When it comes to college admissions, when exactly are the regular decisions announced?
You’ve probably seen the reaction videos: teenagers and their families clustered around a computer screen, illuminated by blue light, waiting with bated breath until the page loads. Depending on what that fateful email or portal notification says, the smattering of anxious faces can rapidly transform into ecstatic glee or confused disappointment.
Some dance around the room in barely-contained joy, hugging family and friends, wiping tears of relief from their eyes:
Others, receiving rejections, choose to respond with humor and grace (and cake).
No matter the outcome, it’s clear that these young adults are learning how to begin their next chapter in life.
Each spring, millions of high school students eagerly await the big news from colleges across the nation. At some point in the coming weeks, these students will find out whether their application for college in the fall has been accepted, rejected, or waitlisted. This is known as the Regular Decision (RD) timeline — as opposed to Early Decision/Early Action (ED/EA). Based on the results of the news, students will choose where they want to attend college for the next four years.
Regardless of your options, if you’ve thrown your academic hat into the ring of college admissions, you’ll want to know exactly when your long-awaited college decision dates are announced! There’s a lot to keep track of during this process, but that’s no reason to let any important dates slip through the cracks. Today, we’ll review the major college decision dates for the RD pool in 2025.
College Decision Dates for 2025
Most colleges release their Regular Decision notifications between mid-March and early April. Why is this important?
Knowing your decision dates helps students better plan campus visits, financial aid decisions, and housing deposits. After all, many colleges require deposits within weeks of releasing decisions! If you are waitlisted, early awareness gives you more time to prepare a response.
Here is a summary of the typical RD notification windows for these institutions. While precise dates can vary slightly year to year, these are generally when decisions were released for the Class of 2029:
- Ivy League: Decisions for Regular Decision are typically released on a single “Ivy Day,” which for the Class of 2029 was late March 2025. It’s usually a Thursday evening.
- Other Highly Selective Institutions: Most of these universities released their Regular Decision notifications in late March 2025, as well.
- Liberal Arts Colleges: Decisions for these colleges generally came out in late March to early April 2025, often on or before April 1st.
- Large Public Universities: The University of California system often releases decisions in phases, with most notifications occurring in mid to late March 2025. Other large public universities typically release decisions from late February through late March 2025.
Specific Common Release Dates for Regular Decision (Class of 2029)
To get the precise date for a specific college each year, it’s best to check their official admissions website. Colleges often announce their decision release dates in advance on their admissions portals or news sections.
That said, here are the Regular Decision notification dates for Fall 2025 (Class of 2029), based on the most current information available:
- American University: March 13, 2025
- Amherst College: March 21, 2025
- Babson College: Mid-March 2025 (for Round 2), Early May 2025 (for Round 3)
- Bard College: April 1, 2025 (application deadline; decisions typically released within 2 weeks of application completion)
- Barnard College: Late March 2025
- Bates College: March 22, 2025 (on or before April 1)
- Boston College: April 1, 2025 (or earlier)
- Boston University: March 22, 2025 (for regular undergraduate decisions)
- Bowdoin College: Mid-March 2025
- Brandeis University: April 1, 2025
- Brown University: Late March 2025 (specifically March 27, 2025, or by early April)
- Bryn Mawr College: Mid-March 2025
- Bucknell University: By April 1, 2025
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech): March 8, 2025
- Carleton College: On or before April 1, 2025 (specifically March 13, 2025)
- Carnegie Mellon University: No later than April 1, 2025 (for undergraduate programs, typically March 14)
- Case Western Reserve University: On or about March 22, 2025
- Chapman University: February 28, 2025
- Claremont McKenna College: By April 1, 2025 (specifically March 21, 2025)
- Colby College: On or before April 1, 2025 (specifically March 21, 2025)
- Colgate University: March 21, 2025
- College of Charleston: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally by April 1)
- College of the Holy Cross: March 12, 2025
- College of William & Mary: March 24, 2025 (by April 1)
- Colorado College: March 13, 2025
- Columbia University: Late March 2025 (specifically March 27, 2025)
- Connecticut College: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally by April 1)
- Cornell University: Late March 2025 (specifically March 27, 2025)
- Dartmouth College: March 27, 2025
- Davidson College: Late March 2025 (by April 1)
- Drexel University: March 4, 2025
- Duke University: March 27, 2025 (late March/early April)
- Emerson College: Early April 2025
- Emory University: March 26, 2025 (by April 1)
- Fairfield University: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally by April 1)
- Fordham University: April 1, 2025
- George Washington University: By April 1, 2025
- Georgetown University: March 25, 2025 (no later than April 1)
- Georgia Institute of Technology: In-state: March 7, 2025; Out-of-State: March 28, 2025
- Grinnell College: March 14, 2025
- Hamilton College: March 20, 2025
- Harvard University: March 27, 2025
- Harvey Mudd College: March 15, 2025
- Haverford College: March 14, 2025
- Johns Hopkins University: March 21, 2025
- Lafayette College: March 18, 2025
- Lehigh University: March 19, 2025
- Macalester College: March 16, 2025
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): March 14, 2025
- Middlebury College: March 15, 2025
- New York University (NYU): March 26, 2025
- Northeastern University: March 12, 2025
- Northwestern University: March 26, 2025
- Pepperdine University: March 21, 2025
- Pitzer College: March 21, 2025
- Pomona College: March 21, 2025
- Princeton University: March 27, 2025
- Providence College: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally by April 1)
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: April 1, 2025 (Based on typical patterns)
- Rice University: March 26, 2025
- Rochester Institute of Technology: March 14, 2025
- Santa Clara University: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally around mid-March)
- Sarah Lawrence College: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally late March)
- Skidmore College: March 15, 2025
- Smith College: March 21, 2025
- Southern Methodist University: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally mid-March)
- Stanford University: March 28, 2025
- Swarthmore College: March 21, 2025 at 7 PM ET
- Syracuse University: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally late March)
- Texas Christian University: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally by April 1)
- Trinity College: March 18, 2025
- Tufts University: March 20, 2025
- Tulane University: February 28, 2025
- University of California: UCs generally release decisions in late March
- University of Chicago: March 14, 2025
- University of Florida: March 14, 2025
- University of Georgia: March 14, 2025
- University of Maryland, College Park: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally by April 1)
- University of Massachusetts, Amherst: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally mid-March)
- University of Miami: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally late March)
- University of Michigan: Late March 2025
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: March 21, 2025
- University of Notre Dame: March 18, 2025
- University of Pennsylvania: March 27, 2025
- University of Richmond: March 14, 2025
- University of Southern California: April 1, 2025 (Based on typical patterns)
- University of Tennessee: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally by April 1)
- University of Texas at Austin: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally early March)
- University of Vermont: (Not explicitly found for Fall 2025, but generally early March)
- University of Virginia: March 14, 2025
- Vanderbilt University: March 26, 2025
- Vassar College: March 24, 2025
- Villanova University: March 21, 2025
- Wake Forest University: March 21, 2025
- Washington & Lee University: March 21, 2025
- Washington University in St. Louis: March 13, 2025
- Wellesley College: March 22, 2025
- Wesleyan University: March 22, 2025
- Williams College: March 21, 2025
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute: April 1, 2025 (Based on typical patterns)
- Yale University: March 27, 2025
We hope this information helps you stay organized when college decision dates roll around in the springtime! That said, if you are unsure, it’s always best to refer to the official admissions website of each university for the most precise and definitive information, as dates can occasionally be subject to minor changes.
What comes next?
After decisions, what are your next steps?
- Compare financial aid packages and scholarship offers.
- Attend admitted student events (in-person or virtual).
- If waitlisted, prepare a strong LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest).
- Decline offers you won’t accept to open spots for other students.
Most importantly, stay informed. You can sign up for updates from each college’s admissions office, follow official college social media and newsletters, or use a personal tracking spreadsheet to stay organized.
Your best outcome: accepted!
Looking for more help staying on top of your college admission process? You can always talk to Empowerly. Our team spends on average 25x more time with students than the average high school counselor, and 98% of students who have worked with Empowerly and been accepted into Ivy League and top 25 schools. Curious if we can help launch your future, too? Don’t hesitate to ask! We are here to help walk you through every step of the way.
