Do admissions committees care if you submit at the last minute?

[cafe_au_lait]

I'm kind of a procrastinator, and have been submitting most of mine on or quite close to the deadlines - most of the work is done, I just tend to wait for whatever reason.

 

I've already gotten a couple acceptances, so my anecdata says no, but - has anyone ever heard of committees judging / giving a crap about last minute submissions?

[fuzzylogician]

There is before the deadline and there is after the deadline. All anybody is going to care about is that you submit before the deadline, not how long before. 

[commodork]

There is before the deadline and there is after the deadline. All anybody is going to care about is that you submit before the deadline, not how long before. 

 

Some schools do have rolling admissions, though, and it's advantageous to submit these early. Every school that does this will mention it on their admissions page, usually in the deadlines area. Not too many do it, so you are probably fine if you haven't noticed anything. 

 

Some other things I've seen with a couple of my schools are: 

• A final deadline, but with an earlier deadline given first priority for aid. 
• An earlier soft deadline that you need to be in by to have a chance to interview

Both of these are pretty uncommon, but they're good things to look out for. Admissions pages will mention this sort of thing explicitly. If they don't, then you're fine submitting whenever. 

[fuzzylogician]

Some schools do have rolling admissions ...

 

Then there is no deadline, or you might think of the deadline as "the soonest I can complete a strong application." I don't think that was what the OP had in mind. Same goes for "final deadline but earlier one for X." If you aim for X, then the earlier deadline is your deadline. And again, the logic holds: submitting long before that deadline or right before it doesn't matter. You just need to know when that deadline is.

[commodork]

Then there is no deadline, or you might think of the deadline as "the soonest I can complete a strong application." I don't think that was what the OP had in mind. Same goes for "final deadline but earlier one for X." If you aim for X, then the earlier deadline is your deadline. And again, the logic holds: submitting long before that deadline or right before it doesn't matter. You just need to know when that deadline is.

 

Very true. Just good to be mindful of - these things can be easy to miss with a cursory look. Also, a few of my apps have had both rolling admissions and a hard deadline. Maybe that differs from program to program, however. Seems to be rare, in any case.  

[MathCat]

Well, one school I applied to admitted me very quickly after I finished my application. They do not specify that they have rolling admissions, and they do have an application deadline (much later than I applied). They are going to do what they want, and you can't always predict it, so getting your application in early can help in some cases, or have no effect elsewhere. I just wanted them done - I didn't expect to hear back so fast!

[cafe_au_lait]

Thanks for the replies! MathCat's story is interesting and something I wondered about. I did get an admit before all my LORs were in for one school, so more proof that they're "going to do what they want" I guess.

 

Another obvious reason NOT to procrastinate like me is that any technical difficulties will presumably get you a lot less sympathy if brought up in a panic at the last minute.

Edited December 31, 2014 by cafe_au_lait

[Argon]

I don't think there's any harm at all by submitting before the deadline, no matter how close. That being said, I also heard back very quickly (a few days) after submitting one of my applications. I got accepted about a week before the actual deadline and with only 2/3 of my letters in with no indication that the university does rolling admissions. To the best of my understanding, some schools will absolutely not touch applications before the deadline (MIT from what I've heard). Other schools will do what they want. In the case of UIUC, for instance, it seems to be that they are offering a fellowship to one highly qualified applicant in a few of their programs to provide incentive to attend the institution. 

 

So, while it won't hurt you if you submit close the deadline, it can be beneficial to submit beforehand in some cases, but it's unpredictable! If you want more proof of this, check the results board. Some schools (at least in chemical engineering) have accepted 1 applicant before the deadline even happened (e.g. U Delaware, UPenn, UIUC, etc.)

Edited January 3, 2015 by argon214

[drownsoda]

I don't think there's any harm at all by submitting before the deadline, no matter how close. That being said, I also heard back very quickly (a few days) after submitting one of my applications. I got accepted about a week before the actual deadline and with only 2/3 of my letters in with no indication that the university does rolling admissions. To the best of my understanding, some schools will absolutely not touch applications before the deadline (MIT from what I've heard). Other schools will do what they want. In the case of UIUC, for instance, it seems to be that they are offering a fellowship to one highly qualified applicant in a few of their programs to provide incentive to attend the institution. 

 

So, while it won't hurt you if you submit close the deadline, it can be beneficial to submit beforehand in some cases, but it's unpredictable! If you want more proof of this, check the results board. Some schools (at least in chemical engineering) have accepted 1 applicant before the deadline even happened (e.g. U Delaware, UPenn, UIUC, etc.)

Wow, congrats!

 

I had no idea that schools did this. I submitted two of my applications early (one by a few days, the other a week and a half before the deadline). I know one of the schools said they usually start sending out responses in February, but it'd be cool if they got back to me sooner. I'm kind of mortified about it, especially since I've been told that it's a good thing if a school takes a long time to respond to you, but I think it varies from program to program. I'm sure there are some who weed out applications early on before sending out their acceptances, but others probably take the route of what happened in your case, where they dive into them straight away and respond that promptly.

 

Were you contacted by email about your acceptance? On both of the applications I submitted early, I recall it saying that I would be contacted by mail and/or email, so I have no clue which to expect.

[Cpoco]

Submitting very early before the dealine, you would be worrying instead: "oh my god, they probably think I am using a generic template! That's why this student apply so quickly!" Just calm down.

[cafe_au_lait]

I am calm...in fact, there was a last minute issue with one of mine AND some of my letters still aren't in...but I am pretty damn calm.

[Crucial BBQ]

I recently met with the graduate program coordinator of a program at UC Davis (recently as in two days ago).  According to her, submitting an application at 11:59 pm of the due date was a very bad idea but submitting one day before was perfectly okay.  I did not push too far into that but gathered that it had something to do with getting the application into the hands of readers by or on the due date, not after.  

 

Granted of course, not all programs function this way.  

[jujubea]

Yeah somewhere on here there's someone who waited until 11:59pm and due to internet/loading issues, it wasn't "submitted" until 12:01am. They didn't have a problem but... y'know.. that's a mini heart attack right there.

[Argon]

Wow, congrats!

 

I had no idea that schools did this. I submitted two of my applications early (one by a few days, the other a week and a half before the deadline). I know one of the schools said they usually start sending out responses in February, but it'd be cool if they got back to me sooner. I'm kind of mortified about it, especially since I've been told that it's a good thing if a school takes a long time to respond to you, but I think it varies from program to program. I'm sure there are some who weed out applications early on before sending out their acceptances, but others probably take the route of what happened in your case, where they dive into them straight away and respond that promptly.

 

Were you contacted by email about your acceptance? On both of the applications I submitted early, I recall it saying that I would be contacted by mail and/or email, so I have no clue which to expect.

Thank you! It was certainly very exciting and surprising. I was contacted by email regarding my acceptance, although I know that a good number of schools in my field (ChemE) will give phone calls. I would expect the unexpected -- you just don't know! That's the crazy part about all this. A bunch of schools I applied to also said they send out responses in February, but if you look at the results board, I see people historically get in in January (although some also get accepted later on as well). Who knows! Best of luck to you, though!