Question about submitting applications early

Question

Hello Everyone,

I've got a question about submitting early applications. Let's say I send in my application to a school pretty early, like mid-August. Is there an advantage to this? (assuming it really is done, and nothing has been rushed) It seems there may be, as the adcoms won't be overwhelmed with thousands of applications when they get mine. However, I doubt my recommenders will finish until closer to the R1 deadline. Will my application be read before the recommendations are all in, or is it just sidelined until "complete"?

Thanks for any insight!

-Ben

cheetarah1980 · Answer

Sidelined until complete. Plus many schools don't even look at the apps until after the deadline date. It's kind of impossible to holistically evaluate a person's candidacy without the recommendations.

Now if a school has rolling admissions until a deadline, they will look at the COMPLETE application when it comes in. In those cases earlier is better.

EBM · Answer

Yours may be closer to the top of the pile when they start reading, or they may start reading in totally random order. Plus a lot of schools will end up giving a day or two of leeway for late recommendations to come in. So there's no real advantage to submitting months early.

Once you think you're finished in August I'd recommend shelving things then revisiting them about a week before the submission deadline. That way you'll be able to look at the essays and whatnot with a fresh set of eyes and polish them up a bit, or possibly even revise their structure a bit.

spacecurves · Answer

Thanks for responses guys!

bizwiz6 · Answer

I think it depends on the school, check their instructions. Maybe they won't even read your application until all applications from round 1 have been submitted.
I know that in Columbia there is an advantage for applying early due to their early decision option, not sure about other schools.

Question about submitting applications early

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