The Admission Decision

Freshman

Early Action (Fall)

Students who apply under the Early Action (EA) option must submit an application by November 1. Official SAT/ACT test scores and an official high school transcript (through the junior year) must be sent as soon as possible after the application deadline. Admission decisions will be communicated beginning in mid-December. There are three possible decisions for Early Action applicants:

Students may be offered admission for the fall term, contingent on successful completion of the senior year. They will have until May 1 to decide whether to enroll at UMass Amherst.
A select group of students will be deferred to the Regular Decision applicant pool. We will reexamine these students in the context of the entire pool, taking into account mid-year grades and other new academic information.
We may make the difficult decision to deny some students whose academic records are not competitive within the overall applicant pool. A deny decision at the EA stage is final.

Regular Decision (Fall)

Students who apply under the Regular Decision (RD) option must submit an application by January 15. Official SAT/ACT test scores and an official high school transcript (including the first set of senior grades) must be sent as soon as possible after the application deadline. Admission decisions will be communicated beginning in early March. There are three possible decisions for RD applicants:

Students may be offered admission for the upcoming fall term, contingent on successful completion of the senior year. They will have until May 1 to decide whether to enroll at UMass Amherst.
A select group of students who present strong academic credentials will be offered the option of being placed on our waitlist. Specific details regarding this option will be included in the waitlist offer letter.
Students whose academic records are not competitive within the overall applicant pool will be denied admission. A deny decision is final.

Regular Decision (Spring)

Students who apply for spring admission must submit an application by October 1. Official SAT/ACT test scores and an official high school transcript (including the first set of senior grades) must be sent as soon as possible after the application deadline. Admission decisions (admit or deny only) will be communicated by December 15.

Transfer and Associate's Degree Decisions