<p>I read somewhere that it is best to submit applications to colleges early. Not as in early action or realy decision, just getting the application complete some amount of time before the regular application deadline. But how much before the deadline would still be considered early? A few weeks? A few months?</p>
<p>D1 submitted her apps on the first day they were accepted. She loved hearing back from the rolling admissions schools!! D2 will also submit as soon as school starts accepting apps even though she is a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>Apply as soon as apps are available and when your student is prepared to apply. Do not rush through. Be thorough & thoughtful about them. Take the time that you need to be sure they are done properly. Early is better for scholarships too.</p>
<p>Congrats NorthMinnesota on your daughter being a recruited athlete! Thats awesome!</p>
<p>There are several really good reasons to get an application or two submitted early. First, it takes a lot of stress out of the application if the student has an acceptance beore Christmas. Rolling admission and Early Action are good ways to do this. Second, your student gets their Guidance Counseling and Teachers Recommendations done "before the rush" that begins around January 2nd. Third, having to get an application done early forces your student to get her list together and get at least one application DONE before Thanksgiving. This is especially valuable for students who are procrastinators (like my D).</p>
<p>At one of the info sessions I was at this week, the adcom said she expected to start getting applications this month.</p>
<p>I totally agree with the previous posters' advice about getting some apps in early. We live in NJ and The College of New Jersey is considered an excellent school, academically and financially. I know of at least 2 recent H.S. grads who wanted to major in science/pre-med but they didn't know that those slots get filled early in the admissions process. Both were told to choose another major with the expectation (not guarantee) that they could change to science/pre-med after the first year. Neither applicant is going to attend TCNJ. And then people wonder why NJ exports so many of its brightest students to other states for college.</p>
<p>NJ offers a Bloustein Scholarship to all who are in the top 10% of their class at the end of jr. year of H.S. who also have a certain SAT or PSAT score. The scholarships can only be used in NJ. I recently attended a graduation where 23 kids were awarded Blousteins and NOT ONE is going to college instate.</p>
<p>Applying early is a good idea, because this could save a student from a potential disaster. Schools will have time to inform guidance people if they are missing anything -- SAT, financial aid forms, recommendations, etc. Of course, we should remind students to check their e-mail regularly for updates. Last year, I had a student apply early action to one school. It was his top choice. Well, he never checked one of his e-mail accounts, the one he used for colleges. His top choice had been trying to reach him because it did not have his SAT scores. So he missed out on early action.</p>
<p>There are schools were application before the drop-dead deadline qualifies you for scholarships. This time last summer my D *****ed and moaned loudly when I forced her to spend about 1 hour per day on her applications. By mid August she had all her essays written, short answers answered, and "Why X" questions replied to with something relatively specific about the school. During the first week of school she had provided the necessary information to guidance counselors and teachers. When the applications opened in September, she copy/pasted everything and was done with the whole process by mid September. In early December I noticed that she spent a lot more time at home than usual. I asked her why, and she told me that there was nothing to do, since most of her friends had been grounded by their parents as a means of forcing them to work on the college apps. So I guess that because of me she "lost out" on being with her friends twice, once during the summer and once in December.</p>
<p>For rolling admission schools, it is very important to get the application in early. These schools can fill up early and end up waitlisting or rejecting very qualified students who apply late. </p>
<p>But for schools that have a Jan. 1 or Jan. 15 deadline, I don't think there is any advantage to applying super early. If the school has early decision/early action, the regular decision applications are probably not looked at until admissions is done with ED. Some kids need to ruminate about what to write about -- a lot of English classes senior year have units on essay writing. Even a few months senior year can make a difference in maturity level and the quality of essay writing that emerges. They need the extra months -- they just aren't ready to write essays before senior year.</p>
<p>I'm not advocating that kids leave everything to the last minute. If they can write drafts during the summer or early on, that's great. But some kids can't, and need more time. And I don't see the advantage of mailing off an application in September when the due date is Jan. 1 (except for rolling admission schools, or if there are scholarship deadlines).</p>
<p>I agree with fireandrain - work on the applications early, but then hold on to them until a few weeks before the deadline and update everything. Many students have significant achievements during fall of senior year and it probably makes a better impression to have them included in the original application rather then sending numerous updates to your file that can get lost or misplaced.</p>
<p>Everybody's advice is always "get them in early," but the reality (particularly for boys, I hate to say) is often a little more last-minute. I had internal deadlines for getting the Big Essay finished (the only tough part, really) that came and went (Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, end of Christmas break). We finally got them out the door (or, actually, hit the send button) probably 10 days into January, with the earliest deadlines being January 15th.</p>
<p>I'd only recommend that the whole application process is stressful enough, and you don't need to pile on to that with worrying too much about when it all gets finished. (As long as it's before the dealine!) It's true that for some schools, the earlier you apply, the earlier you'll hear, and it is awfully comforting to get that first acceptance. But, like labor, it really all does come to an end and everything really will work out fine.</p>
<p>Best of luck. It's an exciting time for you.</p>
<p>My daughter got her apps done over the summer and handed them to the GC the first full day of school. She was far and away the first student to do so and got unprecedented attention to her search and her applications. It was a very good thing.</p>
<p>Can items be submitted piecemeal? For instance, send in everything with a note that October ACTs and a performance CD will be submitted at a later date? I'm not sure whether early would take precedence over complete.</p>
<p>ChiSquare - Can items be submitted piecemeal? Sure. Some schools make it easy to see what materials have been accepted -- some don't. And you really need to do that if you're submitting piecemeal. As to whether the college will look at the App until it's complete, um, I'd say probably not.</p>
<p>A number of schools have a Part 1 for applicants to fill out and send in asap--it usually contains personal info and not much else. This allows the school to start a file on the applicant and to arrange alumni interviews (if available). Part 2 follows later.</p>