When colleges do regular admission programs, they wait to evaluate all applications until after the application deadline. It makes no difference whether you send your application in three weeks before the deadline or three hours before the deadline—no one’s going to start looking at it closely until after the deadline has passed. Rolling admission is a whole different ballgame. Colleges with rolling admissions evaluate applications as they are received, sending out admission decisions periodically.
Advantages of Rolling Admissions
Rolling admissions offers some pretty great perks:
- Quicker response: Since colleges using rolling admissions release decisions on an on-going basis, you might only have to wait for weeks instead of months to hear back.
- Less competition early on: Early in the application cycle, admissions officers at schools with rolling admissions don’t have many other applications for a comparison, so competition for admission tends to be somewhat lower.
- Long application windows: You shouldn’t consider schools with rolling admission to be last-minute backup schools, especially since those last few spots late in the admission cycle can be tougher to snag, but if you need some last-minute options, colleges with rolling admission tend to have late deadlines.
Colleges with Rolling Admissions
None of the Ivy League schools use rolling admissions, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some great colleges with rolling admission programs! When you’re planning your applications, be sure to check out some of these great options:
- University at Buffalo
- Michigan State University
- Arizona State University
- Berea College
- Chatham University
- Purdue University
- City College of New York
- Azusa Pacific University
- The Citadel
- California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- California State University Long Beach
- California State University Northridge
- Brenau University
Applying to a college with rolling admissions? Contact C2 and get a free college admissions counseling session.
