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For argument's sake... if a school has an Early Action deadline, does it make a difference to the ad comms whether the applicant goes complete as soon as applications are open in September, or if they go complete let's say, the day before the Early Action deadline? In other words, as long as the application is complete before the deadline, does everyone who submitted before have the same advantage of applying early, or will ad comms look more favorably upon those applications that were submitted in the earliest months?

katie96 wrote:For argument's sake... if a school has an Early Action deadline, does it make a difference to the ad comms whether the applicant goes complete as soon as applications are open in September, or if they go complete let's say, the day before the Early Action deadline? In other words, as long as the application is complete before the deadline, does everyone who submitted before have the same advantage of applying early, or will ad comms look more favorably upon those applications that were submitted in the earliest months?

In general, earlier is better. But if you need the extra time to make a solid app, by all means take the time and don't rush it. You need to make a judgment call. If you can get your application in earlier without sacrificing quality, then you should.

When's the EA application deadline though?

katie96 wrote:For argument's sake... if a school has an Early Action deadline, does it make a difference to the ad comms whether the applicant goes complete as soon as applications are open in September, or if they go complete let's say, the day before the Early Action deadline? In other words, as long as the application is complete before the deadline, does everyone who submitted before have the same advantage of applying early, or will ad comms look more favorably upon those applications that were submitted in the earliest months?

I don't think it will make a difference if you apply closer to the EA deadline than to Sept. 1. My impression is that admissions offices spend more time in September on things like recruiting travel than reading applications. Just keep in mind it can take a couple weeks for LSAC to send your application on to the school and for them to do some data entry before anyone will actually read your file.