<p>Harvard does not have EA anymore. But it has priority deadline of Dec. 1.
What is the priority deadline?</p>
<p>they say they will start reading then, in the order in which apps are completed. But the real deadline is still Jan 1. And they say there is no other advantage to finishing your app by Dec 1, other than being read a little earlier and so you can hope they are fresher and not exhausted, but they will still only admit in their usual way, with lots of committee discussions etc, so they won't really finalize the class any earlier.</p>
<p>They start reading them in December 1. They urge all applicants to send it in by that deadline so that they can start coordinating interviews and whatnot. However, it is not required and is only the "priority" deadline.</p>