Is it important to apply in August for early action?

Does anyone know if there is an advantage to applying in August for early admission, over mid September? August was my daughter’s initial plan, but she’s having trouble completing her Gold Award this summer due to scheduling difficulties, and she would really like this to be on her application. She is applying to fairly selective schools and hoping for merit aid. We keep hearing to apply in August, but will it really make a difference?
Thanks

If the schools having rolling admissions it would matter but if not they will probably wait until the deadline and then look at all of the applications together.

Rolling admissions, where a college admits applicants as applications are received, is a form of regular admission, and it is generally thought better to apply early to rolling admissions colleges, but for many of those, sending an application very early creates no advantege because many of the colleges do not even start making any decisions until after September.

For colleges with Early Action, which typically has a Nov 1 or similar application deadline amd a mid-Dec decision date, applying long before the deadline generally creates no advantage.

Mid-september is still very early in the process so if she will have a major accomplishment done then I’d wait to submit the application. FWIW out HS guidance office did not have the final transcript ready to be sent to college until early October.

The answer to your question is no, it is not important to apply in August. September is plenty early.

If it’s a rolling admission school, it’s very nice to have that acceptance in hand early in the process. Takes a ton of the pressure off.

Thank you so much to everyone for taking the time to reply. This is very helpful for us.