<p>how much does the recommended deadline (12/15) matter? i sent in all my stuff before the 15th, but the website tells me that my secondary school report/dean's report still hasn't reached the harvard office yet. what does this mean?</p>
<p>I believe the recommended deadline for Harvard was December 1…Princeton’s is December 15 :P</p>
<p>Someone else might be able to answer this better than I, but here are my two cents:
From what I have heard on this forum, it appears that the so-called priority deadline is mainly for interview scheduling purposes, with the extra benefit of not getting a rush of applications right before the January 1, absolute deadline.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about your school’s materials (as long as they were, in fact, sent). Schools are much more lenient about materials that are out of your immediate control.</p>
<p>The suggested deadline doesn’t matter at all.</p>
<p>I’m a current student, and I was speaking to an admissions officer the other day. He told me that they give that deadline so there is more time to organize applications and so the officers have more time to read through applications, but it does not help at all to submit your application early. As a matter of fact, he told me he doesn’t begin reading through his applications until after the final deadline.</p>
<p>So, don’t stress too much about the suggested deadline, and good luck with the rest of your applications!!</p>
<p>I don’t know how much that matters, but last month I got an email from Adcom urging me to apply before Dec 1st.
They said they began reading the applications by this date, starting from the first files they received. However, I don’t think I would have any advantage over than you just because I applied earlier.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, the email says that they do start reading apps on Dec 1, in the order of submission.</p>
<p>Hmmm…</p>