When Can I Start Applying and to Which Colleges?  Am I Too Late To Apply?

You are not late at all, but some schools, particularly those that run on a Rolling admissions timeline, already are issuing acceptance letters. 

Early Decision, Early Action, and Everything in Between

First, if you aren’t familiar with the types of application deadlines, check out my blog post that explains every application deadline and its restrictions. 

Rolling Admissions

Some students have acceptances already because they may have applied under a Rolling admissions deadline. Many public schools and private schools with high acceptance rates fill the class as applications come in. For that reason, you should apply to these schools first because

• The class fills with time, and once the class is full, it is full

• You can often receive an acceptance very early in the process, so if the school is one of your favored safeties, you can eliminate other safety schools from your application list

• Sometimes scholarship money is handed out on a first-come, first-served basis

Other Advantages to Applying to College Early

Whether you apply under an Early (non binding), Rolling, or Regular application deadline, there often are advantages to applying early:

• Some honors colleges/programs require that you apply by the early (or priority) deadline

• Some merit scholarship awards are explicitly linked to an early application

• Other schools give merit money out on a rolling basis, so an early application can garner a higher offer

More Admissions Help:

CTK College Access, our twice-monthly small virtual coaching group, continues in October as we discuss filling out FAFSA and CSS-- mark your calendars for when those applications open on October 1. You can prepare for the FAFSA before it even opens by filling out the federal government’s FAFSA worksheet. 

We also will be covering the nitty gritty of submitting the first applications, including aligning with SCOIR/Naviance, nudging teachers and counselors to submit forms and letters of recommendation, and deciding whether and when to submit scores and, when requested, official score reports. 

CTK Pro Tip: Quality wins over quantity for college applications. If you apply to a well-targeted list of schools and not too many of them, you will garner better results than if you apply scattershot to a long list of schools.