Have not seen this addressed in other threads. For an otherwise competitive applicant (2 out of 3 of the moderator's parameters "excellent" and 1 OK), does applying late in the cycle (i.e., completing secondaries now) reduce chances of admission?
Question about applying later?
- Thread starter PhDMD
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Applying late reduces chances towards some schools who offer a disproportionate amount of their spots to early applicants thus making the remaining spots more competitive. Northwestern is an example of such a school, while Yale isn't.
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You are not alone. I still have several secondaries to complete, but they're mostly non-rolling. For the rolling ones, I guess they will just have to be charmed by my Pulitzer Prize winning caliber prose. Or they will think I'm lazy and ignore me.
This question comes up every year. The answers are generally that if you are a superstar, applying late won't matter. Applying early may make it marginally easier to get an acceptance, because it presumes that not many offers have been made at the time of your application-- from what I can tell there is no data on this and it is speculation.
My annecdotal advice is to just hurry up and submit your applications. Inevitably you (ie applicants) will think that their essays and other such things are way more important and heavily reviewed than they actually are. Just write something good, have it proofread, and submit your app. Do not spend weeks dwelling over these things. While I cannot say for sure that applying early will statistically improve your chances at getting admitted, I do think that it may make your chances of getting an interview easier. And at that point your essays really don't matter much anyway. But just my 2cents.
My annecdotal advice is to just hurry up and submit your applications. Inevitably you (ie applicants) will think that their essays and other such things are way more important and heavily reviewed than they actually are. Just write something good, have it proofread, and submit your app. Do not spend weeks dwelling over these things. While I cannot say for sure that applying early will statistically improve your chances at getting admitted, I do think that it may make your chances of getting an interview easier. And at that point your essays really don't matter much anyway. But just my 2cents.
