ED meaning in Academic & Science ?

Early decision (ED) or early acceptance is a common policy used in college admissions in the United States for admitting freshmen to undergraduate programs. It is used to indicate to the university or college that the candidate considers that institution to be his or her top choice.

Some colleges offer early admission plans known as Early Decision (ED) or Early Action (EA), and some offer both. Others accept applications in a relatively long window known as rolling admission. ED differs from EA in that it constitutes a binding commitment to enroll; that is, if offered admission under an ED program, and the financial aid offered by the school (if requested) is acceptable, the candidate must withdraw all other applications to other institutions and enroll at that institution. Early action is not binding, so a student admitted to a school early action could choose not to enroll in that school. Furthermore, ED programs require applicants to file only one ED application, while, depending on the institution, EA programs may be restrictive or non-restrictive and allow candidates to apply to more than one institution.

In the case of certain colleges with established competitor institutions, such as schools in the Ivy League, some college counselors speculate that ED can serve to mitigate the problem of students failing to matriculate to a particular school in favor of a 'superior' one. For example, one college might only admit a candidate deemed qualified for another, 'superior' college under ED, for in regular decision, should that student be admitted to the 'superior' competitor, that student would be unlikely to attend the college that originally offered the ED admission.