Senior Luke Dubec trudges down the stairs, still groggy from being woken up. Moments later the doorbell rings and he answers it, stunned to find himself face-to-face with lights, cameras and Trip the bulldog announcing he has been accepted into Butler University.

Like many seniors, Dubec applied to colleges with the early action deadline, an admission process in which students submit their applications earlier and receive decisions by the end of the calendar year. Seniors who applied early action have already begun to receive admissions.

“Doing early action applications is less stressful if you can manage your time well,” Dubec said. “It’s comforting knowing where you’ve been accepted to going early on.”

The most common dates early action applications must be submitted are Nov. 1 and Nov. 15. This ensures that students receive their admission decisions mid-December. Regular decision application deadlines are typically due Jan. 1 or Jan. 15 and decisions are received around April, according to College Board. Students can choose which type of admission process they want to complete.

Senior Elinor Carmona applied to Indiana University, Purdue, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, University of Cincinnati, Ball State, Xavier and Miami of Ohio. She hopes to attend nursing school and recently interviewed at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Nursing.

“I decided to apply early action because I’m an impatient person and I’m also really indecisive,” Carmona said. “I wanted to have as much time as possible to make a decision.”

Another type of college application includes early decision, a binding decision in which a student agrees to go to the college if they get accepted. Students must withdraw all other applications if they get into their early decision college.

“I didn’t apply early decision because I feel like it is too restricting,” Carmona said. “There isn’t really a college I’m set on going to, so I know applying early decision would not be best for me. I didn’t want to be stuck with a college I didn’t love.”

The last type of admission decision is called rolling admissions. Rolling admissions evaluate applications right when they come in as opposed to evaluating them all at once. This means students have more time to complete them, as colleges continue to evaluate applications until their freshman class is filled. There is not an option to choose to submit a rolling decision on the Common Application as it is the way some schools solely operate their admission system.

“Getting my first acceptance to IU felt like a huge relief,” Dubec said. “It was nice to know that regardless of the outcome of my other decisions I am actually going to college.”

Seniors who have not yet applied to college have until January to meet the deadline for most regular decision applications.