<p>Next year, I'm planning to send in my applications as soon as possible to get them out of the way. However, I also plan on apply for a variety of scholarships and awards. If I recieve one of these scholarships and awards should I contact the college to tell them of another award.</p>
<p>I know you want to get your applications out of the way, but won't they be equally "out of the way" if they're sitting on your desk (or your computer), completed and ready to go? That way you don't have to bother colleges with unnecessary updates.</p>
<p>It never hurts to send them in as early as you can. And yes, it is different if they've actually be SENT as opposed to sitting on your computer and ready to be sent. It's just such a psychological load-off and one less thing to worry about. If it was me, I'd legit be afraid of my computer crashing. But maybe I'm just paranoid haha.</p>
<p>But then you run into the problem that morganrichman would have, which is, what happens when you want to add something to your application, after you've submitted it?</p>
<p>You would have to contact the school and tell them that you've won this or that award, and they would write it in on your app. Then when you win the second award, you'd have to contact them again, and when you win the third award, you'd contact them again. Then you think, why don't I just wait until I get all the awards, then contact the colleges? And finally, you come to the conclusion, Gee, it would be much easier if I just kept my basically finished application on my computer, and then wait until a week before it's due, put all the awards I won on the app, and then turn it in? Which is exactly what you should do.</p>
<p>Apply whenever you want to and send an update on, say, 1 January. It's good to have an excuse to contact the admissions office again.</p>
<p>Don't go counter to your regular personality for the sake of an update or two.</p>
<p>BTW, consider applying very early, say in August or September, to a rolling-admission school that you would be happy to attend if necessary. It is great to have an acceptance in October!</p>