<p>Is it better to hand in applications earlier .. does that serve as an advantage?</p>
<p>Because I am waiting till December to submit in my application because by that time I would have taken my December SAT &my schools deadline for submitting in applications is December 5th</p>
<p>its better to get them is as early as possible. I wouldn't wait on the sats. Just send those later.</p>
<p>Depends on school. If you are applying for regular admission to colleges that make all regular admission decisions after all applications are in, then when you apply makes no difference as long as you meet required deadline; exception: some colleges require earlier submissions if you want to be considered for merit scholarships. Interesting tidbit: Caltech, when asked about the issue, mentioned that about 50% of those who were offered admission last year applied during the last week before the deadline. Key is to meet the deadline: what far too many end up doing is waiting to the last minute, start filing out their application, and then, for example, discover at the end of the app that they must also have some form signed by a high school counselor and mailed by the deadline date, and they discover that on Dec 31 (for a Jan 1 app deadline) and their counselor is on vacation somewhere in the Bahamas.</p>
<p>If you are applying to a "rolling" admissions college, meaning one that issues decisions as applications are received (example: apply now and you could have decision within four weeks), then applying early can make a difference because they will be filling the class in order of receipt of applications.</p>
<p>Getting apps in early usually only matters for colleges that are rolling admission. At rolling admission schools, admission standards become higher as the class fills up.</p>
<p>Other colleges typically don't start reviewing apps until after their deadline, so there's no admissions advantage to sending apps in early.</p>
<p>If they don't start reading early, I'm not sure how some of these schools get through reading all of their applications given the numbers of apps some schools get.</p>
<p>But would bet there is an advantage to having been one of the last read as those would be fresher in the admissions person's mind....................kindof like looking at alot of houses in one day..............after awhile the earliest houses all start to blur.</p>