Early, Early Admissions

I am a teacher who was asked to submit letters of recommendation by August 30th. When I inquired why - since ED and EA deadlines typically fall in November, I was told by the parent that some schools offer preferential housing based on when an application is submitted (completely). Is this accurate? If so, it will push up my timeline of when I upload letters of recommendations to Naviance, Common App, Coalition. Thank you

@anloubd these parents are correct.

There are colleges where applications opened in August.

Some colleges…Pitt, for example, give their best merit aid to the earliest accepted students who qualify.

My kids had their applications all sent by October 1…all of them…EA, Rolling and regular decision.

They asked their teachers for recommendations at the end of their junior year…and this was back in the day when the paper copy needed to be mailed to the colleges. The teachers got them done.

It’s easier now…

My daughter asked for the same last year. Some of her schools were on rolling admissions and merit money was more plentiful the earlier the application was complete. My daughter also asked teachers spring of junior year so her teachers weren’t scrambling last minute. Like the above poster, my daughter had all her applications submitted by September. It also made a difference for invites to honors college.

My daughter applied in end of August for rolling admission that is likely to have preference for those who applied before the crowd. Although I am not sure if it depends on the application or acceptance date, the college also gives away preferred housing on first come first served base. The college doesn’t require LOC, but the application was incomplete until her official transcript was directly submitted from her high school. Now we are 2 weeks away from their 30 days decision period for priority applications. She can be done before most of high school students starts.

My daughter is a senior this year, and her friends are all worried about applying to college. She’s already applied to one so she knows it isn’t that difficult. Since that college has rolling admissions, and she is well qualified for the college, she’ll be even more confident when she gets an acceptance!

My daughter has had a total of 7 days of high school this year and already has 5 college acceptances.

Her GPA isn’t the best and she knew her chances at rolling admission schools were much greater early in the process.

2 of these 5 schools open housing deposits by early October.