<p>Our D is applying ED to her first-choice school. The deadline is coming up and she’s got the situation well in hand. She’s also working on applications to four other schools, along with art portfolios. The EA deadline for Pratt Institute has passed, but she wanted to wait to apply because she is first having a portfolio review with them later this week. That leaves RIT, RISD, and Syracuse VPA, all of which have regular decision deadlines in January and February.</p>
<p>My DH is very nervous about the fact that D has not yet sent in any applications. All we keep hearing about are kids who have applied (and in some cases, gotten in) to big state schools already. She has told him that she’s got the situation under control, that she has time, that she’s still working on her art portfolios, and that we need to back off. He says that all schools have rolling admissions whether they admit it or not, and waiting until the last minute reduces her chances no matter what they say. He likened it to buying last-minute concert tickets–you get stuck with crappy seats or no seats at all, even if they’re technically still on sale.</p>
<p>Is he right??? D doesn’t need any extra stress right now, but maybe he’s got a point.</p>
<p>Can you contact adcoms and ask them? Then you will know for sure. That maybe either calm your H. or make your D. apply earlier. What is wrong with asking every single adcom? In addition, it could be different from one school to another.<br>
I know that your H. statement is applicable to at least one situation - applying to Med. Schools. I do not know if it is applicable to UGs. Do you really want to rely on our answers here for such an important step in your D’s life?
I love Pratt, visit grounds almost every year, my grandkids are taking community art classes there.<br>
Best wishes!</p>
<p>Or is your daughter letting her dad make her crazy.</p>
<p>Anyway, those state schools probably have true rolling admissions, that’s why kids have heard back already. With RD, even if she applies earlier, she won’t hear back until the decision date. There are some schools that weight applicant interest more heavily than others. I suppose submitting apps early rather than at the deadline could have some effect at those schools. I don’t know how the 3 schools you mentioned weight applicant interest.</p>
<p>I would think if she got the EA app wrapped up in the next couple weeks and then started getting the RD apps in she should be fine. Waiting until the absolute deadline is a habit young folks should get away from anyway, but we see a lot of posts here and with my own kids it’s a hard thing to kids get away from.</p>
<p>@annoyingdad–love your handle, BTW–he just started busting chops about this yesterday so she’s not too crazed yet. He’s convinced that applying well before the deadline is how he squeaked into an Ivy League law school. The only school on her list that has true rolling admissions is RIT. The others are either EA (Pratt, too late now), or RD. I really don’t know if colleges begin reading apps as soon as they get them or if they wait until the deadline. Anyone?</p>
<p>Your husband is wrong. True rolling admissions, with notification to applicants, is different from the process in EA and RD admissions.</p>
<p>Your daughter’s admission to these schools is going to depend very much on the quality of her portfolio. (My D attended RISD, was admitted also to MICA, CMU, KCAI, SCAD.) Your D is absolutely right to focus on getting good portfolio review and revision prior to applying. MY D did this mainly at two National Portfolio Days.</p>
<p>Your husband should calm down, help where he can with the logistics of the application and the aspects of it that parents can best advise on, including essays, making sure the financial reports are timely and up to date, and so forth.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, I would be shocked if any school with an early program reads regular decision applications before the early applications are processed. I doubt there is enough bandwidth in most admissions offices to “work ahead” into RD and still follow through on commitments to get kids EA/ED decisions in December. </p>
<p>My DD applied to some of the same schools (Pratt, RISD) last year (she is a freshman this year). I think the most important thing is for her to get her portfolio together to the level that she is happiest with. The quality of her portfolio, more than being early, is going to determine whether she’s accepted and whether she receives $$. I think there’s a reason those deadlines tend to be later than January 1. (BTW, she got into both.)</p>
<p>I remember being on pins and needles this time last year, because so many of DD’s friends had already submitted their applications, and she was nowhere near being ready to do that. It’s just a different process.</p>
<p>If she wants to use a big school with rolling admissions as a backup, then he could be right, but it is not the concert seat that might be crappy but her dorm choices might be limited. I don’t think that is a big deal.</p>
<p>Not all schools have rolling admission; he’s wrong about that. She shouldn’t wait until the deadlines, though, as things can go wrong (fees not processed, lost test scores, computer jam when you hit send, power outage).</p>
<p>If it helps, you can remind him that most law schools pretty much DO have rolling admissions. So he may be right about his law school application (although I doubt it – the candidates a school likes most are admitted quickly, but some candidates where there are questions can wait and wait and wait without getting an answer). But undergraduate admissions is really a different system, and if colleges don’t say “Rolling Admissions” they don’t do rolling admissions.</p>
<p>“applying well before the deadline is how he squeaked into an Ivy League law school.”
-This may be very true. I know for sure that it is true for the Med. Schools (as I have mentioned). So everybody knows that applying to them as early as possible makes a difference and actually applying later may be a waste of time.
However, I would not expand this theory on ALL UGs. On the third point, as Pratt may be in a leque of selectivity of the Med. School, I would not be gusssing or asking here. As my D. when she applied to Med. Schools, did not hesitate a second to email adcoms of Med. Schools with various questions, I do not see any reason, why not to ask adcoms of the UG and definitely Pratt. I just hope with all my heart that she would get there, such a wonderful place!!!</p>
<p>I agree with @MiamiDAP, have your husband contact each admissions department (from a pay phone, so they can’t trace that annoying call back to you with *69). Have him prepare a detailed, properly formatted report and present it to the family. (I’m half-joking here, for those of you who can’t tell: serious about contacting-joking about the manner).</p>
<p>My understanding of the admissions process is that files are received and assembled. A couple of weeks after deadline, the files start being distributed to readers. Then discussion sections are organized and scheduled to discuss promising candidates as a group through a couple of rounds.</p>
<p>Since this is a batch process, while files can be notated by arrival date, or early files could get a preliminary read with more time to mull before the committee conferences, I imagine none really get a priority at these competitive schools.</p>
<p>This is how I imagine it is done. I have no first-hand knowledge.</p>
<p>Oh, maybe DH could help out by whipping out that rendering of a bicycle for your daughter. He could get right on that?</p>
<p>@ItsJustSchool I like your last idea. If you see the enormous variety of approaches the applicants take with the bicycle, you’ll be impressed. I posed for a drawing of a hand. My role there was to be still and shut up. Very difficult for a Dad to do!</p>
<p>FWIW, the adcom who gave the Engineering School overview at Cornell said they do start reading the apps early (i.e., not purely a batch process). She directly recommended applying before the official deadline. Her reasoning was as the OP’s husband stated; it’s simply human nature. Early in the process, with plenty of open seats, it’s just easier to say “yes”.</p>
<p>And yes, I was very surprised by this, having also assumed all schools use a batch process to negate timing of receipt of apps. </p>
<p>At schools with rolling admissions he’s right, nearly anywhere else they really don’t start reviewing applications until they are all in. (But obviously there are exceptions, like Cornell above.) And I agree waiting for a portfolio review makes perfect sense.</p>
<p>Glad to hear I’m not the only one with a crazy husband. Now that the kid has his EA applications in, H is stressing about the RD ones AND starting to harass me about completing FAFSA and CSS profiles. Note that we are not even trying for need based aid, but some schools want one or the other for merit aid. I’ve told him he’s allowed to stress about these things, but if he starts bugging the kid around 12/15 about whether he’s heard, I’m locking him in the basement.</p>
<p>I agree that for most schools it does not matter to wait a little longer. But I have heard about some colleges (Pitt comes to mind) where the merit scholarship is more available to earlier applicants. </p>
<p>Awe - It wouldn’t hurt to get a start on FAFSA and CSS. It’s a pain. Most likely your 2014 data will come to late to do January submission … so you’ll need to do estimate with 2013 data anyway. </p>
<p>There is so much to do that I cannot imagine why you are busting your DH’s chops over him being involved. Plenty of dads would be totally clueless at this point. Have him draw up an excel document for the timeline, get him on fafsa, he obviously wants a job in the process. I think he has a valid point. </p>
<p>With Rolling Admissions, there could be issues. Don’t know for sure how other RD schools operate.</p>
<p>If this were grad school or med school, there WOULD be issues. Med school applicants make this mistake ALL THE TIME. Get your app in as soon as the season opens. Interview spots book up, and later applicants are often shut out.</p>