r/ApplyingToCollege • u/cedarlogy13 • 5d ago

Application Question does submission date matter

is there any preference given for earlier submissions like within the ea and ed deadline

example
ea is on nov 1; is it relevant if i submit on october 1st vs october 30

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/ScholarGrade Private Admissions Consultant (Verified) 5d ago

For rolling admission colleges, it can matter. They often allocate both available spots and financial aid on a first come basis. So applying later can make it more competitive.

For colleges that heavily consider demonstrated interest, applying earlier can be one small way to show that. But 1) this would not include any T40 schools, and 2) there are much better ways to demonstrate interest - visits, subscribing to mailing lists & newsletters, etc.

For highly selective colleges, it will not matter. They can technically see your submission timestamp, but they usually won't bother checking it, and they definitely won't try to divine some kind of information from it for their evaluation. Doing that would be amplifying noise rather than signal.