My D submitted her first application to McGill last night. She’s going to apply to Duke ED, after she pushed the submit button it occurred to me that it was a waste of money if she’s accepted to her ED choice. My wife thought certain schools might look favorably at earlier applications. True?
p.s. I do realize the importance of having the bulk of the applications ready to submit if she isn’t admitted ED.
I am not sure about favorability of early application as far as acceptance is concerned, but for people seeking merit based scholarships, many schools require early applications for merit scholarship consideration. If you miss that deadline the student loses the opportunity to reduce their costs by thousands.
^wow, I hadn’t thought about that, thanks!
Some schools have rolling admissions, and applying early does help as when they are full, they are full. It can also (sometimes) get you higher on the housing preference list.
If a school has rolling admissions or a deadline for scholarship consideration on their website, I’d put in the application. If the school has an EA round, it would be a good idea to apply in that pool most of the time. Other than that, I’d have her prepare the apps, but not hit send.
And if she gets into her ED school, wait until you have her financial aid offer in hand and you can live with it before withdrawing or stopping other applications. If you aren’t applying for FA, be sure you are ready to pay full price at the ED school no matter what other lower cost offers might come in the meantime.
For many schools if you apply sooner, you get an answer sooner. Once they get near the deadline they’re swamped, and that advantage is lost. It’s just nice to know.
Those are usually rolling admissions schools. Or schools with an early action (EA) round.
My D got a slightly early acceptance (maybe a couple weeks early) from a non-EA school. We were very surprised. It is a well respected university and offered her an excellent FinAid package.
In our search we ran into many schools who have early deadlines for merit scholarships, even if no separate application is required, so I second @NorthernMom61’s comment.
I also think, no proof, just conjecture, that colleges tend to look at early applications as a sign of interest.
Not necessarily. My daughter submitted her applications on the December 31st deadline. She received a likely during the first round of likely letters and 2 early write letters all in the same week in February.
Keep in mind that some schools simply send out their admissions decisions earlier than April 1.There are many schools that send admissions decisions out “early”. Schools will send out likely letters, early writes early evaluations that will give a wink and a nod, letting students know that they have been admitted (this usually not have anything to do with when you submitted your application). I have seen students who submitted applications early and were amongst the last students to receive a decision.
I agree with others; outside of Rolling admissions, Early Action and schools with designated early deadlines there is really no appreciable difference in admissions.
If OP’s child gets an early acceptance, be it because of rolling admission or EA or just luck, it will be well worth the $50 admission fee just for the piece of mind. Even if the child ends up at her ED school, every kid I know is so thrilled with that first admission because she knows she’s going to college!
It’s worth it. My kids both had acceptances before Thanksgivng. And both had the same comment “I know I’m going to college!” I suggest that all students have at least one rolling or EA school because that first acceptance is really a sweet one!
^^^Agreed, my S was accepted very early Nov. to a school and it helped us all to relax. It was a safety school, but one that he liked and could see himself attending. And when he was deferred from his EA school this early acceptance limited the number of additional applications he filed (we took off any schools below the one he was admitted to from his list).
We had the same experience as @happy1. It really helps with the stress. DS had two acceptances from the “middle” of his list, and he knew that he had options that were appealing and affordable. At many schools, there is no “advantage” to beating the deadline date. All the applications are reviewed on the same basis and all decisions released at the same time. It really depends on where you’re applying.
One consideration – for SOME applicants, it is better to wait as their grades might be higher, a competition in which they stand to gain recognition, etc a month or two out. - and this may argue for waiting. While you can always update an application, you don’t want to be doing it repeatedly and certainly not a zillion times before the deadline.
My '11 S applied EA or rolling to many schools and knew where he was going by winter break. Some of the schools he applied to had Nov 1 deadlines for scholarship consideration. Even if the schools do not have an early deadline, I highly recommend applying early, who wants to deal with apps over winter break?
Some colleges have first come first served scholarships for applicants who meet a specific stats threshold. So applying earlier can help, even if there is not a formalized EA or ED program.
Agreed. For schools with straight RD, there is no advantage. At these schools, AO’s won’t even start to read the applications until after EA/ED decisions are made. Having said that, the student may breathe a little easier if s/he can send in applications before the winter break, and not have to spend the entire vacation finalizing apps.
Totally agree with getting applications done ASAP. It makes the senior year so much nicer when the kid isn’t laboring over applications!