Most colleges will advise prospective students to apply for admissions as early as possible, but they’ll continue to process applications until a later deadline date – or possibly right up until the class fills up and runs out of space. So what exactly does a student gain from meeting priority deadline application dates?

Priority Admissions Selection

Applying early for college means you’ll be among the first round of students considered. So not only will there be more space available for you, you’ll also leave a good impressions on the admissions staff by proving you can get your application materials together in a quick and timely fashion.

Consideration for Institutional Scholarships and Financial Aid

Financial aid departments often rely on admissions applications and FAFSA documentation when making a decision about who will receive institutional awards, so if they don’t have your applications when they start handing out scholarships and financial aid, they won’t be able to give you any of that free money!

Typically, applying by a college’s listed priority admissions date will ensure that you receive full consideration for all of the institutional scholarships and financial aid that you may be eligible for.

Housing Priority

Some colleges don’t have enough dorm space on campus for every student, and many of these decisions and assignments will be made on a first-come first-served basis.  Whether its finding your first-choice dorm, or being able to get a dorm spot at all, the earlier you apply the better your odds will be.

Peace of Mind

Another under-appreciated benefit of applying to college early is that you’ll have a bit more peace of mind when the later application deadlines are coming due!  Many colleges continue to accept admissions requests until around the end of a student’s senior year in high school, but that time of year is already booked with finals, graduation, and looking for summer employment.


If you don’t submit all your applications and supporting documents by the priority admissions deadline, don’t panic! Most schools still have spaces available passed that date and there are many sources of financial assistance other than institutional aid.  Ideally though, an early admissions application can only help!

11 Responses to “Priority Admissions – Why Early Application Matters”

  1. Every application must be carefully filled and should be submitted as early as possible because there will be no worry at the last moment of the deadline.

  2. Hafiz Muhammad Rizwan
    May 10th, 2010 at 2:35 am

    Dear informer Hellow
    My name is Rizwan about 16 years old I have passed SSC Examination from Karachi, Pakistan now I want to study in canada in information Tech. My father is disable have no source of income to support me for further education. My real uncle Altaf Hussain and their family is canadian national. I want to ask u that my real uncle can help me to get student visa or sponsorship me because he want sponsor me, and how & where can i apply for this purpose. hope u will help and guide me waiting your favourable good response

  3. Even if a college doesn’t offer an “early admissions” process, it is always beneficial for the student to submit admissions materials as early as possible. CBU, like many Christian colleges, has a rolling admissions deadline, but always give priority to applications received before admissions deadlines.

  4. i amethiopian graduate want scholarship for chinese languege

  5. Just acquired a Mythic for myself and are going to be obtaining one particular for my wife soon! It has just the proper mix of functions. just short of the total smartphone. I’m preserving an eye for the Captivate for a prospective future phone..
    .prices are way too higher when released. I’ve been in great tech for 20+ years and generally hack every thing I own to produce it much better laptops, GPS, automobile navigation systems, and so on. and yes cell phones too. From the few days I’ve owned the mobile phone I’ve already installed Opera Mini, Bolt 2.1, freecaddie, Google Maps w/GPS functionality, deleted all locked unproductive apps immediately after backing them up and fully modified the menu method to my exact demands with no all unproductive apps.

  6. I agree with your post. I also encourage students to apply “early decision” to schools that they have a high interest in attending. This demonstrates to the admissions committee that their school is at the top of a student’s list. This also gives students a better shot at receiving merit-based scholarships.

  7. I just don’t think if they are always working late or there is a huge numbers of applicant and they cannot accommodate during application, that is why the processes runs even out of deadline. Applicant also must have an idea that college admission application is hard when you process it after the deadline. They should always learn that earlier the better.

  8. They are very rare species.Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained!

  9. I agree with your post. I also encourage students to apply “early decision” to schools that they have a high interest in attending. This demonstrates to the admissions committee that their school is at the top of a student’s list. This also gives students a better shot at receiving merit-based scholarships.

  10. Thank you for the great advice.

    Indeed, getting a head start on applying is advantageous in many ways, and the peace of mind is particularly underrated. The classes themselves should offer the challenges, so feeling comfortable when attending college is an opportunity afforded to those that prepare!

  11. It certainly beats the living daylights out of late applications, I can say that from experience.

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>