So, there are two schools of thought on this, and I want to know if anyone has any inside knowledge or experience.
A high school guidance counselor making an evening presentation to parents back in October at my son’s high school stated that submitting an application a long time prior to the deadline is a strong indication of demonstrated interest that colleges will consider. She was talking about regular decision, not rolling admissions (for the latter of which, submitting as early as possible is obvious). She said all applications are “date stamped” and ones sent earlier are considered stronger interest.
But since she also told us a number of other clearly incorrect tidbits of info, I am skeptical.
I am wondering if there is any benefit whatsoever to submitting an application for regular decision prior to hearing back from any early action/early decision schools. It seems like you would end up paying application fees you might or might not need to pay if you were to wait, and will they even look at your application before they have finished working their way through the early action/decision applicants?
So, is there any truth to the “submit early to demonstrate interest” advice? Or will submitting a regular decision application in mid-to-late December instead of November make no difference whatsoever?
I’d hold them. I’ve never heard a school say that. If your kid has shown interest in other ways, they will be fine in that respect. Don’t wait til the very last day, though, as the application website can get overloaded – send them a few days early.
Unless the school practices rolling admissions there is no benefit to submitting before the deadline except that you would be “done.” But I agree about not waiting until the very last minute to submit in case any system-wide problems crop up.
I’ve been wondering this myself. And I agree that it could appear to demonstrate interest. I suspect schools get an uptick in apps right after ED/EA notifications. My thought is that at highly selective LACs it could make a difference. But at Ivies and other schools with such massive app pools, it wouldn’t matter as much bc the volume of apps makes it harder to differentiate on such small details as date of app.
I’ve had some people who submitted RD before the EA deadline, and then had theirs considered with the EA ones and received an early notification. That said, if you are talking about submitting in between the two deadlines, I don’t think there is that much difference.
I also heard this from a admissions counselor/test prep center. They stated that it was better to get any EA/ED/RD in early to allow the AOs more time for your application.
I didn’t ask for more info, because anything that would encourage my kids to start earlier is a good thing!