research so that when you apply for college there are no surprises in store! If you want to build up your resume, horizonworldwide.org (the website you’re on now) has a master list of high school internships on the home page.

International students | How long does it take to get accepted into college?

You are allowed to apply and get accepted to U.S colleges if you are an international student and the same deadlines usually apply to all students, whether they are in the U.S or are international. However, if you are an international student you must have an F-1 Visa in order to attend the college.

What about waitlisted students?

While it’s not ideal to be waitlisted, it’s important to realize that colleges are often under-enrolled and need to manage their enrollment. The fact that you were waitlisted at all means that the admissions office thinks highly of you and your application, which is a good sign. You can also take comfort in knowing that many students have been able to get off the waitlist over time—it just takes persistence and patience. You might be tempted to contact the college admissions office right away and ask them if they’ve made any decisions about their waitlist yet. What can improve the turnaround time for a decision is if you send in a letter of continued interest. Make sure to look at the college website to see if they want you to send a letter of continued interest or not. This post from the College Essay Guy teaches you how to write a great letter of continued interest. If it does not say anything about if you can or can not send a letter of continued interest, then send in one. Just don’t send in one if the college website specifically tells you not to. A decision off the waitlist can come out as late as the summer or as early as after May 1st. Usually you shouldn’t expect to hear a decision about whether you got off the waitlist or not until after May 1st because May 1st is the deadline for people to commit to a college and reject other acceptance offers to colleges.

How long does getting accepted into college take in general?

The average time it takes to get accepted into a school depends on many factors, including the applicant’s GPA and whether or not they have already been accepted into another college. It also depends on the size of the applicant pool and the acceptance rate of that school. Here are some examples:

• Ivy League college have a small acceptance rate so if you apply right before this cycle ends then your chances might be low. 

If you apply too late (after everyone else has applied), then it will be really hard to get accepted into that college, especially if that college is a top tier college like the Ivy Leagues or Stanford. However, if that college has a high acceptance rate, you might be placed on the waitlist (and later accepted off the waitlist) if you apply after their regular decision deadline. I applied after the regular decision deadline for a college with a high acceptance rate and then I got waitlisted and later I got accepted. This is why it’s important to know exactly when each college is accepting new applicants and how long each acceptance process lasts at each school you’re applying.

• If one student has an amazing academic record but doesn’t really care about academics as much as others do, they might not get accepted unless they’re willing to wait longer than everyone else before getting into their dream schools because those colleges tend not to want anyone who isn’t 100% committed—even if their credentials look good on paper!

When is the fastest admission package likely to arrive?

You’ll want to check the admissions website of your top choice schools, as they tend to update their pages with admissions information throughout each month. On colleges’ websites you’ll be able to see the decision date for each of their application deadlines (early decision, early action, regular decision, etc). You can also call the admissions office directly and ask if they have any updated information on how long it takes them to make decisions. Most colleges and universities receive a large number of applications so they cannot spend as much time per applicant as some would like. Most schools must also devote significant resources toward deciding which students will be accepted or denied based on their academic records and other factors such as financial need or athletic ability (athletic scholarships). 

As a result, most institutions of higher education have strict deadlines for making decisions about applicants for admission—these dates often fall in December or January for early decision applicants (those who apply early but do not require an answer within a set period) and then again at various times from mid-February onward for regular decision candidates.

When is the slowest admission package likely to arrive?

If you’ve applied to an institution that has a very high volume of applications, it’s likely that their admissions office will be busy with lots of applications. This means that your application might not be processed as quickly as if it were coming from a smaller college with a higher acceptance rate. If the school is on vacation, this can delay their processing time for applications. If the school is having an admissions fair, open house, or college visit day where parents and students are visiting the campus in large numbers, this can also slow down the processing time for applications.

Conclusion

Of course, getting accepted into college is a big deal. It can be stressful to wait for those acceptance letters to come in, but your hard work will pay off in the end. The important thing is not how long it takes, but rather that you are persistent and keep trying until you get in somewhere!

Other resources

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