Just before winter vacation, Annelise Mah found out she got admitted into Stanford, the school of her dreams.

Mah, a senior at Thousand Oaks High School, didn't have to wait in anxious limbo until spring to get the good news. That's because she was one of thousands of high school seniors nationwide who applied for college "early decision" or "early action," an option that allows students to find out early — in December rather than March — whether they've been accepted, rejected or deferred by their top-choice universities.

Roughly two-thirds of colleges surveyed said they had more students applying for early decision or early action in 2006, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

"Both of these options seem to be increasingly popular among students," said David Hawkins, the association's director of public policy.

Seniors who get accepted to their top-choice schools are elated and relieved, confident their future is set.

The ones who got turned down — right before the holidays — may be crushed, wondering whether all that studying and extracurricular activities aimed at building an impressive application were a waste. On top of that, they could be spending their winter breaks frantically filling out applications to their second-choice schools.

'Let's look at other schools'

Those disappointed students, and sometimes their parents, may need to be reassured that their college careers are not over before they started; that other schools could also be a good fit, said Barbara Hall, a counselor at Buena High School in Ventura.

"Parents have to give kids reality in the first place," Hall said. "If you don't get in — and people don't — let's look at what will be the best alternative. Let's look at other schools."

The elated students, on the other hand, may need a bit of a nudge to stay motivated through the second half of their senior year, although most of them, like Mah, are high-achievers likely to go on achieving right up to graduation.

"They're high-performing students as it is," said Catherine Kanney, a counselor at Thousand Oaks High. "They don't tend to get the senioritis' you see in your average student."

Mah has wanted to go to Stanford since she was 6 years old. Her dad went there. When she was a kid, she and her family spent summer weeks at a Stanford camp in the Sierra. As a young teen, she attended a creative writing workshop on the Palo Alto campus.

So she applied to Stanford for early decision. That meant she had to promise to attend there if accepted, withdrawing any applications to other colleges. Under early action, students don't need to commit if accepted.

It's a big commitment for a teenager to make. Many teens grow and change over their senior year, and a school that seemed ideal in the fall might not be so appealing come spring.

But Mah was certain Stanford was the school for her. Now she's relieved the stressful college application process is over.

"I'm so happy I don't have to do any more applications," Mah said. "I applied to Berkeley and UCLA, but if I didn't get in (to Stanford), I was going to apply to the East Coast Ivies."

The news was not so good for Kyle Triplett, Mah's classmate. Triplett didn't get into Dartmouth, where he had applied for early decision. He also applied for early action at Georgetown but was deferred, meaning he was neither accepted nor denied and his application will be considered at the traditional time.

'I have no worries'

Triplett was disappointed. However, he also applied for regular admission to 11 other schools that appealed to him, so he's confident he'll land at a school that's a good fit.

Because Triplett plays football, he still stands a chance at Dartmouth, which could accept him as an athlete.

"I picked out awesome academic schools," Triplett said. "I still have plenty of coaches talking to me. I have no worries."

Triplett followed the advice counselors routinely give students who apply early to their dream schools: Apply to other colleges, too, so you have options if you don't get accepted to your first choice.

Mah has some advice, too. "If a school rejects you, it's not necessarily that you're not a good student or not capable of getting into a good school," she said.

"It feels kind of random to me."