Benefits of Applying Early to College - Tips from Wilton College Admissions Expert

As a former admissions officer and founder of AdmissionsCheckup.com, an online college application review service, I understand the application process, but like millions of Americans, dieting confounds me. The other day it occurred to me that dieting and the college application process have a lot in common.

Both are absurdly simple: calories in/calories out, and strong academics/activities equal admission. In some respects, it is the torrent of myths, agendas and misinformation swirling through both processes that overcomplicates them. While I can't make passing up the "goodies" any easier for my fellow dieters (sorry), I can increase your student's chance of being admitted.

Right now, rising seniors are juggling summer fun with the tasks of the writing (and re-writing) their essays and narrowing down their college lists. With all of the uncertainty -- Is my essay topic good enough? Which school is the right fit for me? – one thing is certain. College applications submitted early have a huge advantage. Here are two ways to think about it:

Empirical Data:

In The Early Admission Game: Joining the Elite, Christopher Avery, a professor of public policy at Harvard University and his co-authors, Andrew Fairbanks and Richard Zeckhauser, analyze the application records and decision data from 14 colleges over five years. "For each of the 14 colleges that provided us with data...the results were very similar. In simplest terms, applying early to a highly selective college appears to increase an applicant's chance of admission by the same amount as a 100-point increase in SAT scores. In fact, our analysis indicates that regular applicants have equal or stronger average credentials than early applicants..." (NACAC 2012 State of College Admission).

Common Sense:

In 2011, the average admissions officer at a public (private) college evaluated 1,204 (418) applications per season. Applying Regular Decision (usually January 1st) may mean an application file will be evaluated at the end of the pool. After an admissions officer has evaluated 1,200 applications, it is harder for a student's application to stand out. After all, by the end of the applicant pool the admissions officer has already seen students whose applications would put: Bill Gates', Nelson Mandela's, and Stephen Hawking's to shame. At that point in the season the admissions committee is simply harder to impress. In addition, the admissions office is no longer creating a class of students as they were early on, but instead are, if you will, just topping the class off.

While some admissions officers indicated they hold the early applicants to a higher standard, the data and the common sense analysis suggest otherwise. If you remain unconvinced that following the November deadline is the way to go, consider the fact that applying earlier may allow you to complete the process earlier. And, like a diet, the sooner you start, the sooner you will be successful.

About the author:

Stephanie Klein Wassink is the founder of Wilton-based WinningApplications.com and AdmissionsCheckup.com. She graduated from Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. It is her experience as a mother and an admissions officer that drives our firm's approach to success in helping clients earn admission to their first choice program.

Since helping our first pro bono clients in 1998 and hanging out a shingle in 2004, we have assisted numerous families in navigating the intricacies of the college, transfer, and graduate admissions process.

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Submitted by Wilton, CT

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