I'm not sure how it goes for every post-grad program, but I know that most OMFS residencies waited until the deadline to look at the apps. Trust me though, you absolutely do NOT want to wait. I feel like I pretty much worked on apps from May until early Sept SOLID. There are tons of extras that you have to track down, organize and get to each program. The best answer is that it won't hurt you to turn it in early, but it would if it was late...so why even chance it if you are paying so much and putting in so much effort