Should I apply to colleges earlier rather than later?

Applying to College
1

<p>I REALLY want my colleges to see and consider my senior year grades and the college reps who came to visit our school said that they did want our senior grades and those could be the difference between an acceptance and a rejection. But my senior year grades don't come out until January 25th and three of my schools' application deadlines are on January 15th. And they all said that it wasn't a problem and just to send the application, SAT scores, etc. and fax over my transcripts when my senior grades come in on the 25th so they can see my updated GPA, class rank, and everything. </p>

<p>But after they left I was talking to my friend and we were talking about the weight of letter grades vs. GPA. And she talked to some admissions counslers who said they didn't base their decision soley on how many A's and B's they see but if it came down between Person One and Person Two and Person One had all A's and B's and Person Two had some C's thrown in the mix they might choose Person One. </p>

<p>And I asked her how would it come down to those two people? And she said if they apply late, so apply early.</p>

<p>But I didn't want to apply super early because I heard you need to get transcripts to the college within three weeks of sending the application. And I don't want them writing me off without seeing my senior stats like they said they wanted to.</p>

<p>So what should I do? Apply close to the deadline to ensure my senior grades get sent before three weeks is up? Or just send in my application and figure out the transcipt thing later?</p>

2

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<p>In the course of applying to college, you will hear a lot of things that are complete nonsense. This is one of those things.</p>

<p>When a college or university gets the first part of your application–whether it’s Common App. or SAT scores or whatever–they will create a file for you. Everything else that comes in during the course of the application season–teacher recommendation, transcripts, etc.–will get added to that file.</p>

<p>Now, as for the question of how early you should apply. It depends. </p>

<p>If you are applying to a college or university with “rolling admissions,” you should apply as soon as you can create an application that shows you off to your best advantage.</p>

<p>If you are applying to a college or university with deadlines for Early Action/Early Decision and Regular Decision (and it sounds as if you are), then this is a matter of some debate on College Confidential. I think you can send your application as soon as you’re sure that it portrays you just about as favorably as it can. Sometimes people wait when they think there’s a chance they will have new accomplishments (e.g., making Eagle Scout) or win more awards that will make them more attractive to colleges.</p>

<p>I do not recommend waiting until the last minute. As it says on the bumper sticker, stuff happens. (That is what is says on the bumper sticker, isn’t it?) Last fall, a freak October snow storm knocked out power all over the Mid-Atlantic just as November 1 early deadlines were approaching; that caused a lot of panic. Your own computer could crash. Your cable could be knocked out, and take your broadband with it. Every year, just as the RD deadline approaches, some college’s server will be completely overwhelmed with traffic and crash. You don’t need these worries.</p>

<p>Some people on CC are quite convinced that applications that are received earlier are read earlier (and at more leisure). I’m not so sure of that. Personally, I believe that if you send your RD application in November, it will be read in the spring with the rest of the RD applications. I think that in November and December, admissions officers are working on reading early applications, and then discussing them in committee. I will say, however, that a friend and former student of mine who worked for years in admissions at a top-50 university, did tell me that when she read an application, she always made a mental note of when the applicant had submitted it.</p>

<p>When my daughter was applying to colleges, I told her to aim to beat every college’s deadline by 10-14 days. That gave her plenty of time to do a good job, and also left time to deal with last-minute problems (and there were some). And it worked well for her.</p>

<p>But if you think your application is about as good as it’s going to get, there’s no reason not to send it now. They absolutely will not throw it out just because your transcript isn’t going to arrive for weeks.</p>

<p>(And for what it’s worth, most colleges and universities actually get your transcript twice. They get it once with the Secondary School Report from your guidance counselor. The Secondary School Report is due by the application deadline. Along with that report, your school will send a letter from your guidance counselor or some other school official, and a copy of your transcript to date. Then after the first semester had ended, many colleges and universities will also want a Mid-Year Report. This is a much shorter form that the school uses to verify that you are still enrolled in the classes you said you were taking, and to send an updated transcript that includes your first-semester grades. Colleges and universities are used to having these form come in throughout late January and most of February as high schools finish their fall grades and then complete the college paperwork for seniors.)</p>

3

<p>Wow! Thank you so mcuh for all of that! Let me give you my personal specific situation for one particular and you can tell me what to do directly. </p>

<p>I want to go to James Madison University which gets like 20,000 applicants a year so that’s already a lot of applications that need to get read. I have all the awards/ honors that I’m going to get. I’m going to be published in a magazine in a month or so if that all goes well so I’d like to include that in there. Basically I could have a full application (just my SAT scores, the body of the application with like clubs and awards and such in there, my essay, and possibly my teacher recommendation) in a couple months. I really just can’t send my transcripts until January 25th because it really will more than likely make the difference between an acceptance and a rejection. </p>

<p>So do you think I should send the other components of my application (which will probably be done in November/ December) and then just follow up with my transcripts? The Head of Admissions visited my school and said to just send our transcipts whenever our senior grades come in so that our full high school’s work so far is all together without all the mid-year report/ follow up stuff. </p>

<p>My main concern is (and it didn’t occur to me when I was in the meeting with the representative) should I just send what I have now and have that month or so gap between them recieving everything else and then my transcripts? Or just send everything else close to the deadline so my transcripts follow up within three weeks?</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate it!</p>

4

<p>The school doesn’t care how long a “gap” there is between receiving information, as long as all the information is received by the cutoff time. Send in your transcript now. That way your application will be “complete” by the deadline. Then send in your Mid-year report when your 1st semester grades are available.</p>

<p>I think it looks bad on the student when they can’t follow directions. If the application says send in grades by the cutoff, then send in grades by the cutoff. You can always send additional information after the cutoff date. I’m sure they have many kids like you that say “I’ll just wait until my first term grades are ready”, and they deal with it. But, if it comes down to Person 1 vs. Person 2, and they are identical, except that Person 2’s application was complete on time, and Person 1’s was not, then guess who they will pick?</p>

<p>Rolling admissions is when you have to be careful. As soon as your application is complete, they will review your file. I would still do it early, and include a note that, you are doing well this term and would be happy to send your 1st term grades. Then, if it would make a difference, they may hold your application until they see your 1st term grades.</p>

5

<p>The other time that early applications can matter, is when there is an early cut-off date for a particular scholarship. One of my niece’s applications was due at the end of September because of that! So do check through the websites of the places on your list and see if you need to get some of them in very early.</p>

6

<p>Well my problem is I had some unfavorable grades at the end of my junior year. So I wanted colleges to see my first semester senior grades before they make a decision. I fear that they’ll write me off and never even take into consideration my senior year grades. </p>

<p>But like I said earlier one of the admissions reps said they do base decisions on senior year grades and that if we wanted to wait and just send in transcripts when they come in there is no penalty and that the application deadline is strictly for the application and transcripts can come in after.</p>

<p>But if you really think I should send in my stuff earlier and then just do a mid year report, I’ll look into it.</p>