What Is Rolling Admissions and How Does It Work?

It may feel like ages to hear if you’ve been accepted after applying to college, and sometimes you don’t have the time or ability to wait until College Decision Day.

Rolling admissions are offered by a select number of colleges and universities and can lead to your admission decision being returned to you soon after you apply.

However, with its pros come disadvantages, and rolling admission may not be optimal for every type of student. Find out below what factors you need to weigh before applying to an institution through a rolling admissions process.

Rolling admission is when colleges review and decide on student applications as they come in, rather than having one big deadline and response day.

Rolling admissions typically open around September and stay open for about six months before closing, though some colleges will continue to accept applications after deadlines.

When you apply for regular decision or early action, colleges won’t look at your application until after the deadline. With rolling admissions, you can expect to hear back from your prospective school between four and six weeks after you apply with a financial aid package if you submitted your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The sooner you apply to a rolling admissions school, the better your chance of admission, since more spots may be available earlier rather than later. You may also increase your access to housing options and financial aid by applying earlier.

Once you receive your decision and financial aid package, the college will give you a date by which you must accept it and any applicable financial aid.

Some schools, like the ones on our list, have a hybrid of traditional and rolling admissions. Colleges like Indiana University Bloomington don’t exclusively say they have rolling admissions but have policies that cater to students who submit applications after the deadline on a spot-availability basis.

The traditional college admissions process requires students to submit their application by a set deadline before it will be reviewed. With rolling admissions, applications are reviewed as they are submitted.

You’ll hear back from a rolling admissions college much sooner than a regular decision college, which typically has a set response date. There also tends to be less competition early in this process.

Rolling admissions get you a decision on your own time and as fast as possible, sometimes providing a valuable safety net if you’re admitted while you wait for your early action and regular decision schools.

We’ve highlighted a few reasons and advantages of submitting applications to colleges with rolling admissions.

Managing college application deadlines and the pressure of applying early action or regular decision can be overwhelming.

With rolling admissions, you’ll sometimes get six months or more to apply and can even submit applications after the initial deadline. This can be ideal if your season is much too busy to apply to college, if you miss traditional deadlines at other colleges, or maybe you prefer to chip away at an application.

One of the biggest reliefs from rolling admissions is how fast you’ll hear back from colleges. Rolling admission applications are reviewed, if not immediately after receiving them, within a few weeks of submission.

Non-rolling admissions colleges wait until the application deadline to start reviewing applications.

If you apply to a rolling admissions school while applying for other early action and regular decision schools, you’ll almost always hear back from the rolling admissions school first.

You can then use this school as a safety net if you don’t get into other schools or don’t have time to wait for traditional application styles.

While you still need a strong application that meets the school’s expectations, applying early during a rolling admissions cycle — when the most open slots are still available — can potentially raise your chances of getting accepted.

Additionally, early applications boost your chances of getting into certain programs and receiving financial aid, scholarships, and housing options.

There are some potential drawbacks to rolling admissions policies to consider before you apply.

Colleges with rolling admissions review applications as they come in; later applicants will face more competition and higher chances of being rejected. The longer you wait to submit your application, the fewer spots are available for the entering class.

Since colleges have a maximum admission limit (there’s only so much space), you may have to “race” other applicants for a spot before they all fill up.

You won’t find too many popular colleges with rolling admissions policies. Offering early action, early decision, and regular decision policies is much more common.

Some larger colleges may prefer traditional admissions policies to minimize the time spent reviewing applications. Colleges may also prefer to give all applicants an equal chance at a spot without first-come, first-served practices.

The time between receiving your decision and needing to accept it may be short. You may have to decide to commit to a rolling admissions college before you’ve heard back from schools with regular decision policies.

Make sure you read the stipulations of your acceptance letter and see when you need to accept or decline enrollment to qualify for financial aid at that college.

We found 10 popular colleges, most of them public universities, with rolling admissions across the country. This isn’t an exhaustive list, so there may be others in your state where you qualify for in-state tuition.

Indiana University Bloomington’s early action/priority deadline is November 1, while its regular decision deadline is February 1. Still, it allows students to apply after the deadline on a “case-by-case basis.” However, St. John’s University and the University of Mississippi explicitly state they have rolling admissions.

Be sure to check with an admissions counselor at your desired school for confirmation.