When Do Early Decision Results Come Out? 2026 Dates

Early decision results come out in mid-December at most colleges, and the published dates for this cycle cluster between December 11 and December 15, 2026. Johns Hopkins and WashU list December 11. NYU, Boston University, Emory, Boston College, Carnegie Mellon, Pomona and UVA list December 15 or "by December 15". Most others, including the Ivy League schools, say only "mid-December" (Penn's fall 2027 page says "in December") and announce the exact day shortly before.

Early action is less tidy. Some early action answers arrive in mid-December (MIT, UChicago, Notre Dame), and some don't arrive until late January or February (Michigan, USC, UVA, Georgia Tech for out-of-state students). The two tables below list what each college has published for the 2026-27 cycle, read from its own admissions page in the first days of October 2026. Then: what admit, defer and deny each mean, and what to do next.

When Do Early Decision Results Come Out in 2026?

These are binding Early Decision (first round) dates. Where a college prints a date, we show it. Where it says only "mid-December", we haven't guessed.

Columbia adds that Early Decision results are "typically available on or before December 15", which is a fair reading of "mid-December" at most of these schools. In 2026, December 15 is a Tuesday. Wake Forest is the outlier: it reads ED I applications on a rolling basis, so there's no single release day.

When Do Early Action and REA Results Come Out?

Restrictive and single-choice early action results follow the early decision calendar. Open early action is where the dates spread out, especially at public universities.

If your early action school answers in late January or February (Michigan, UIUC, USC, Northeastern, UVA, Georgia Tech's second round, and UNC for out-of-state applicants), plan your January applications as though you won't have an answer yet, because you won't. The rules for the restrictive plans are in restrictive early action, and the difference between the binding and non-binding rounds is in early action vs early decision.

How You Find Out the Exact Day

Colleges that say "mid-December" pick the exact day and time later and tell applicants directly. Penn says applicants are notified of the exact time and date of its decision release at least one week ahead. Bowdoin says it emails "a few days prior to decision release" with the exact date and time.

The decision itself appears in your applicant portal, not in the mail. Penn releases all official decisions through its portal, and Michigan posts them in its Enrollment Connect portal and sends an email only as a prompt to log in. So two habits are worth building now: check the email address on your application every day in December, including spam, and make sure you can still log in to each portal.

If you applied for aid on time, the aid offer often arrives with the decision. Columbia lists Early Decision admissions and financial aid decisions together in mid-December, Vanderbilt says preliminary aid offers are available in mid-December 2026, and Stanford says admitted REA students who applied for aid by November 15 get an aid notification by mid-December.

Admitted, Deferred or Denied: What Each Result Means

Early rounds end in one of three decisions.

Admitted. In early decision, an admit is the end of your search: you withdraw your other applications and pay a deposit. The windows are short. Vanderbilt's ED I deposit is due December 31, 2026, WashU's reply is due January 4, Michigan's deposit is due January 6 and Johns Hopkins asks for a reply by January 15, 2027. If the aid offer doesn't work for your family, talk to the aid office before the deposit date. We cover that conversation in is early decision binding. In early action or REA, an admit commits you to nothing until May 1.

Deferred. Your application is moved to the regular round and read again. Penn says deferred applicants "are released from the binding commitment of early decision" once they're moved to regular decision. Policies on deferral vary a lot:

• Georgetown doesn't deny anyone in Early Action. Everyone not admitted is deferred, and it says about 15 percent of deferred candidates are typically successful in the spring review.
• Stanford says it defers only a small percentage of REA applicants, because it prefers to make final decisions in December.
• Caltech says a deferred student opts in to Regular Decision and will then get one of two answers in mid-March, admit or deny. It doesn't waitlist deferred students.
• USC says it doesn't expect to turn students away in its early rounds. Those not admitted get the option to defer to Regular Decision.

Denied. At most colleges a December denial is final for the year. Yale says applicants denied in Single-Choice Early Action can't reapply in Regular Decision in the same cycle, and Stanford, Caltech, Notre Dame, Rice and Carnegie Mellon say the same about their early rounds. Boston College explains why it denies rather than defers some applicants: it lets them "focus their time and effort on other options for college".

What to Do After Each Early Result

If you're admitted ED: read the aid offer, withdraw your other applications as the agreement requires, and pay the deposit by the date in your portal. Keep your grades up. An offer is conditional on finishing senior year the way you started it.

If you're deferred: do three things in the first week.

1. Follow the college's own instructions. Dartmouth asks deferred applicants for a brief update on recent academic, extracurricular or personal accomplishments, and says some may wish to add new standardized exam scores or another recommendation. Other colleges ask for nothing but midyear grades.
2. Send midyear grades as soon as they're available. Georgetown says deferred students are strongly encouraged to keep senior year grades high.
3. Finish your other applications. A deferral is not a likely admit, and you're now free to apply anywhere, including a binding second round somewhere else.

If you're denied: you have about two to three weeks until most January deadlines. Look hard at your list, make sure it includes colleges where your grades and scores sit comfortably in range, and send the applications you've already drafted.

Early Decision II and Regular Decision Next Steps

A mid-December result leaves a tight calendar. Most regular deadlines fall between January 1 and January 5, and the full list for 35 colleges is in our regular decision deadline guide. One is already close: the University of California's application closes on November 30, before any early result arrives, so a UC application can't wait for December.

If a new first choice has emerged, Early Decision 2 gives you a second binding round with January deadlines and February answers at colleges such as NYU, Vanderbilt, Emory, Tufts and Johns Hopkins. Harvard, Stanford and Caltech each say applicants deferred from their restrictive early rounds may apply ED II elsewhere.

The practical advice is the same every year: write your January applications in November and early December, before you know. If the early answer is yes, you'll have wasted a few essays. If it's not, you won't be writing six supplements over winter break.

The Test Date You Have to Choose Before Results Arrive

Here's the timing trap. If your early round ends in a deferral or a denial, a new SAT or ACT score is one of the few things you can still add for January. But registration for the December tests closes before early results come out.

Those dates are from College Board and ACT. By the time a mid-December decision reaches you, registration for both December tests closed weeks ago, and the tests themselves are over or days away. So the choice is now: if you think a higher score would help a regular or ED II application, register for December before you hear back. The next tests after that, the February 27 ACT and the March 6 SAT, are too late for January deadlines.

Two November SAT details are worth knowing. Some colleges still count it for the early round itself: Duke names November 7 as its last SAT for Early Decision, and Columbia says you may test as late as November 2026. And its scores arrive on November 20, the same day December SAT registration closes, so you'll see your November result just in time to decide. For the school-by-school early cutoffs, see the last SAT and ACT dates for Early Decision, and for the calendars, SAT test dates and ACT test dates.

Frequently Asked Questions About Early Decision Results

What day do early decision results come out in 2026?

It depends on the college. Johns Hopkins lists December 11, 2026 and WashU says by December 11. NYU and Boston University list December 15, and Emory, Boston College, Carnegie Mellon, Pomona and UVA say by December 15. The Ivy League schools, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and others say mid-December and announce the exact day closer to release.

What time do early decision results come out?

Colleges rarely publish a time in advance. They tell applicants by email or portal message shortly before release. Penn, for example, says it notifies applicants of the exact time and date at least one week ahead.

Do early action results come out at the same time as early decision?

Sometimes. MIT, UChicago, Georgetown and the restrictive early action schools release in mid-December. Michigan's early action results come by January 29, USC's in January, and UVA's and Northeastern's by February 15.

When do Ivy League early decision results come out?

Seven of the eight publish "mid-December" for this cycle, and Penn's fall 2027 page says "in December" (its applicant guide says mid-December). Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Penn use binding Early Decision, and Harvard, Yale and Princeton use restrictive or single-choice early action. None had published an exact date when we checked in early October.

What happens if I get deferred in early decision?

Your application is reconsidered with the regular pool and you get a final answer in March or early April. At Penn, a deferral releases you from the binding commitment. Send the update or midyear grades the college asks for, and submit your other applications.

Can I apply regular decision to a school that rejected me early?

Usually not in the same year. Yale, Stanford, Caltech, Notre Dame, Rice and Carnegie Mellon all say an early denial is final for the cycle. You can apply again the next fall.

Waiting is the hard part, and a December test score is one thing still in your hands. Take a free practice quiz to see where you stand, or create a free Larry Learns account for daily SAT and ACT practice on web, iPhone or Android, with 3 quizzes and 3 AI explanations a day on the free tier.