December 2026 Early Decision and Early Action Release Dates

By Dr. Lee, international college admissions advisor · Updated November 6, 2026

After November 1, the next date every early applicant watches for is decision day. For the 2026-27 cycle, most selective colleges will release early results between December 11 and December 24, with the restrictive early schools, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford, clustered in mid-December. Here is what each school has published, how release day usually works, and what each possible answer means at the school that gives it.

Published release dates for fall 2027 entry

From each school's official admissions site, as recorded on our school pages.^[1] Most schools announce the exact day and time only a week or two in advance, by email or in the applicant portal. Penn says it will announce its date at least one week ahead.^[5]

What "mid-December" usually means

"Mid-December" has usually meant the week of December 12–18; Yale, for example, typically releases in that range. Last year, Yale released its early decisions on December 17, 2025,^[2] and Harvard released its decisions the same week.^[4] Dates can shift with the calendar, so treat last year's day as a guide, not a promise.

Do not expect admit rates on the day. Harvard stopped releasing admissions statistics on decision day in 2024,^[3] and Princeton and Stanford stopped announcing early numbers years earlier. Yale still publishes its early figures, usually the same evening.

Setting expectations

Go into decision day knowing the odds. Yale admitted 10.9% of its 7,140 early applicants last year, deferred about 18% and denied about 70%.^[2] The other restrictive-early schools no longer publish early figures, but there is no reason to think their outcomes are very different. Most early applicants to these schools, including many exceptional students, will not be admitted in December. Parents can help by treating every outcome as a plan to carry out rather than a verdict, and by keeping the evening itself low-key.

How release day works

• Decisions are posted in the applicant portal, the account you created after submitting. You will usually get an email saying a decision is available, not the decision itself.
• Check your login now. Password resets on decision night are slow because thousands of students try at once. Confirm that you can sign in to every portal in early December.
• Read the whole letter. Deferral and admission letters often include instructions and deadlines that are easy to miss in the moment, such as a deposit date, aid documents still needed, or whether updates are welcome.
• Aid estimates may arrive separately. If you filed aid forms on time, your financial aid estimate usually appears in the same portal at or soon after the decision.

What each answer means, school by school

The three outcomes are the same everywhere, but the rules attached to them are not:^[1]

Admitted

• SCEA, REA and EA admits (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Caltech, Notre Dame, MIT, Georgetown) are non-binding. You have until May 1 to decide and can keep every other application open.
• ED admits must enroll and withdraw other applications. Columbia, Penn and Brown say this explicitly. Michigan's ED admits must confirm by January 6.
• If the aid offer makes attendance impossible, ED schools such as Duke describe a process for release after talking with the aid office.

Deferred

• Your application is reread with the Regular Decision pool. Harvard and Yale decide by late March, Notre Dame in mid- to late March, Caltech in mid-March, and Columbia and Georgetown by April 1.
• Deferred ED applicants are released from the binding agreement; Vanderbilt states this explicitly.
• Michigan uses the word "postponed" for the same outcome in its Early Action round.
• Caltech says it defers only a small number of applicants and has no waitlist for them.

Denied

• An early denial is final for the year. Yale, Notre Dame, Caltech and Carnegie Mellon all state that denied applicants cannot reapply in that year's Regular Decision round.
• Caltech adds that an REA denial cannot be appealed. You may apply again the following fall.

For international applicants

Release times are usually set in U.S. Eastern or Pacific time, so for students in Asia a mid-December evening release in the United States arrives the next morning, often on a school day. Check the time zone in the release announcement, and decide in advance whether you want to open the decision before or after school. Aid estimates for international students may follow on a separate timeline; read the portal for each school.

What changes the moment you hear

Your early restriction is tied to the early round. Once your decision arrives, the rules for your remaining applications change:

• Harvard, Stanford and Caltech explicitly allow a deferred applicant to apply Early Decision II elsewhere. Stanford also allows it after a denial.
• Yale allows Round 2 programs that notify after January 1.
• Notre Dame allows ED II all along, and asks you to withdraw if admitted ED II elsewhere.

Most ED II deadlines fall between January 1 and January 4, only two to three weeks after December decisions. Our guide to choosing an ED II school explains how to decide.

Your next step for each outcome

• Admitted: what you still need to do before May 1.
• Deferred: a week-by-week plan from December to March.
• Denied: how to reset your list in two weeks.
• Everyone: the January 2027 deadline calendar.

Before decision day checklist

• [ ] Sign in to every applicant portal and confirm all documents show as received.
• [ ] Write down your plan for admit, defer and deny.
• [ ] Have Regular Decision drafts ready to submit by January 1.
• [ ] Pick your ED II school, if your early school allows one.
• [ ] Check that your financial aid forms are complete so an estimate can arrive with any admission.