I’m sure this has been asked and answered many times, but just wondering whether there is any advantage to applying before the RD deadline? I’m assuming admissions people are busy with ED apps right now, but what happens to RD apps when they come in prior to January 1st?
-More financial aid
-Higher chance of admission
It depends on the school. Some schools say they don’t touch any applications before the RD deadline. Others offer an incentive such as first crack at merit aid or an interview when one might otherwise not be offered. From the students’ perspective, advantages can be getting it out of the way to focus on other things, avoiding doing too many apps at once and generally dodging last-minute panic or technical snafus.
I encouraged my child to submit before the deadline last year. It got this huge task off her plate. She didn’t have to worry about technical glitches. She had time to check in with schools to make sure her file was complete. There was just less stress and she felt more in control because she chose when to push the button.
You don’t have to worry about getting your apps in and can focus on other things if they are done early, and you don’t risk computer glitch problems on the due date.
My son applied to 9 rolling admissions schools, all RD.
He already has 2 acceptances in his pocket, one with a nice package. So it’s now a question of which school he’ll choose-- he KNOWS that he will have a choice.
The Common App opened on August 1st. I simply don’t understand why anyone would wait until the very last minute to do something so important. (Then again, I’m just a little type A. My taxes are mailed in February and my Christmas shopping will all be done 2 weeks before Christmas 
)
Thanks for the feedback. My DC applied to an ED school; so I was just thinking whether it would still be beneficial for her to apply to some of her other favorites ahead of the deadline, or just wait until she gets the decision in mid-December from ED school.
For you, this is the perfect reason NOT to send them in before hearing the decision. Colossal waste of money and time if ED says yes. And I 100% disagree with @newjerseygirl98 – unless it’s rolling admissions and the college specifically has deadlines for certain merit scholarships, applying ahead of the RD deadline merits no additional advantage (besides the ease of mind scenarios already discussed here).
You should ABSOLUTELY wait until you hear back from your kid’s ED choice.
I suspect some schools are already processing RD applications, especially if they get lower ED applications. So one advantage could be that they will look at your application sooner and with a fresher set of eyes.
My son is wrapping up all of his applications over the next week. He will submit right after hearing from his ED school. His GC strongly recommended at least having all of the applications ready to go in case the ED result is defer or deny, mainly because of the negative mindset that a student could be in if he or she gets bad news in mid December.
@T26E4 Really? My GC didn’t tell me that it was only for rolling admissions. Sorry.
What @Jennings99 said. You don’t have to push submit just yet if you’re waiting for an ED result, but being as ready to go as possible will be a huge help in case the ED news is bad.
Not that things in our household won’t get down to the 11th hour anyway, but we’re working to prevent that as much as possible.
Yes. Speaking from personal experience, doing all the work on all your remaining apps in the 2 weeks after getting an ED deferral sucks.
Yes, get her moving on completing her apps, just don’t submit yet. She will likely want to wallow a bit if ED doesn’t come through, so get some done now. If she is applying for FA, don’t let her stop working on apps if she gets in ED until you have reviewed the FA package and confirmed it works for her. If she has to submit some apps during that process, do it to keep her options open. If the FA package is late or you want it reviewed, do not withdraw or stop submitting apps. You can ask for an extension on the ED response date, and do not have to withdraw other apps until you have confirmed the FA package and accepted the ED offer.
A couple of years ago there was a post from a frantic student in January 1st. It was 9 PM and his computer crashed and wasn’t able to submit his last minute application…to his number one choice school!
Agree, submit at least 24 hours ahead for the ones she is going to submit.