When you know, you know. If Stevens is your first choice for college, we encourage you to consider applying as an Early Decision applicant. The acceptance rate in Early Decision is typically higher than in Regular Decision because it is a smaller applicant pool. An Early Decision acceptance also allows you to finish your college search earlier, giving you peace of mind as you prepare for college and enjoy the remainder of your senior year.

At Stevens, Early Decision is binding. If you are admitted as an early decision student with a financial aid offer that enables you to enroll, then you must submit a tuition deposit by the deadline listed on the admissions timeline. If you apply for financial aid, you will have the opportunity to review your estimated financial aid and scholarship award before making the commitment to attend Stevens.

You may apply to other colleges; however, you can only apply to one school as an Early Decision candidate. If you are admitted to Stevens under one of our Early Decision plans and accept our offer of admission, then you must immediately withdraw all applications to other schools. You may not submit new applications to other colleges after you have made this commitment to Stevens.

After you review and accept your financial aid award, you must make a $500 non-refundable deposit by your tuition deposit deadline to confirm your enrollment at Stevens.

The difference between Early Decision I (EDI) and Early Decision II (EDII) are the deadlines and notifications which can be reviewed on the admissions timeline.

Early Decision benefits:

• Special consideration from our admissions team

• Priority Early Decision scholarship

• Priority housing selection

• Priority course registration

Early Decision application reminders:

• Follow the application requirements for applying as a first-year student.

• You should indicate on your application that you are applying for Early Decision I or II and electronically sign the Early Decision Agreement Form within your application.

• If you have already submitted a Regular Decision application, but would like to switch your application to Early Decision, you’ll need to submit our Early Decision Agreement Form and submit your request in writing to [email protected].

If Stevens is a top choice, but you would like to compare financial aid offers between different schools, then applying Early Action (EA) may be a good option for you. Applying EA allows students an expedited process to know an application decision sooner. It gives admitted students more time to explore and discover Stevens as their college choice before they need to make their decision by May 1. Early Action is our early, non-binding application option meaning Stevens will not limit an applicant from applying to another college.

The deadlines and notifications for Early Action can be reviewed on the admissions timeline.

Sometimes it just takes longer to narrow down which schools you want to apply to. Regular Decision (RD) is Stevens’ traditional decision plan and is non-binding. Since RD applicants are reviewed later in the admissions cycle, it provides additional time for students to add any updated test scores, include first semester senior year grades and complete additional supporting documents.

The deadlines and notifications for Regular Decision can be reviewed on the admissions timeline.