It seems that it’s somewhat common for early applications (both EA and ED) to be deferred to regular admission. Some of this must be due to wanting to see first half of senior year grades or because a candidate might be on the cusp and the admissions committee just isn’t sure what else will come in. However, I’m curious if there’s any data (unlikely) or experience (maybe?) with sending in EA/ED applications well before the deadline to give the admissions committee more time to review an application and hopefully have a more binary decision be made versus the deferral.
So if the EA deadline is November 1, then sending the app by Oct 1 would theoretically give the adcom an extra month to consider the application. Then when the bulk of apps come in closer to the deadline, the application can be reviewed/compared/etc.
And, of course, this would all assume that a strong, complete application can be built by October 1, so sending early but inferior apps seems sub-optimal. But if you’re ready by Oct. 1 could it help?
You’re working off the erroneous assumption that applications are read in the order they come in. You’re also making the erroneous assumption that AO’s have nothing to do except wait by the computer for applications to arrive. In many cases, they’re not even on campus in October, but are doing fairs, visiting schools, etc.
As others pointed out, this may well be a good idea at rolling colleges, and in fact our college counselors specifically advised S24’s to get his application to Pitt on the early side, suggesting they had data from our HS that showed it could make a difference.
As I understand it, otherwise very likely they will not start serious reviewing until after the deadline, except perhaps in cases where they have automatic admissions. They have left themselves enough time and allocated enough resources to do that, and if a deferral happens it is because the application fit their criteria for deferral. And indeed, if the deferral is happening because they want more information still to come–midyear reports, seeing the RD application pool, or so on–then logically this cannot be addressed by applying earlier.
As a final thought, I think your best chance at avoiding a deferral (in a good way) is to write your best possible application. This may not take all the way until the deadline, but I would use whatever time it does take and not rush it.