<p>There have been numerous schools extending their application deadlines this year. Some very prestigious schools include: Duke, Cornell and Princeton. Many other elite schools have also played this hand (i.e. Northwestern, University of Virginia, University of Chicago, Swarthmore, etc.) I understand that this probably has something to do with rejecting more applicants in order to rise in the rankings. Even so, isn't this kind of cheap?</p>
<p>This makes deadlines obsolete. I know that many CCers were frantic with applying at the last minute and worrying about being minutes after 12:00. In essence, many of these schools are rewarding procrastinators and punishing (in comparison) those who respected the rules and spent more time on their applications. And no, I'm not simply defensive, I did actually apply to a school I may not have otherwise looked at because of the deadline extension. So I guess, hypocritically, I am reaping the possible rewards of a practice I'm condemning.</p>
<p>I was just wondering what other CCers think about this. I assume this tactic must be employed every year to increase applications/yield/rejections.</p>
<p>So, if you follow the rules, get in the paperwork, essays on time, at the expense perhaps of other work, others who slack off, get the same treatment</p>
<p>it would be interesting to see if these schools keeps the stats on when an application is recieved and the percentage accepted from application turn in timing...ie, how many are actually accepted from the late applications....</p>
<p>The thing is, near the deadline, colleges are simply frantically filing everything. Postmark dates and deadlines cease to really matter. I can understand apathy due to that kind of frenzy. What I can't understand is when colleges purposefully extend deadlines after adamantly standing behind their initial dates.</p>
<p>i agree, but a stack of mail showing up that late, it takes one or two seconds to look at a postmark, I mean JAN and FEB are pretty obvious, and you are right, they are using it to increase the rejection numbers so they look eliter, which is just bad, and lets say you applied on time and some kids said, hey, i didn't plan but I think i will apply to school XYZ cause I can late and that kid gets in...that would be unfair to the kid who followed all the instructions...</p>
<p>this will back fire I think on the schools down the road</p>
<p>I agree that it is unfair to the student that submitted on time. However, this kind of thing has happend for a while now and I don't think it has backfired yet. I doubt that it ever will</p>
<p>:( Vassar granted me an extension deadline to Jan 15 (their deadline is Jan 1) because I had attended a chat of theirs in December. Meh, didn't manage to get my application in, despite an ED-accepted friend encouraging me and a current Vassar friend (last year's senior) doing so, as well.</p>
<p>They don't publicly announce it on their website, so perhaps it's not as "come who may" as it seems? Only available to those who did show interest, but didn't apply.</p>
<p>(I couldn't apply because my dad's credit card expired and we hadn't received the new one yet in time. :()</p>
<p>The one for Duke and Cornell were blatantly "come who may" as they even announced it on their websites. The Princeton one was sent to everyone who opened an account but never did anything with it. I don't know about the others but I assume it must've been somewhat common knowledge because many CCers were compiling lists.</p>
<p>You mean Cornell and Duke are still taking applications for fall term? I couldn't find the announcement on their website. Appreciate if you would post the link.</p>
<p>I know that UVa postponed the RD deadline to Jan 8th and Northwestern postponed the deadline to submit Part I to Jan 10th.</p>
<p>No. Cornell extended to Jan 7th and Duke extended to, I believe, Jan 13th. They're both not taking them now. I really hope that they draw the line at Feb 1st. This thread is mainly concerned with the fact that with this trend, deadlines are becoming increasingly blurry. </p>
<p>For example, Wash U's deadline is Jan 15th. Will they one day extend deadlines to Jan 30th to field more applications? (I picked Wash U because of its strong efforts to rise in the rankings lately and for no other reason than simply as a hypothetical example.) </p>
<p>In fact, is there some kind of hidden deadline of Feb 1st (as a poster above has mentioned) after which all schools no longer take applications even though the "official" deadline is Jan 1st for most schools?</p>
<p>In the book "A is for Admissions" the author (a former Dartmouth admissions officer) said that all elite colleges will continue to accept application throughout January. That book is a few years old though so things could have changed since then.</p>
<p>I think some were, but then they should only be for those affected. Instead, I believe that these schools were trying to inflate the applicant pool to appear more selective.</p>