When Do Early Decision Results Come Out? 2026–27 Dates

When Do Early Decision Results Come Out? 2026–27 Deadlines and Notification Dates for 27 Top Colleges

For the 2026–27 cycle (fall 2027 entry), most top colleges release Early Decision and restrictive early results in mid-December. Most set a November 1 or 2 deadline. Early Decision II results mostly arrive in February. A few colleges differ: Michigan, USC and UVA release early action later, in late January to mid-February.

Every row below comes from the college's own admissions site, checked on September 24, 2026. Many colleges publish a window ("mid-December") rather than a date. Where that is all a college publishes, that is all we list. Exact release times are usually announced to applicants shortly before release night. Where a college's page prints the year, the table says so. Where it shows only a month and day on the current application page, we mark it "no year printed." Before you book anything around these dates, confirm them with the college.

Restrictive, Single-Choice and Non-Restrictive Early Action

Early action is non-binding. Restrictive and single-choice versions limit where else your child can apply early. Those rules differ by school and are covered in our restrictive early action rules guide.

WashU's page lists Early Action alongside its two Early Decision rounds for fall 2027 applicants. WashU calls EA "not a commitment to attend." Its page does not say whether other early applications are restricted, so ask before assuming.

Early Decision I (binding)

ED is binding. Before your child submits, read whether you can get out of Early Decision for financial aid.

Three details parents miss:

• The deadline is not always November 1. Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, WashU and UChicago list November 2.
• Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Notre Dame and Georgetown have no Early Decision plan. Georgetown's FAQ answers the question directly: "Is there an option for me to apply Early Decision? No."
• One stale box on an official site. A deadlines box elsewhere on UChicago's site still shows the prior cycle ("Nov 3, 2025"). UChicago's application-plans page shows Nov 2, 2026. Trust the dated page, and when two official pages disagree, email the office.

Early Decision II (binding, second round)

ED II is how a student applies binding after a December deferral or denial elsewhere, where the first school's rules allow it.

None of the Ivy League colleges in this table offers ED II. Penn, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell each list one binding ED round, and Harvard, Yale and Princeton use restrictive plans. Duke, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, UVA, Michigan and USC also list a single ED round.

Not verified: NYU's admissions pages could not be retrieved for this check, so NYU is left out rather than listed from memory. Check nyu.edu directly. UVA's site blocks automated checks; its rows above were read in a browser and could not be re-checked by our audit, so confirm them on UVA's page.

What Parents Should Prepare Before Release Night

The dates above are the calendar. This is the part you can do now, while the applications are still being written.

1. Put two dates in your calendar for each early school: the published release window, and the deadline that follows it. For ED that means the enrollment or reply date (UChicago ED I: "Mid-January"; Carnegie Mellon ED: February 1). For EA it is May 1.
2. Know how the time will be announced. Penn says applicants "are notified of the exact time and date of our decision release at least one week ahead of time." Most colleges use the applicant portal. Make sure your child can log in to every portal before December.
3. Have the Regular Decision applications ready before results come out. College Board's counselor guidance warns that when early results arrive around December 15, "there are only two weeks left to send in other applications." The essays for those schools should be drafted in November, not written over the holidays.
4. Decide in advance what an ED admit means for the other applications. Common App tells ED admits to contact each other college directly to withdraw. Some colleges accept an email or phone call, and others want a letter. Money questions belong before submission, so settle those now with our ED financial aid guide.
5. Plan the deferral branch. A mid-December deferral changes the January plan, and each college has its own update rules. Read what parents should do after an early deferral. If ED II is the fallback, check the ED II deadlines above against the first school's restrictions.
6. Agree on release-night rules. Decide whether your child opens the portal alone or with you, and whether results get posted anywhere. It costs nothing and prevents a bad night.

For context on how many students are admitted early at these schools, see early decision acceptance rates from the Common Data Set. No early plan guarantees admission.

The Writing Is Still Your Child's

Between now and November 1, the one piece of the application still changing is the writing. Your child can run their own draft through GradPilot's free review against the Common App personal essay narrative-craft rubric, and you can read the feedback with them. The review gives qualitative feedback and does not predict admission. Your child stays the author. For the prompts themselves, see the 2026–27 Common App prompts guide and which prompt to choose. For how the service works, see the college essay review page. For how admissions readers approach the essay, see how holistic readers read college essays.

Before release night, confirm each college's testing requirement was met. For athletes and some top applicants, a likely letter can arrive earlier than these dates; it is not a decision release.

FAQ

When do early decision results come out for 2026–27?

At most colleges in the table, mid-December. Johns Hopkins lists December 11, 2026, WashU "by Dec. 11", and Emory, Carnegie Mellon, Boston College and UVA "by December 15." Michigan lists "By Dec. 24." Penn says only "in December."

When do early decision II results come out?

Mostly in February. Johns Hopkins lists February 12, 2027, and WashU "by Feb. 12." Vanderbilt and UChicago say mid-February, and Emory and Boston College "by February 15." Rice is earlier, "by late January."

Why don't colleges publish an exact release date?

Most publish a window and announce the exact time to applicants shortly before release. Penn, for example, gives at least one week's notice. When a college publishes only "mid-December," a more precise date found elsewhere is not an official date.

Do Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford offer early decision?

No. They offer restrictive or single-choice early action, which is non-binding, with results by mid-December. See our restrictive early action rules.

Sources

All retrieved September 24, 2026, from each college's official admissions site:

• Harvard: Application Timeline
• Yale: Timelines
• Princeton: Application Dates and Deadlines
• Stanford: First-Year Applicants
• Caltech: Deadlines
• Notre Dame: Restrictive Early Action and Regular Decision
• MIT: Deadlines and Requirements
• Georgetown: First-Year Applicants
• UChicago: Application
• WashU: Application Dates and Deadlines
• Michigan: First-Year Application Plans
• USC: First-Year Students
• UVA: Deadlines and Instructions
• Penn: First-Year Applicants
• Columbia: First-Year Applicants
• Brown: Early Decision
• Dartmouth: Apply
• Cornell: First-Year Applicants
• Duke: Application Checklist
• Northwestern: Application Deadlines
• Johns Hopkins: Application Deadlines and Requirements
• Rice: First-Year Domestic Applicants
• Vanderbilt: Apply
• Emory: Plans and Deadlines
• Carnegie Mellon: Application Plans and Deadlines
• Tufts: Checklist and Deadlines and Early Decision
• Boston College: Early Decision
• Common App: Withdrawing applications after an ED acceptance
• College Board Counselors: Early Decision and Early Action