January 1st Deadline = What EST?

<p>I know everyone is going crazy at the moment (we are too), however does anyone know what the "due by January 1st" means? Does this mean midnight Eastern Standard Time tonight or tomorrow night? We're having trouble accessing the site (the application is almost completed) so need to know whether we have less than three hours or until tomorrow.</p>

<p>From the Common App help section:</p>

<p>“All application deadlines are as of 11:59pm ET on the stated deadline day. The Common Application records all dates (deadlines, form submission dates, payment dates) in Eastern Time. Schools not located in the eastern time zone may choose to extend their application deadlines to the end of a deadline day in their local time zone, or may accept your documents up until the posted deadline in their local time zone (even though your submission time stamp will be recorded in Eastern Time.) For example, a school located in California may accept your application until 2:59am Eastern Time, which is equivalent to 11:59pm Pacific Time. Since this is on a school-by-school basis and this is not information that may not be available to you, we recommend you submit based on the Eastern Time deadline. Most colleges will accept the submission if it is within a reasonable time period around their deadline.”</p>

<p>So, you do have until tomorrow. But try not to wait until the last minute, in case there are server problems or other glitches!</p>

<p>Thanks SodiumFree. So (not trying to be “too” obsessive)…if the deadline states “January 1st” (not "by January 1st), the information <em>can</em> be submitted <em>on</em> January 1st? I think my brain is fried and I’m having trouble thinking clearly. We are typically not the last-minute types, however just found a college that may be appropriate and are frantically trying to get everything submitted.</p>

<p>Yes, my understanding (for what it’s worth!) is that if the deadline is January 1st, that means you can submit it <em>on</em> January 1st, up until 11:59 PM. So, you have a bit more than 26 hours left. </p>

<p>I actually don’t think you’re being too obsessive! But maybe that’s because my brain works the same way . . …</p>

<p>I’m also doing this last minute. i dont know why…</p>