Restrictive Early Action
Unlike Non-Restrictive Early Action, colleges with Restrictive Early Action policies have stipulations that govern where students can apply in the Early round of admissions. For instance, no college with a Restrictive Early Action policy will allow its applicants to submit an Early Decision I application to another college. Georgetown University and the University of Notre Dame are cases in point. A student can apply Restrictive Early Action to Georgetown and Notre Dame, but that same applicant cannot apply Early Decision to the University of Pennsylvania.
Single Choice Early Action
A select batch of elite colleges offers Restrictive Early Action policies with even more limiting ground rules. Students can apply to one school among this batch and any public university. For instance, a Yale University Early Action applicant cannot also apply to the University of Chicago through its Non-Restrictive Early Action policy since UChicago is a private institution. However, the student can apply Early Action to the University of Michigan since it’s a public institution.