At what point does the application clock tick?

Applying to College
1

<p>I hope this isn't a really dumb question, but I've read on some of the school sites that it's important to apply as early as possible to schools with rolling admissions or competitive schools. </p>

<p>My kid submitted her on-line applications in September and early October. Our guidance office is really slow sending out transcripts and recommendation letters (everything has to go through them). They prefer to wait for the first semester's grades to show up on transcripts. In my kid's case, that's a plus since she's geting a 4.1+ in honors and AP classes. It will help her to show that the 4.0s+ she got as a Junior and Freshman are more consistent than the 2.? she got as a really lazy sophomore. </p>

<p>I found out that she decided to wait until her 10/14 Senior SATs to have ANY scores sent out to colleges, which means that her actual applications probably won't be "complete" until the first or second week in November. Will the schools consider the date of the on-line application, or only when her applications are complete?</p>

2

<p>I don't know about how rolling admissions work, but normal schools don't consider the date at all. Just think about all the international students who send their apps on the deadline date. It may take the mail 2-3 weeks to get there. The adcoms only actually look at the apps two-three weeks before the decisions date anyway(for ED), and after readers made summaries of the apps...I really don't think they care about the date, nor that they even know what it is</p>

3

<p>I do not see how it is important to apply early to competitive schools. It should not make any differencee for regular decision.</p>

4

<p>submitting the app early helps for rolling admission (but only if it is complete). no college will evaluate an incomplete app... submitting early for regular decision should have no real effect either way.</p>