I’ve heard from several of my school counselors that submitting applications early (i.e. 1-2 months prior to the deadline) gives you an advantage in the admittance process. In other words, my counselors said that submitting your application would give you a higher chance of being accepted. Is this true?
I don’t believe this is true.
It depends on the college. For rolling acceptance colleges, it often is true. Also, colleges with EA sometimes look favorably on students who were interested enough and on top of their game enough to make the EA date.
Submit when your package is ready. Don’t rush it because of this “perhaps” game. In many circumstances, it makes not a single lick of difference (like the Ivies, e.g.).
We wondered about this too last year, and I don’t know the answer. My son had everything ready for the schools he was definitely applying to very early—in time for early deadlines at all of them, though he only applied to one EA (the rest RD)—and sent them in then. If you have everything as ready as it’s going to be, sending early can’t hurt; otherwise, wait till it’s really ready.