<p>I am ashamed to admit that I applied to MANY top colleges right before the deadline (as in 5 minutes before deadline). Now I'm getting flurry of waitlist decisions from colleges that I was certain I would get in. I was waitlisted from Northwestern, Rice, Johns Hopkins, and Washington U. and I still haven't heard from all the colleges yet. Do you think applying so late has resulted this nasty waitlist decision?</p>
<p>If you hurried and did not have enough time to thoroughly review your essays (over weeks, not hours) perhaps your applications appeared rushed.</p>
<p>Submitting them at the last minute would not necessarily doom your apps. Many qualified applicants do so as well.</p>
<p>No I do not believe that my application appeared hurried since I looked them over carefully. I was merely proofreading them for error until the last minute. But I was just wondering if admission officers favor the applicants who submit application earlier since they would assume that those who submit application faster have more interest in the college.</p>
<p>In articles I’ve read, some adcoms have mentioned that sending in applications early can be beneficial because the adcoms have more time to read each application. Once there are thousands, each app will not be read for as many minutes. And the readers will be more fatigued.</p>
<p>So, if someone sends in their app in October or November for regular decision, it might make more of a memorable impression than if it appears on Dec.31/Jan.1 with a zillion others. This effect is probably most important to applicants who have less than perfect scores, and need more weight given to their personal statement.</p>
<p>Best of luck with the next set of decisions, there is still hope! (Could you be experiencing Tufts syndrome?)</p>
<p>Agreed that’s a lot of waitlist… but it’s not rejection! 
Son submitted his applications pretty much last minute and he is 2 for 3. However, he had worked on apps over thanksgiving break… then rejected ED… then worked like a feign for the last two weeks of December to get them all in. Rushed? not really. Once you have an essay or three close to done, it really does come down to tweaking which one might fit the prompt best. Is it less than ideal? Absolutely.</p>
<p>Just for some input: I applied to every college before November and I’ve gotten 3 waitlist notifications this week.</p>
<p>I was given early writes for Williams College even though I was rejected from other bigger universities. So do you guys think college admission officers at liberal arts schools spend more time looking over my application than those at bigger universities?</p>
<p>Don’t read too much into being waitlisted, peterpan. It means what it says: You’re qualified, but they had too many qualified applicants for the available spots. If they wanted to punish you for applying just before the deadline, they would have sent you rejection letters. Hang in there.</p>
<p>It depends but due to the many, many apps, some files don’t get read until they are complete (i.e. all school docs have arrived) – someone who got theirs submitted in Nov may not get read until Feb. Someone who got theirs in at 11:50 Dec 31 could have it read by Jan. Don’t sweat this – plus there’s nothing to be done at this point. </p>
<p>No need to try to strain out every little morsel of “could it have been this – could it have been that”</p>
<p>Best of luck to you</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters. In fact, I’ve even applied to some a few minutes after the deadline.</p>
<p>Doesn’t matter at all. I applied to Duke, Columbia literally minutes before the deadline and things have worked out</p>
<p>OK. I’m sorry to stir this controversy again, but I just got into Pomona College with fabulous financial package. It is really hard to overlook this pattern.</p>
<p>i applied to all of my schools just a day before the deadline, and out of the eight, i’ve received three acceptances (WUSTL, uchicago, UNC chapel hill - honors & merit scholarship), a likely (penn), and four are yet to be known. there are other factors, i’m sure, other than the time you submitted it. perhaps the content of the application itself. or random luck.</p>
<p>I got waitlisted to Pomona</p>
<p>I don;t think so. I applied to most of my schools at the absolute last day on line (or last week for many others) and I have been accepted by a lot of those schools so far. I suppose it can lower your chances but it doesn’t mean that you’re an automatic waitlist.</p>
<p>well i applied to swarthmore right before the deadline but got waitlisted today… ugh…</p>