<p>many colleges with early action say "the earlier you apply, the better". does it actually matter when you apply, as long as it is before the deadline (november 1--usually, i think)? Do they pool them after the deadline and consider them at the same time, or do they consider them when they come in, like with rolling admissions? I suspect they just pool them, and it doesn't matter, but if i happen to be wrong about that, when is the earliest you can apply early action? or does it vary and schools announce when they start accepting apps or something?</p>
<p>long question for the short answer "it doesn't matter", i know, but i haven't been able to find any info on it and it's creeping up on us to-be seniors.</p>
<p>i do know that a lot of the top privates that were expecting an influx of early applicants due to harvard and princeton's new policy started reviewing applications a few weeks before the deadline. </p>
<p>it'd be dumb for them to wait until everyone's got in to start reading. i mean, even before the deadline, you can tell which applications are obviously not going to make it and maybe even which applicants are obviously going to make it. i think they kind of shove the border applicants to the side until they've gotten a better picture of the quality of the applicant pool as a whole.</p>
<p>But what if, for instance, you finish your application by October, but you need to take the October and November SAT and you can't afford to rush the scores, or you don't want to send them if they're bad scores.</p>
<p>How do you tell the college, or make a note, to wait on the scores and review everything else?</p>
<p>so if that's true, and it could possibly help a little (like if, especially with this coming year being the most competitive ever, they review my app early, before seeing how strong the pool really is, they offer merit aid or something that they wouldn't have if they'd looked at 1000 before mine--i'm applying to my safeties/scholarship schools early action)--when will they accept apps for early action? even if it doesn't help at all, i'd like to get it in as early as possible to get it out of the way. I'm applying to 3 or 4 schools early action that all accept the common app, and I've already basically filled it out, so i'll be ready to submit it asap.</p>
<p>i'd guess that it's a good idea to just wait it out until scores are in. i'd be annoyed as an adcom if they could have waited a couple weeks, but still before the deadline, but submitted it it early with a note like "wait for me to get my scores in before actually judging me" or something, especially because when you get your app in probably won't even have an effect on their decision.</p>
<p>in my case i'm done with all my SAT stuff and ready to plunge into apps</p>