<p>mr.man, what do you mean by “early”? Are you talking about Early Decision (binding), Early Action (non-binding), Rolling Admission (admission decisions made as applications are completed), or just submitting your Regular Decision application a month before its deadline? Each of these different types of admissions have different implications, different requirements and different “effects” on one’s application.</p>
<p>If you apply for Early Decision, then by definition you have indicated that this school is your first choice, since you have agreed to attend if accepted.</p>
<p>If you apply for Early Action, you have made no such indication, since you do not have to attend if admitted, so you can wait until all acceptances come in during April and decide by May 1. You are free to choose another college to attend. </p>
<p>If you apply for Rolling Admissions, then yes, it is better to apply as early as possible and get your decision as early as possible. Admissions get much harder as the class fills up; applying in, say, January could harm an applicant who might have been accepted in October. </p>
<p>For Regular Decision, the main advantages of applying “early” are that 1) you get rid of the pressure of applications early in the year (search these forums for the threads posted in January: “OMG, I missed the application deadline”, “When they say January 1 do they mean 12:01 AM or 11:59 PM?”, “The server crashed and I can’t apply!”), and 2) it gives you a greater opportunity to resend any items that were missing or lost. Applying “early” does not increase your chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>For the latter 3 types of applications, you have made no binding representation that you will attend if admitted. You are free to choose to attend any school to which you are admitted. You can, however, indicate on your application that the school is your first choice. How much that matters will vary from school to school.</p>