College application deadlines. Don’t wait.

I remember the last time I asked to be served at a restaurant just minutes before it was closing. What a mistake. I should have known better. After the disappointing experience, I promised myself I would never do that again. Why?

The service was lousy. No one wanted to wait on us. The restaurant was out of all of the popular meals, and the kitchen had run out of what I wanted to order. Half of the staff had gone home. The half that remained looked exhausted. I even overheard the workers talking about us (and not in a good way). Murmurs like “why would anyone come in just minutes before they knew we were closing. Don’t they realize the kitchen has almost shut down and we want to go home.”

Well, I hate to break it to you, but the same thing happens if you wait until deadline day to submit your college application. Now, I understand that procrastination is a normal human trait, and yeah, I know your busy doing your thing. But seriously, be smart about this. Just like my restaurant experience, if you wait until almost ‘closing’ (read: deadline) there is no telling what kind of attention your application will get. And chances are, it will not be reviewed in the best light.

Here are 5 great reasons why you should NOT submit your college application close to the deadline:

1)    You will have no shot at some of the more popular programs like business and engineering since these programs will be full.

2)    The merit scholarship money will be long gone

3)    Rushing to meet the deadline, you probably won’t give them your best work. Or even worse – exhausted, you misspell the name of the college.

4)    Applying at the last minute tells colleges that you just didn’t care – that their school was not important to you. Once they think that, your application may be at serious risk.

5)    Colleges might think that you are lazy and unmotivated. Especially if you send in a rushed and sloppy application including typos and a less than stellar essay.

Put yourselves in the Admission Department’s shoes. Admissions work tirelessly with little time off to see their families or take vacation. Many of them have been on the road for the entire fall season visiting high schools. Now they are in lock-down, reading applications. Most of them love their jobs and can’t wait to get started, but as the months – yes, months – of reading continue, and the winter sets in, fatigue takes hold. Some reps read thousands of applications. Last year, UCLA received over 100,000 applications.

As the clock ticks down, the number of open spots decreases. Relief finally comes to the admissions staff as their college’s deadline approaches, and they can almost see the finish line. For months they have paced themselves to finish reviewing their pile of applications in anticipation that they can soon resume a normal schedule. Then at the last minute, an unexpected batch of applications is dumped onto them. How do you think they feel now about those last few applications? How would you feel?

During a conference I attended last year, Shawn Abbott, Dean of Admissions at NYU, stated: “At NYU more than 75% or the applications are received after Dec. 30^th. You don’t want to be that application that is read on March 1^st. Students may not be getting the best evaluation at the very end of the cycle”.

Here is my golden rule for application deadlines:

Be early. Don’t pay attention to the deadlines, pay attention to when the application opens. Good things happen to early applications.

The benefits are well worth the early planning:

• More scholarship money is available.
• All the popular majors are still open
• Admissions is excited to learn about you
• Admissions has more flexibility
• An early application shows preparation and interest
• You may have a better shot at getting in

Here are some general guidelines as to when you should submit your college application; it’s different for each type of application deadline:

For Rolling applications: (Schools like University of Indiana or University of Texas) Apply within the first couple of weeks of the application going live. Don’t rush your application, but plan to submit early. If a school has a priority deadline, treat that like the final deadline and submit 1-2 weeks before the priority deadline.

For Early Decision and Early Action Deadlines. Aim to submit your applications at least two weeks prior to the deadline date. This allows you time to make sure that all of your supplemental materials (things that you can’t control directly), like recommendations letters, transcripts, test scores, are also hitting your application within the required time period.

For Regular Decision Deadlines: Apply as soon as you have a well thought out application prepared and all of your standardized testing is completed but no later than a month prior to the final deadline.

See my chart on Admissions deadlines for more clarification.

Remember that there are a lot of moving parts to an application. The application itself (which often includes an essay), and then all of the other required documents that go along with your application: Transcripts, test scores, recommendations, etc. Don’t forget that this must be a coordinated effort. All of these documents need to be completed, scheduled, sent and received PRIOR to any deadline date. It is OK for these to arrive before your actual application is submitted.

Yup. You heard me. Don’t wait to send test scores because your application isn’t finished. SEND the test scores. Colleges will open a file and hold these for you. Once your application hits their system, it will marry up with all the other pieces.

Here is a handy link to college application deadlines.

So for those of you who have procrastinated until now: Stop procrastinating. You have got this. Take pride in all of your accomplishments. Turn off social media, and find a quiet place. Finish your applications. Proofread. Proofread again. And hit submit.

If you have any questions, hit me up in the comments section or send me a note.