<p>Hi Badgers,
I was wondering if you all could share your thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages or applying before the early decision deadline. Is it better to apply right away to have better chances of getting accepted, or is it better to have another semester under your belt so they can see your senior year classes?</p>
<p>Any and all thoughts are appreciated, thanks!</p>
<p>Just changes the timing. Which is nice enough. No data to show it helps or hurts.</p>
<p>ditto. You will have an answer sooner- yes/no/maybe.</p>
<p>I disagree with barrons and wis75. If you’re confident that you have a strong record that you don’t need to beef up with a great first semester senior year, then why not apply early and before UW gets bogged down with applications. That’s what my daughter did way back when, and she was accepted in just a couple of weeks and well before Christmas. Of course, she ended up not going, but that’s not the point. . .</p>
<p>If you have to worry about beefing up your record 1st semester you probably would not get in under ED so pointless.</p>
<p>that’s why i said “if you don’t have to worry.” no need to take issue with everything!</p>
<p>“Why not apply early…” Ideally students get around to the application sooner rather than later. Others, like my kid, finally apply in January and get a quick yes. The “disagree” statement is a condemnation, not at all neutral- watch how you start a post. </p>
<p>Students- don’t worry if you don’t get your application in early. It is nice to get it out of the way, however.</p>
<p>The “disagree” statement is a reflection of reality. There’s not a college admissions rep in any large state U in this country who wouldn’t advise that earlier is better. In fact, now that we have a new UW rep on this board, maybe he or she should chime in!</p>
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<p>Can this be true? I don’t think so. It’s an honest question. </p>
<p>Suppose you have great SATs, a great freshman and sophomore year, but a rough junior year. Is it worth risking being denied rather than postponed by applying early or is it better to show a restoration to the higher level of performance by waiting until some senior grades are in?</p>
<p>Is it always advantages to apply early?</p>
<p>Most colleges prefer upward trends, and most colleges particularly value the junior year. So, under the scenario that you have described, I would not recommend applying early.</p>
<p>Barrons, Wis75 or UWMadisonAdmiss</p>
<p>Do any of you have an opinion on my hypothetical scenario?</p>
<p>Its early action, rolling admission at UW. So, if you have a very strong application and you want to know sooner than later, it makes sense to apply early because those applicants are getting in early. Not to be confused with early decision, which is used by a lot of private colleges/universities to rope in borderline applicants who are willing to pay full retail prices to attend. With early decision it is easier to gain admission because the student is committed to attend up front and the school doesn’t need to entice you with a tuition discount. Early action works pretty much in reverse - if you are a very strong candidate it makes sense because you will find out early, but if you have some real “red flags” on your application, you stand a good chance of being weeded out early, too. It might not apply here, but if you have those kind of doubts about the application, going regular decision with the first half of senior year grades submitted with the application would seem to offer better odds. Of course, I am not the admissions office and I don’t have the details either, but hope that helps a little.</p>
<p>I’m not a newbie to CC. </p>
<p>EA generally doesn’t provide advantages to applying early in terms of your chances of getting in. ED generally does because schools that use ED, use it to fill a portion of their class that they can rely on, and often, rely on to be full-pay. </p>
<p>In rolling admissions, from what I understand, the “bar” goes up as time goes on, and goes up a lot after the priority deadline, so it would seem advantageous to apply early. </p>
<p>However, in the case of a poor junior year, it’s not clear which provides more advantage, the lower bar of applying early by the priority deadline, or the improved grades of senior year. </p>
<p>I was trying to get some idea of how Wisconsin admissions would handle this situation. The logical thing to do would be to see if they can admit, and if they can’t to postpone and wait for senior grades. However, I’m not sure how great the risk of a denial would be for the student in my scenario. </p>
<p>Consider for example a full-pay OOS girl applying to engineering, 3.4ish GPA, and 2100ish SAT (750ish M) with a with a 5 on AP Physics B whose taking BC Calc and AP Chem. From Naviance, nobody with these stats from her brutally difficult public high school has ever been denied. </p>
<p>Could this student really get denied if she applied really early?</p>
<p>In a word, no. She would not be denied. </p>
<p>I agree with Classic. UW using rolling admissions. Generally speaking, the bar goes up as the year goes on, so apply early.</p>
<p>We encourage students to apply earlier, and keep track of admission deadlines, to make sure required materials arrive in a timely manner. Any application complete by the deadline will be reviewed. If all required materials are not received by the deadline, the application may not be reviewed. As for the hypothetical scenario posed earlier by ClassicRockerDad, students applying in both of our notification periods are reviewed with the same guidelines. At mid-year then, all students with an active application are strongly encouraged to submit their 7th semester grades, which are helpful especially in the case of a postponed applicant. The deadline and notification periods (no early/regular decision) are listed here: <a href=“http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/applyOnline.php[/url]”>http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/applyOnline.php</a>.</p>
<p>I think that confirms Wis75 and my view. It does not “help” to apply early–especially with a weaker record where they will likely want Fall grades. If you have a strong record it helps in that you get a faster response and can plan around that answer. But does not make the bar higher or lower overall.</p>
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<p>LOL, thanks for the last two replies, although they seem seem contradictory in answering the question I really have. </p>
<p>Let me rephrase the question. </p>
<p>Can it EVER hurt to apply early? </p>
<p>UWMadisonAdmiss implies no, (otherwise why would they encourage it)</p>
<p>Barrons implies yes - because they may deny you without considering your fall grades if those grades could’ve helped you.</p>
<p>These both can’t be correct. UWMadisonAdmiss, would you be so kind as to answer my greatly simplified question. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Not helping isn’t the same as hurting. Note also the term is early NOTIFICATION, not decision/action as used by other schools in admitting students. They started this just a few years ago. It isn’t possible to use chances from early in this decade as the numbers of applicants has been soaring. Logically getting materials in earlier takes away the stress and makes sure deadlines are met. Don’t overthink things, students- get the app done.</p>
<p>Can it EVER hurt to apply early? (Yes,No)</p>
<p>Ahh, you all said things I had already thought of. Thats why I posted it here. Just FYI, my grades don’t suck, and I have 24 college credits completed because of CIS classes and going PSEO. I had one C, and while I take full responsibility for it, I can honestly say that a better professer would have meant a better grade. I’m debating whether I should redeem myself with another science class fall semester, or should I go for it because I already know Madison is my top choice? I heard colleges generally accept more applicants during the first decision period, but I don’t want to risk getting denied because one bad grade. I’d like to know the answer to ClassicRockerDad’s previous question.</p>