Juniors: Plan Your Fall 2027 Early Round Now

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

If you are a high school junior, your early applications are due around November 1, 2027, for entry in fall 2028. That is a year away, and the rules are already changing. Three more selective schools will require the SAT or ACT for your class, two universities have added new early plans, and financial aid at the most selective schools has become far more generous. Here is what is different for your year and a month-by-month plan to get to next November ready.

1. Testing is back at more schools for your class

Students applying this year to Princeton, Notre Dame and Columbia could choose whether to submit scores. For fall 2028 entry, all three will require the SAT or ACT; Columbia will offer a waiver for applicants who have difficulty meeting the requirement.^[1] They join Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Penn, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown, which already require scores. Vanderbilt stays optional for fall 2028 and will require scores from fall 2029.^[1]

The research behind the shift is worth knowing. A study using data from several Ivy-Plus colleges found that SAT and ACT scores predict first-year college grades about four times as strongly as high school GPA, in part because applicants' grades are so tightly bunched.^[2] For a junior, the practical conclusion is simple: plan to test, and plan to test early enough to retake.

If you have a learning difference or need testing accommodations, apply for them early in junior year; approval can take several weeks, and you want it in place before your first official test.

2. The early menu has changed

• Michigan now offers binding Early Decision alongside its non-binding Early Action, both due November 1. ED is not allowed alongside Harvard or Stanford REA; EA is.^[1]
• WashU has added a non-binding Early Action round alongside ED I and ED II.^[1]
• The restrictive four (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford) still bar early applications to other private U.S. colleges, with exceptions that differ school by school. Notre Dame remains the flexible restrictive plan, allowing private Early Action.^[1]

The early pool is large and growing. Yale received 7,140 early applications for the Class of 2030, about 13% of its total pool,^[3][4] and the number of Common App applications per student submitted by November 1 rose again last year.^[5] Choosing your one restrictive application is a real decision; our article Is SCEA worth it? covers how to make it.

3. Cost looks different than it did

Yale now covers at least full tuition for families earning under $200,000 and the full cost for families under $100,000, for students entering from 2026-27.^[6] Princeton covers tuition for most families earning up to $250,000 and the full cost up to $150,000.^[7] Harvard and Stanford have raised their thresholds too. Run Net Price Calculators this spring, before you rule any school out on price. Our financial aid guide has the details.

4. A month-by-month plan to November 1, 2027

• November–December 2026: take a practice SAT and ACT to see which suits you. Talk with your counselor about senior-year courses; colleges look at whether you took the hardest schedule available to you.
• January–March 2027: take your first official test. Begin a broad college list, with schools across the range of selectivity. Run Net Price Calculators with your family.
• April–June 2027: retake the test if needed. Visit campuses if you can. Ask two junior-year teachers whether they will write recommendations, before summer.
• July–August 2027: draft your personal essay. Narrow your list and choose your early strategy: one restrictive school, or an ED school, plus non-binding public Early Action options.
• September 2027: write supplements, starting with your early school and any October deadlines. UNC's Early Action, for example, was due October 15 this year, and Stanford's arts portfolio requires an October application.^[1]
• October 2027: final testing for early schools, file the CSS Profile and FAFSA, and submit early applications 48–72 hours before the deadline.

Building your list this spring

A good list starts wider than it ends. In spring, aim for fifteen to twenty schools across three groups: likely schools where your record sits comfortably above the typical admitted range, targets near the middle, and reaches where no applicant can count on admission. Our school pages list each school's admit rate and middle-50% test range.

Then cut by fit, not by prestige: academic programs, size, location, cost and campus culture. By late summer, a list of eight to twelve schools, with one clear early choice, is a realistic goal.

5. Choosing your early strategy

The most important early-round choice is which plan to use, because it shapes everything else on your list:

• One restrictive school (SCEA or REA): non-binding, but rules out other private early plans. Best if one of the four is your clear first choice.
• One Early Decision school: binding, with the largest likely admissions advantage, but you must be sure and the cost must work.
• Several Early Action schools: non-binding and unrestricted, at schools such as MIT, Georgetown or UChicago. Not compatible with SCEA or REA at the restrictive four.

Whichever you choose, check every combination with the Compatibility Checker before next fall. Policies are re-verified on our school pages each August and September, when schools publish the new cycle.

For international juniors

Start earlier than your U.S. classmates. Test centers can fill up, recommendation letters may need translation or context, and your counselor may be less familiar with U.S. forms such as the school report. Check each university's policy on financial aid for international students, since some admit international applicants without regard to need and others do not. Restrictive early plans allow non-binding applications to universities outside the United States, so you can plan home-country or U.K. applications alongside an SCEA or REA application.

Junior-year checklist

• [ ] Take a practice SAT and ACT this winter.
• [ ] Plan at least two official test dates before September 2027.
• [ ] Keep junior-year grades strong through June.
• [ ] Run Net Price Calculators with your family this spring.
• [ ] Ask two teachers for recommendations before summer.
• [ ] Draft your personal essay in July or August.