How big of an advantage for early applicants?

[MrAvicii]

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No one is arguing about applying early. Everyone should.

We are just trying to suggest you that, that the way you look at predents and piloting "scientific points" is going going to support any thing that you claim. like i said and doc toohache said, the data is very unreliable.

right and i was saying you dont even need the numbers to prove any point. just use pure logic and the way the system works and apply early. Even without valid data, its still inherent that applying early is better than later. I scrapped the argument because you guys werent happy with it LOL thats because I would still use the data and still apply early and still get those nice interview spots (including schools that have yet to contact me but have contacted people with similar stats that applied in June) 🙂

 

[YoHomey]

This first come, first served misconception is very overrated.

Yes, for some schools, early but less than stellar candidates can slip thru the cracks and score an interview but these are at schools where the interview is used as an evaluation factor vs. a confirmation tool. Thus, it's still very difficult to gain admission.

But at most schools where the interview is used primarily to confirm for acceptance, the early interviews are given out to the creme of the crop and why there are such high acceptance rates among these interviewees. Later interviews at these schools include more sub-stellar candidates and more selective acceptances as the stats indicate.

Bottom line is it's about quality and not speed.

 

[journeybegins]

This first come, first served misconception is very overrated.

Yes, for some schools, early but less than stellar candidates can slip thru the cracks and score an interview but these are at schools where the interview is used as an evaluation factor vs. a confirmation tool. Thus, it's still very difficult to gain admission.

But at most schools where the interview is used primarily to confirm for acceptance, the early interviews are given out to the creme of the crop and why there are such high acceptance rates among these interviewees. Later interviews at these schools include more sub-stellar candidates and more selective acceptances as the stats indicate.

Bottom line is it's about quality and not speed.

I would have to agree with the poster above.

No one knows you better than yourself. So, you should just see what you can really handle and what else is going on in your life.

I'd say.. choose the method that yields the best quality application and the higher score. As long as it's not too late in the game of applying, you should still have a shot at interviews.

 

[MrAvicii]

This first come, first served misconception is very overrated.

Yes, for some schools, early but less than stellar candidates can slip thru the cracks and score an interview but these are at schools where the interview is used as an evaluation factor vs. a confirmation tool. Thus, it's still very difficult to gain admission.

But at most schools where the interview is used primarily to confirm for acceptance, the early interviews are given out to the creme of the crop and why there are such high acceptance rates among these interviewees. Later interviews at these schools include more sub-stellar candidates and more selective acceptances as the stats indicate.

Bottom line is it's about quality and not speed.

why not be smart and take the dat early and apply early? look at nguygen shes a perfect example! smart person with a low DAT and a few interviews to boot that she woulndnt have gotten later. quality makes sense but what else can you do over a few months? the only issue is when you should take the DAT, thats the only thing that held up my app. if i had the time to do it earlier I would have and I would have applied as soon as possible. Quality is more important than speed, but besides taking the DAT late... nothing else should hold up an application from applying on June 1. (pre req courses taken in the summer wouldnt make as they would be on the pending courses section of the application.)

 

[NguyenDDS]

why not be smart and take the dat early and apply early? look at nguygen shes a perfect example! smart person with a low DAT and a few interviews to boot that she woulndnt have gotten later. quality makes sense but what else can you do over a few months? the only issue is when you should take the DAT, thats the only thing that held up my app. if i had the time to do it earlier I would have and I would have applied as soon as possible. Quality is more important than speed, but besides taking the DAT late... nothing else should hold up an application from applying on June 1. (pre req courses taken in the summer wouldnt make as they would be on the pending courses section of the application.)

I'd have to agree with this. I know I wouldn't get an interview had I applied now. Anyhow, quality is definitely important... but it shouldn't take more than a week to fill out a quality application BECAUSE LORs should be asked and done by January of the year applying (USE INTERFOLIO! 🙂 I got mine done by December 2010). Personal statements should be done before the application opens in June (I started my almost 2 years ago lol). Your ECs should be all in your head. And it would be in everyone's best interest to take the DAT before April of the year applying (something I wish I did so I have room for a retake). Pair all this up with applying early and everything should be prettier than applying late... and this applies to both excellent stats and not-so-great stats 🙂

EDIT: Oh YEA! Another reason why early applications are better is because your application is 'compared' or is 'competing less' with less applicants than if you applied in like October (many more applications and many more people submitting!).... I remember watching something about it on Chad's website... the admission women from like UoP or something explained it.

 

[tpwelie34]

So all in all, if studying in the summer solely for the DAT will probably yield better results on the DAT for me, finishing up my application during early August will be probably be worth applying not early? I'm not sure how late August is.

Also, from reading the above posts, do the earliest interviews yield the highest chances of acceptance or do roughly all interviews give a fair chance on acceptance based on stats?

 

[NguyenDDS]

So all in all, if studying in the summer solely for the DAT will probably yield better results on the DAT for me, finishing up my application during early August will be probably be worth applying not early? I'm not sure how late August is.

Definitely do well on your DAT. If that's in August, then it's in August 🙂 Don't do what I did... I rushed.. studied for 2.5 weeks...didn't study 2 sections, which I performed poorly in.... made a 20+ in the sections I DID study. Had I postponed it, I know I would be able to get 20+ across the board and thus yielding more interviews. So, definitely take the DAT only when you know you have studied enough. While early applications are very important, don't sacrifice your DAT score for it. BTW, August is still early enough, assuming you submit your application in June 🙂