While the spring season typically evokes happiness from college students around the country who look forward to their week-long breaks, high school students may feel differently.

May 1 stands as the universal deadline for college decisions to be made, forcing prospective students to choose what school they will attend. Before the appropriately titled “National College Decision Day” comes, prospective students fill out the always popular Common Application and apply.

Application deadlines differ when high school students must factor in the possibility of applying with early action or early decision.

Many students may ask themselves, “What is the difference?”

Early action is the option for students to apply earlier than regular admission, thus receiving an admission decision earlier than other applicants. If a high school student applies with early action, they will be notified of their acceptance, or lack thereof, in January or February, as opposed to later in the spring.

Early decision holds some of the same qualities as early action, with an earlier application deadline and subsequently an earlier admission notification, typically in December.

What differs between the two is that early decision can only be used on one application for one school. Early action can be used for as many schools as a student wants, allowing them to know their options earlier than others. The catch with early decision is the requirement for students to attend the school they applied to, regardless of any other acceptances. This legally binding application may be intimidating for students who want to keep their choices open and have less pressure riding on one college.

This binding application forces students to decide on their future before they know all the options available to them. If someone applies to one school with early decision, but then receives a scholarship and lots of financial aid from another after, it can be a sticky situation.

Early action is a more logical route for prospective students. It allows them to know what schools accepted them sooner, but does not restrict them to one school. Deciding on a college is a huge commitment was factors, including the price, the academics and possibly athletic involvement. Early decision makes a student choose their college prematurely, interrupting the ability to pick what school they will thrive at most.

Last June a friend told me, “Graduation is getting married to the rest of your life.”

By applying with early decision, prospective students are eloping at the courthouse before they get to look at other possible venues.