<p>So one of my top schools has an early action due date as early as October 1st with a notification date of November 1st. The school doesn't use the common application, and theirs was pretty easy. There was no essay, only an optional statement, and then the basic information. They don't require recommendations, so all I have to do is send in my transcript when school starts as well as my SAT scores. </p>
<p>Now, my question is, is it ever too early to apply? School starts September 3rd, and I don't want to hound my guidance counselor the minute we get back. I would love to know the admissions decision early but I'm not sure when things start to get rolling in guidance. Does anyone know when the admissions process truly starts to start or do you think it varies school by school?</p>
<p>To answer your broader question of “Is it ever too early to apply?”, the way I see it, there are two good reasons for choosing to apply later rather than sooner:</p>
<ol>
<li>Your grades dipped junior year and you want to use the entire fall semester as an opportunity to bring them back up again before applying.</li>
<li>You have some very special and impressive extracurricular development that either is in the process of happening or will not happen until after the ED/EA deadline, and you want to make sure you can list it on your app and/or write an essay about it.</li>
</ol>
<p>If neither of those apply to you, I would say go for it and apply early. </p>
<p>As far as counselor stuff goes, your guidance counselor will probably be more than happy to get started on what needs to be done, especially since you mentioned the school doesn’t require any recs. Yes, these things do of course vary from school to school, but if you don’t want to rush your counselor by asking as soon as school starts, put it off a week, or even two weeks. All the crazy back-to-school chaos in the counseling office will at least partially have died down by then. And since all the counselor needs to do is send in your transcript, it should take no time at all.</p>
<p>October 1 is around the corner . . . why wouldn’t you get started now??? Not much is going to happen between now and October 1st - you won’t have grades yet, extracurriculars will barely have started . . . so why wait? If you’re really concerned, contact the school and ask how early they begin accepting applications.</p>
<p>The only issue I could see is the situation where one of your other top choices is a single choice, early action decision plan, in which case applying anywhere else under their early plan would not be permitted.</p>
<p>^ Look up the limitations for restricted early admission on the school’s web site. Some do allow you to apply to rolling admission schools or public Us.</p>