Students are opening email, snail mail and texts discovering wonderful news from their early college applications. The first such acceptance notice provides relief from the fear that no college will accept them. With the first acceptance, they have a place to go next year.

That first acceptance will be followed by good news from other colleges and perhaps a few wait lists or denials. When the first notice is an acceptance, it takes the sting out of any late rejections. Some students are getting notices that are neither acceptances nor rejections. Notices that say "we'd like to see some additional test scores and grades" or "if you enroll at our local community college for two semesters and earn good grades, you can move on to the main campus as a sophomore".

Whatever news students are getting this fall, they have several months to apply to additional colleges if they are not satisfied with early application results.  Regular college admission deadlines for many colleges are December 1, January 1 and February 1.