I mean this in the sense that everything is submitted before the deadline, but is getting close to it.
For example, would colleges frown upon someone submitting their application at 11:50 the day its due compared to a couple days earlier?
No
No again. They don’t have AI software telling when someone submits their application before the deadline. Key is get it in before the deadline.
The main drawback of waiting to the last minute is possible uploading issues.
Otherwise, no. They have better things to do with their time, and better metrics for evaluating students.
No. (It would be useless info by itself anyway. How would they distinguish between “wasn’t that interested originally” versus “spent a lot of time to craft the best application I could”?)
Rolling admissions schools may be best applied to as early as possible, since they may use up all of the scholarship money or fill up the most desired majors before the announced deadline.
While true, the OP was asking about the nebulous “top schools” - none of which are rolling. And s/he is asking about a couple of days difference, which, considering that today is 27 December, is max 4.5 days for most schools whose deadline has not yet passed.
No. But don’t risk technical issues.
We’ll probably see many “help, I tried submitting my application at 11pm on 12/31 but…” posts in a few days.
There shouldn’t be anything that requires waiting this late.
As long as it’s in by the due date, you’re in the same boat as everyone else.