That was the timeline at our D’s HS (spearheaded by the guidance counselors) 6 years ago, so not sure how “new” that really is. What was new this year was they brought in all the seniors to school on 8/1, with their laptops, and they all worked on the common app together so if there were questions/issues, the GCs were there to answer questions.
This is a HS where most students are chasing merit and there are a lots of rolling admissions schools in the area that kids target. The earlier those submissions are in, the quicker the replies and the higher the merit awards.