Restrictive Early Action or Regular Decision

Restrictive Early Action

Restrictive Early Action is a non-binding admission option for students who have completed a thorough college search and are confident Stanford is their first choice.  Admission decisions are provided by December 15 but admitted students have until May 1 to respond to their admission offer, enabling them to compare financial aid awards across institutions. To those students who apply for financial aid, Stanford provides an estimated award at the time of admission. The application deadline for Restrictive Early Action is November 1 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time).

3 Possible Restrictive Early Action Admission Decisions

1. Applicant is admitted and has until May 1 to respond to the admission offer.
2. Applicant is denied and may not reapply for Regular Decision admission in the same year.
3. Applicant is deferred to Regular Decision and will receive a final decision by April 1.

Stanford's philosophy is to make final decisions whenever possible. As a result, only a small percentage of Restrictive Early Action applicants are deferred.

Restrictive Early Action Policy

• Applicants agree not to apply to any other private college/university under an Early Action, Restrictive Early Action, Early Decision, or Early Notification program.
• Applicants may apply to other colleges and universities under their Regular Decision option.

Exceptions

• The student may apply to any college/university with early deadlines for scholarships or special academic programs as long as the decision is non-binding.
• The student may apply to any public college/university with a non-binding early application option.
• The student may apply to any college/university with a non-binding rolling admission process.
• The student may apply to any foreign college/university on any application schedule.

If you are considering applying to another college/university whose application option does not appear to qualify as an exception, please call the Office of Undergraduate Admission for clarification.

Change of Application Plan

In order to change application status from Restrictive Early Action to Regular Decision, applicants must follow the instructions below.

• Request a change in status by December 1 via email to credentials@stanford.edu. Applicants must confirm that the request has been received to ensure the change has been made.
• We cannot honor a request after December 1 and will evaluate your completed file under our Restrictive Early Action plan. Incomplete Restrictive Early Action files will not be converted automatically to Regular Decision; such files will be deemed incomplete/withdrawn and will not be reviewed for admission.