Guide/05 Application Timeline
Decision Season & After
Surviving the wait, when decisions arrive, the May 1 deadline, and the post-commitment tasks nobody warns you about.
Chapter 17 of 243 min readUpdated September 23, 2026 Preview
Once your Regular Decision applications are in, the waiting begins — and for a lot of students, it's the hardest part of senior year.
This chapter covers how to get through the wait, when decisions actually arrive, what May 1 means, and the pile of paperwork that shows up right after you commit.
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What’s in this chapter
- 1The waiting period
- 2When decisions arrive
- 3May 1: Decision Day
- 4After you commit