Applying early vs strengthening your stats

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Hey everyone,

I know it is very important to apply early. I want to apply as soon as possible, but if I delay by 2-3 weeks (from end of July to mid August) I can increase my observation hours (from 80 to 100) and complete an additional prerequisite (developmental psychology).

Is it more important to get my application in ASAP, or is it worth the extra time to strengthen my application?

Thank you!

I would apply early. Put 100 hours of oberservation one the otcas form and put In Progress for dev psych. You want to get your stuff in asap.

Originally Posted by otsomeday

I would apply early. Put 100 hours of oberservation one the otcas form and put In Progress for dev psych. You want to get your stuff in asap.

This may be a naive question, but I was under the impression that applying in August/September IS applying early... all the schools I'm applying to have app due dates in December/January, and while I know that it's important not to wait until the actual deadline to turn applications in, I figured submitting my application a good three months ahead of the deadline would suffice. I'm pretty sure one of my schools doesn't even begin accepting applications until September...

And I thought it was important to have as many completed classes (rather than "in progress") as possible before you submit your application... So in the OP's case, would it really be more important for him/her to submit their app in JULY than to wait a few weeks to get those extra hours/complete the class?

Originally Posted by kgirl0042

This may be a naive question, but I was under the impression that applying in August/September IS applying early... all the schools I'm applying to have app due dates in December/January, and while I know that it's important not to wait until the actual deadline to turn applications in, I figured submitting my application a good three months ahead of the deadline would suffice. I'm pretty sure one of my schools doesn't even begin accepting applications until September...

And I thought it was important to have as many completed classes (rather than "in progress") as possible before you submit your application... So in the OP's case, would it really be more important for him/her to submit their app in JULY than to wait a few weeks to get those extra hours/complete the class?

With the increase the amount of applicants I would apply as early as you possibly can. Do the schools your applying to have rolling admissions? A few months or few weeks can make a difference in whether you even get an interview if that's the case. Good luck.

Oh, ok, that makes sense. Nope, the schools I'm applying to just have a normal admissions period, not rolling. I could see where that would make a huge difference.

Sorry OP, didn't mean to hijack your thread!

It really depends on the school. Some schools don't review any applications until after their deadline, so for those it doesn't matter when you turn in your application. But for others, it does matter because they start making offers well before the deadline (I know USC does that, for example.) So I would research the school(s) you are interested in and time your application accordingly.

Thank you all for your input!

No problem kgirl, the more information the better!