Hi,
I submitted my common app pretty late for my ED and EA school. For UPenn, my ED school, the basic common app was sent in at around 4:30 pm on November 1st, and the supplementals (which are separated for this school), were sent in later at 10:30. For my EA school, UMichigan, I submitted both the Common App and their supplementals (not separated) at something like 11:55. For UPenn, one might initially assume I was typing the supplementals for the five hours before I hit submit, but in actuality I had a soccer tournament finals to go to, and submitted it after some minor revision. The reason I waited until November 1st for both was because I didn’t think it’d make a difference what time I sent it in, and I figured I might want to make some last minute edits or something. I was prepared to hit submit days before, but I like to use what time I’m given.
That being said, I felt comfortable about my submissions until today. A friend of mine said that schools take into account time of common app submission, which I found surprising. On my Common App it only lists the day submitted. Their info had stemmed from a UNC information session in which they said they’ll be a little suspicious of applications sent in at 11:59 on the due date (and generally speaking, for a good reason). Was this just a scare tactic by UNC (which doesn’t use rolling admissions) to have people send in their applications earlier, and can adcoms really see time of submission for the common app? Would it be a good idea to send an email to UPenn or Michigan clarifying my situation, or would this seem suspicious? I’m hoping the difference in submission time is intangible in the admissions process anyway, especially since I had a lot of good demonstrated interest (talking to students, professors, programs) in the “Why Penn”-equivalent essay.
If anybody has some insight or ideas regarding the situation, it would be greatly appreciated.
Unless your friend works in the admissions office, not everything they say is accurate. In this case, it’s not. I can’t speak for UNC as it was never on my personal radar, but for Penn and Michigan (and basically every school without rolling admissions), the timing of submission, as long as it’s before the due date, does not matter.
Would some colleges like applications early so they can start preparing folders? Sure. Will it get an interview scheduled sooner? At some colleges, yes. Will it get your application moved into the accept pile more quickly? No; for the very simple reason that an AO will view your file in the context of other applicants from your school, if any.
While I’ve heard a similar general idea regarding due dates, does that still apply to timing? While I’m sure AO’s get a lot of applications on November 1st, I can see how, specifically, a submission time past 11:50 would seem questionable. I’m assuming the AO at UNC was saying that as they wanted to make sure people weren’t cutting it too close, as I trust that they did in fact say that during the information session. Regardless, can anyone confirm/deny that submission times are posted in the common app I send to schools?
Neither you nor I can conform what the UNC rep said, we were not there.
While it’s too late for many places for ED, the caveat for not waiting until 11:59 (or really, anytime within the last few hours before the deadline) is computer issues - servers crashing or problems with the applicant’s computer. Although colleges will (usually) give a break for server issues, don’t take the risk.
The other reality is that there is nobody in the admissions office at 11:59:59 at all, and certainly not sitting there waiting to hit the off switch as 12:00:00. Since the deadline for most colleges is based on the applicant’s time zone, if one wants to believe that the elves came in the morning of 11/2, sorted all the applications based on time zone, and then sorted by submission date within time zone, feel free. Hint: they’re not doing that.
It makes no difference in how they look at the app. That said, I’d avoid that approach for RD apps. The Common App goes down sometimes under heavy volumes, so submit a few days early (ideally with a weekday or two before the due date so you have weekdays to resolve issues like payments not processing). And you are lucky you beat the deadline at Michigan — I’ve heard in the past that they are quite unforgiving of late apps & materials.
Yeah, that is the one college that would not surprise me if they had the elves monitoring the submission times. They are one of the few colleges, at least in the recent past, that seem to look for a reason to shift an ED app to RD. No grace period for late recs or scores from them.
Great, thank you for the advice. It seems like I’m alright