<p>This is probably the world's dumbest question, but could it help to get a RD app. in early, like do they start looking at apps as soon as they're complete or wait until deadline. If they do read them as they come in (I suppose every school is different?), would early submission be a plus, minus or neutral?</p>
<p>My feeling is that it would be neutral. What it would do is ease the burden on the adcoms who need to sort out thousands of pieces of materials and file them appropriately. If they can stretch out the time for doing so by encouraging people to send in their stuff early, all the better. But it would not speed up the reading of the folder per se. </p>
<p>When we went to visit Yale some time in March, the adcom was busy meeting to decide RD admissions. The deadline for submission was Dec. 31.</p>
<p>My son sent in one of his RD apps at the same time he sent in his EA app (both common with similar supps). Sent in via snail mail.
Looking back, he thinks this was a mistake. He seemed to get lost in the process at this school, never got an interview offer, never got some of the follow-up mailings that his classmates got, etc. Personally, I think it said to the school "I applied somewhere else first choice" whereas if he had waited and mailed it closer to the RD deadline, they may not have felt that way. Also, his apps and essays definitely improved as the process progressed. Sometimes a particular question from a particular school's app can produce the best essay of the bunch.</p>
<p>A lot of the state schools do practice rolling admissions - and many schools that offer scholarships want you to have apps in early - some by Nov 1, some by Dec. 15th. You will have to look at each school's website to find this info.</p>
<p>Son was going to send some of his RD apps in early but decided to hold off because as fall semester progressed awards, team captain status, all conference/region/state for fall and then winter sports, officer elections, and similar items would be lacking if he sent it in too early. </p>
<p>He did send in EA apps, no ED/SCEA and would send in an update if he thought it would make a difference.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>not a stupid question.
The above points are all good replies, but consider a fifth, which I PM'ed you about.</p>
<p>i'm curious too.
mind posting that pm, epiphany?</p>
<p>I would think it a small plus. But, unless the school has rolling, don't send it in before the ED/EA deadline, usually Nov 1, bcos it just won't get reviewed until after EA/ED decisions (mid-Dec), and a two week break for the adcoms. But, if you send it in early December, the mail room can sort and prepare your file for the first readings, which occur early Jan. Thus, your app is being read before the thousands of other apps arrive -- assuming Jan 1 deadline, the mail takes 2-5 days, so the masses of apps won't arrive until Jan 5-7, and will need to be processed. </p>
<p>Also, certain schools, like Tulane, have a sorta rolling EA -- if you apply earlier than Nov 1, they'll notify you earlier than mid-Dec even if you are NOT officially applying EA.</p>
<p>Unless the school has rolling admissions, it won't make a difference. They all get filed together anyway and looked at by different admissions counselors when its time to decide. One of your adcoms might read it sooner, but another will read it later, and they probably won't gather to decide on you until later. I seriously doubt that they will let any borderline candidate in just because they sent in their app early. Instead, they'll probably keep the application until later and see what kind of class they have before deciding on it.</p>
<p>It really depends on how the individual admissions offices operate. Some schools do put the apps in order that they are received, or start right into the RD apps after the ED ones are processed so they can get ahead of the game, knowing the deluge that will be awaiting them in January. However, even then it could be advantageous or not. The app may be subconsiously reviewed in comparision to the ED apps. THe adcom may feel that too many kids were accepted early, and now wants to see the whole spread before commiting. Or, you could get lucky and have something in your app that was not in many ED apps, and therefore, get an acceptance. Some adcoms are more generous early in the process because there more spaces open, the squeeze is not in.
If the apps are just thrown in a stack, or otherwise filed so that they are not assessed in the order they are received, there would be no advantage, and there may be an increased chance of being forgotten or misplaced.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It really depends on how the individual admissions offices operate.
[/quote]
Totally agree. Since S applied to a large number of schools for transfer, in addition to a small number for initial freshman admissions, I have seen a variety of scenarios. Some schools just don't announce decisions until their stated announcement date and all are done at once. For these, I don't know if there would be an advantage to being read early or not. Might even vary by the individual Admissions Officer who happens to be the primary reader of your file. Some schools, although they are not officially "rolling," do, in fact, practice a variation of rolling decisions/announcements. And, it has been posted several times, although I can't verify it, that the early bird tends to get the worm on some merit money.</p>
<p>Most schools use some sort of rolling basis for financial aid and merit money because it would really stress out that department to be hit with all of the acceptances at one time. And, yes, it is favorable to be one of the early ones accepted and sent to be reviewed for the package. People are more generous with the funds, the more that is sitting in the pot. However, it is not predictable at given schools, which apps are going to be reviewed first by the adcoms. Are they going to be in precise or approximate order? Are they filed in a particular order? Are the first apps at the bottom of the stack ? Are the randomly reviewed? I can tell you that very last minute apps can have more problems just because there are so many of them, and the probability of some mistake occurring with any individual app is greater. I know that when we sent our apps in early, we got postcards from the schools saying that the app was received and the school was awaiting certain items (specified) or the app is complete. You just have more time to fix a problem if one arises earlier in the process.</p>
<p>epiphany</p>
<p>I got a pop-up saying you'd sent a pm. I've never gotten one before and couldn't access it. Sorry</p>
<p>Bethie, look at the upper right corner of this window and it should say in bold black font: "Welcome BethieVT" and under that, it gives the date/time of your last visit and right under that, is blue writing that says "Private Messages". Click on that blue link and it will take you to your private message box. However, you may not have enabled private messaging.</p>
<p>If you have not enabled Private Messaging, then what you need to do is this:</p>
<p>See the dark blue horizontal line near the top of the page? There are buttons on that stripe and the first button on the left says "My Control Panel". Click that. You will get a list of "controls" on the upper left of your window. Click on "Edit Options" and it will have a question about if you want to enable email messages and private messages. Once you enable private messages, then my directions in post #14 will get you to your private message box. </p>
<p>(I'm not a techie but must give myself a pat on the back for even assistanting someone with a tech question, if you only knew!)</p>
<p>Based upon my experience with 2 children going through the college application process I think it is a plus. With that said, it really depends upon the school.</p>
<p>Some schools have an application deadline but STRONGLY encourage you to get your application in before the deadline. Other schools will treat your RD application like an EA application if it arrives before the EA deadline.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much. Epiphany, I did figure it out. I'm kind of old and am just getting there. Next I'll figure out how to send a pm. I do feel a lot of support from this community. It's really nice.</p>
<p>Our son got all his applications in very early, by mid october but because he did not apply to any colleges which could be considered a reach, I cannot comment if it gave him any admissions advantage.</p>
<p>However because he was awarded a total of $370,000+ in merit scholarships, I do believe it helped in this area. The most persuasive evidence was his being offered the 4 year President's scholarship from Case. Some CC posters late in the Spring mentioned that they did not receive any significant merit aid though they did have comparable or marginally better SAT scores. I check the scrapbook and he received notification of both admission and the scholarship from Case in a letter dated January 20, 2004.</p>
<p>and soozie</p>
<p>Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it!</p>