Do other schools know if you apply early decision?

Hey everyone, I'm considering applying to one of my top schools under Early Decision. I wanted to know, though, is there any chance that other colleges I am applying to would find out about my Early Decision application? Would this affect my chances at the other schools, if they know?

Hey there! It's great that you're strategizing about your college applications. Typically, schools don't share information about their applicants, so other colleges won't know if you've applied Early Decision (ED) to a school. The ED process is confidential, and colleges have their own applicants' pool to focus on. The only case where this might not hold true is if you are accepted ED, which is a binding agreement, and you don't withdraw your other applications in a timely manner. In such a scenario, if the ED school were to find out that you hadn't withdrawn other applications, they could potentially inform other schools. However, if you follow the rules of the ED agreement, there's nothing to worry about. Make sure after an ED acceptance, you promptly withdraw all other applications. Good luck with your decisions!