Last Minute Tips for Early Applicants

The early application deadline is literally around the corner. You have this entire weekend to polish up your application before you finally hit submit. For all those last minute questions, we put together an AMA session just for you.Date: Sunday, October 30th, 2016Time: 11AM PT - 1PM PTWho: Stephanie Shyu, founder of , and the rest of the team!How: Ask any last minute questions you may have about applying early by commenting on this blog post. Well reply directly to your comment. Feel free to respond with any follow up questions!Before that kicks in though, our s share some advice about applying early:jl15942 Princeton University 19I wish I would have had more confidence in myself. I think applying early helped my application by showing my interest, but I kept debating whether I was being too ambitious. I needed a little push from parents to apply to Princeton early instead of securing a spot at a school with a higher acceptance rate.gw1998Stanford University 20Use EA/ED to your advantage. Everyone knows that you use ED to demonstrate interest in your first choice. I didnt have a first choice, so ED wasnt an option for me. Most people overlook EA as a way to maximize your advantage. Firstly, EA does boost your application (in my opinion, e.g. for schools like UChicago) because it demonstrates interest. More importantly, I think you can use EA as a way to gauge the competitiveness of your application and adjust your RD applications to suit this. For example, after being accepted to Notre Dame and UChicago EA, I decided not to apply to any safety/match schools and focus on reach schools. Th is meant I could apply to more reach schools (my school has a limit of 6 applications) and maximize my chances for those schools!sjames18George Washington University 18 I honestly believe that applying early decision to my school is what increased my chance at getting accepted. Not only does it show that you are truly interested but if you are an average student with a decent amount of extracurriculars and you feel a school is the place for you, apply early. Your interest shows and so does the effort.fgscivittaro University of Chicago 19 I, like many other students, used Early Action/Early Decision to apply to my dream school in the desperate hopes of increasing my chances of getting in. It didnt work however: I was simply deferred. Being deferred isnt the worst thing; it gives you another chance. But it does absolutely nothing for you and is, frankly, a waste of an Early Action. Now that I have experienced the entire college apps process, heres what I would change: I would have applied EA to a fit school, one that I genuinely would consider attending but that I would also have a pretty good chance of getting into. That way, I would have already had an acceptance from a good school I liked while I was finishing up my other apps. I think that wouldve done wonders for my stress, knowing that I had already been accepted somewhere good. And it also would have been a more effective use of my EA than just getting deferred.michlu Stanford University I was deferred early action and got in regular. In between, I really stepped up my game by further developing the ballet program I was leading, getting involved in neuroscience research, and winning a few academic awards. Dont underestimate the power of an appeal. Also, in the months between early action and regular, I really developed who I was and what I wanted. I sent in a brief statement about my revised goals and ambitions, and I think that made a difference. ​See you in the comment section below soon!