Many schools offer the option of Early Action. This plan means that you'll both apply earlier than the regular deadline and find out earlier whether or not you got accepted.
The most common deadlines for early action are November 1 and November 15. These deadlines are not flexible; you must get all your materials, including recommendation letters and test scores, to the school by the stated deadline.
Since you apply early, you'll also be notified of your admissions decision early. The most common notification date is in mid-December, so you should find out whether you were accepted, denied, or deferred before you go on winter break.
The possibility of having your application deferred is another unique feature of applying early action. If the early applicant pool is particularly competitive, then the admissions committee might push your application into the regular decision pool and review it again in January or February. If you get deferred and are very interested in the school, you could call its admissions office and ask if there's anything else you can send to strengthen your application before its next review.
Unlike early decision, early action is not binding. You should have until the national response deadline of May 1 to tell your school whether you'll be attending or not. That means that you can still compare admissions and financial aid offers from other colleges—even if you applied to them regular decision—before accepting an offer and sending in your deposit.
