These are non-binding programs which means that you can apply to these programs and also apply to other law schools. If you are accepted into an Early Action program, you are not bound by an obligation to accept an admission offer. The primary difference between an Early Action Program and a regular application is that you will be informed about the admission decision earlier than regular applicants. 

These are binding programs and are much more common than Early Action Programs. Early Decision Programs require you not to apply to other law schools or to quickly withdraw any other applications if admitted. Most such programs would require that you sign a contract at the beginning of the application process to matriculate if admitted. There may be further limitations, such as limited or no consideration for certain kinds of financial aid (merit-based, for example), which is fairly limited among law schools in the first place.

If you are not admitted, generally a school would place your application for review in their regular applicant pool and you could apply to other schools. If this happens late in the fall or in the winter, this may be quite late in the application process for you to add schools.

Thoroughly review all details of the individual schools’ programs if you are interested in such an arrangement. We recommend that you consider Early Decision Programs only if the strength of your application and your interests are a particularly good match for the school’s admission requirements. In most cases, applicants are better off applying to a balanced list of schools than to a single one.

Other Considerations

If you apply early decision, you lose the opportunity to bargain over your financial support.  A few law schools, recognizing this, offer automatic aid packages for students accepted early-decision, and several base those packages on the average aid packages offered to all incoming students.