<p>So what is the point of that deadline? College admission offices are on the holiday until the 3rd. If you suddenly have a question to ask, nobody is there to answer about the forms. Transcripts, would there be someone to receive there?</p>
<p>Actually there will be personnel returning to work the 2nd at most. Colleges are bureaucracies. Sometime in the long past for each of those with a January 1 deadline, the deadline was set. Those who are around now don't know why that was done or who did it, but do know it has always been done that way. For them to change it means they need some vote to breeak with a traditional rule. Several steps would precede such a vote -- someone would need to propose a change at an official meeting, the measure would then go to committee for study, report, and recommendations, the report would then be presented, questions raised would then be sent back to committee for further study and response, after about an 8 month process, the suggested change would come up for vote and if passed put into effect for the next year. In other words, it is just not easy for a college to shed whatever silliness it has traditionally followed.</p>
<p>More like it is just an easy date to remember.</p>
<ol>
<li>Jan 1 is a very convenient date.</li>
<li>Most people are now turning in applications online, so the January 1 deadline can still work regardless of the fact that mail is not delivered that day. The important thing is that applications are submitted and received by Jan 1. The paper parts of the application, like teacher recs and school reports, are usually sent at random points in the process anyway (they are rarely postmarked Jan 1 exactly).</li>
<li>Pushing back the deadline to the 3rd would set the app process back. Application numbers are going up at a lot of colleges and the more time wasted the harder it is to make decisions in a timely manner. drusba is correct, admissions people do not follow the same vacation schedule in this very busy season. They simply can't afford to.</li>
</ol>