<p>Some things have come up that's going to make it difficult for me to finish my apps for a few schools by the 3rd round. Would it be a huge disadvantage to apply in the last round? Presumably that's when they'll be the most picky about who they admit. </p>
<p>Is it advisable to reach out to the admissions office and let them know that I'll be sending in an application in the last round? </p>
<p>It would help if you tell us what kind of program you are applying to and what you mean by the last round. usually Ph.D. programs (if that is what you are after) have a deadline and don’t consider late applicants. For Masters programs, I suspect that there is a better chance that late applications are still considered unless the school has a fixed class size in mind.</p>
<p>Right I should clarify I’m applying to Masters programs so the schools have multiple rounds of application deadlines. So technically the applications won’t be late, just later. </p>
<p>I suspect that the standards are not much different from one deadline to another. In the case of my university, Illinois Tech, we have rolling admissions after our initial financial aid deadline and all students are considered in the same way. it is likely that these programs will expect you to self-fund your degree so that they will admit you if qualified unless they have a closed number of seats. You can find this out by asking the admission office.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. Funding isn’t an issue, so I guess the choice basically comes down to submitting a possibly rushed application in the 3rd round or submitting a more thorough application in the 4th (final) round. </p>
<p>Would it be advisable to contact the admissions office and ask their suggestion? </p>
<p>It can’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>I might be overthinking this but my fear is exactly that it may hurt to ask, if they take it as a sign that I didn’t plan ahead enough, etc… </p>