<p>But how is the order they read apps in decided? You can argue that at selective schools it would be a benefit to have your app read first before other students with a similar profile resumes are read so to increase your chances. Do they read all the apps then decide, or decide each app after they read it?</p>
<p>@theanaconda That’s a good question. I’ll be applying to a couple selective schools (like MIT and CalTech), and will most likely do so EA to increase my chances. If submitting early on will help, I’d love to work it out that way.</p>
<p>I don’t know how any school determines the order in which the applications are read. But it wouldn’t make any sense to organize applications by when they came in or were completed. They have to be able to get to any application at any time.</p>
<p>I believe that they are presorted (for example, by IS/OOS status or geography) before being distributed to the readers; if I had to guess, I’d guess they are probably automatically sorted alphabetically as they come in, although organizing by SSN might make almost as much sense.</p>
<p>Each application gets its decision (admit, deny, defer, waitlist) at the time of reading. Then they wait to release all the decisions from that round at once. (Some schools will send out an early “likely” notice to the most obvious admission decisions. If you get one, great! You’re basically in. If you don’t, you’re like most students.) At selective schools, each application is read by at least 2 admission officers; if they agree on the disposal of the application, they mark it and go on to the next one. If they disagree, the application goes up the chain (superior, third eyes, committee, etc.) for the tiebreaker.</p>
<p>If you have to call with a question or add new information, they surely won’t look up your file by the date and time it was submitted. Your application either made it in and was complete by the deadlines and will be considered with the others, or it won’t.</p>
<p>From an admissions (and merit) perspective, all applications that meet the deadline are the same; it does not make any difference at all whether you beat the deadline by 3 minutes or 3 months. I doubt there is any way you could influence the order in which your application is read.</p>
<p>Note that “merit aid” is not a reward; it is simply a marketing tool, to try to persuade top applicants from going to another school (i.e., higher ranked, more prestigious, etc.) instead. The merit aid offer goes to those applicants whom the admission officers expect would otherwise choose another school over theirs. And need-based aid is determined by a different office, not by admissions.</p>
<p>@FCCDAD Great answer, thank you so much! I’m almost positive that I will be applying Early Action to all schools except one (Carnegie Mellon; and that’s only because it offers Early Decision and Regular Decision, not Early Action). I’ll be starting the Common App tomorrow morning when I have an eight hour drive home…</p>
<p>I know that when they put your files in with all the applicants, they use the header name and date of birth, so I would assume it is sorted alphabetically first and then if somebody has the same name, by date of birth. </p>
<p>They are often sorted by region and reviewed by different readers. Check out the movie “Admission” and you will see the process but dramatized.</p>