Applying Early?

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utahpt1

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I have read on some other of the threads that people say that its smart to apply early. What is exactly meant by this? Do schools give preference to someone who applied in say July compared to someone who applies in September? I am just trying to find time to study for the GRE and also a full school load, and work. All other aspects to my application are in order, the last thing is the GRE. I would just hope my chances wouldn't be limited because I applied a little later in the cycle. Do you have suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

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From what I understand, it makes no difference in schools that do not have rolling admissions. If the school has rolling admissions, getting it in early is very important (since you never know when the class will be filled). PTCAS lists schools by application due dates and whether or not they have rolling admissions if you're curious.
 
Applying early definitely helped me out this application cycle. Like the post above said, it's really important for schools with rolling admission because they will typically start interviews before the application deadline and will fill up the class as they go and may even be full before the deadline. A couple schools I applied to also claimed not to be rolling admissions on PTCAS, but actually did operate on a rolling basis. I would email schools directly to verify this. I also think that applying early shows schools that you're interested/motivated and also gives you time to submit more materials in case you forget something, or there is a problem with your application. Also, PTCAS warns you that it can take up like to 5 weeks to have your app and grades verified once you electronically submit your application. Though it usually doesn't actually take this long, it is something you need to allow for in your timeline to be safe!
 
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If the school you are applying to doesn't do rolling admissions, then it does not matter when you get in your application, as long as you get it in by the deadline.

If the school does rolling admissions though, like the previous posters said, applying early is good because the school will interview as they go, so you are competing for more spots (and usually less people) than later on.

I noticed that you said July vs September in your post. Applying in early September is still considered applying "early", the application opens June 30th or July 1st and few people complete their application in July. So usually what people mean by applying early is August to early September :)

Long story short, take your time to really prepare for the GRE so that you only have to take it one time. As soon as the essay prompt is released, start on working on that, and contact the schools you're interested in to find out if they do rolling admissions and focus on those first. For instance, if those schools require additional essays, write those first. You don't have to apply to all schools at once: you can e-submit for rolling admissions schools, then continue on working on supplemental material for other schools and add them later on. That's what I did :) (note that you won't be able to add more schools until your app is verified by PTCAS though,so I wouldn't recommend doing that if you're applying late as the later you apply, the longer it takes PTCAS to verify your app)

Good luck !!
 
I thought that schools who did not operate on rolling admissions would look at all the applications at the same time, but for many schools, that wasn't the case. I would submit it a few days before the deadline, and later I found out they had already conducted interviews! I would say to be safe, apply as early as you can. It also gets it out of the way :) I also recommend applying early decision if you're stats are not above a 3.5-3.6. I had lower stats and got into a top ten school, and i definitly think it was because I was an ED candidate.
 
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