I stupidly waited until the last minute on just about everything and now I’m not sure if I’ll even have the time to prepare audition tapes. Will colleges accept them past the the in person audition deadlines?
You need to contact each place on your list and ask them.
Deadlines really do mark an endpoint. Perhaps, some places will accept late tapes. However, missing the deadline will be remembered and even discussed. How do you plan to account for missing the due date? Saying you wanted to improve the quality of your audition is not acceptable. Other applicants might have wanted the same opportunity to work on their tapes, but understood and met the due date. In college and life, deadlines are real and violating them often has real consequences. Maybe it won’t matter. However, you have a learning experience coming; the easiest part will be asking for an extended deadline.