People don’t like deadlines. My company has invested in a benefits dashboard which is just about the easiest thing in the world to use. A 7 year old could figure out how to switch around the investment options for retirement, price out different health care options depending on the number of dependents, evaluate how to maximize the cafeteria benefits and employer matching.
Do you know how many employees complain that they can’t fill out the forms by the deadline (seriously- it’s easier than buying a movie on Netflix.) Do you know the number of employees who have a meltdown in January when they see their first paycheck of the year and realize that they didn’t make the change they wanted to make in their withholding? Do you know the number of new hires who show up without the appropriate forms for their I-9 filing (a legal requirement) even though their offer letter states “This is the documentation you need to provide before you can commence employment”?
Lots and lots and lots of people.
It is human nature to run out the clock. Teach your kid to get stuff in on time. Saves their employer loads of aggravation down the road.
Well, if it is not a problem to have Jan 1 as the deadline, then do it my way and have Feb 1.
What about the kids who aren’t on vacation in Africa or the South Pole, but who need to use the computers at school or the public library to submit applications? A non-holiday weekend might be more convenient for them.
All I know is that I am very thankful that we stumbled across College Confidential last spring/sometime this past summer. I remember giving a friend the “heads-up” about the UF priority deadline.
The public libraries in my area coordinate with each other so that at least one of them- with a big bank of computers- is open morning, noon and night during the holiday season. A kid who lives in an area with no public library access is going to have to do the applications early. Just like folks who don’t own a car need to leave for work a little early in case the bus is late. And like the folks who get their flu shots at a clinic or a CVS need to wait in a line, unlike the people who get theirs at a physician’s office.
What exactly is foreign about a deadline and needing to meet it??? If you don’t mail your gift to grandma by December 21st it will either arrive after Xmas or you have to pay for express shipping. If you don’t pay the electric bill on time you get a $25 surcharge (or they turn off your lights).
“What about the kids who aren’t on vacation in Africa or the South Pole, but who need to use the computers at school or the public library to submit applications? A non-holiday weekend might be more convenient for them.”
What about them? They can create internal deadlines for themselves to have everything submitted by (say) December 15.
It astounds me that people are so disorganized that they are submitting on or right before the actual day. Again, it’s like people who are running to the mall on December 24th, as though they just announced that Christmas was going to be the next day.
Jan 1 seems like the kindest thing to do - because then if someone really squeaks it in on Jan 2, it’s no harm no foul, whereas if you make it a day when offices are now open again, it’s a lot harder to let someone squeak in.
Geez, they can pick any day they like, but it just seems to me that Jan 1 is hard for a lot of reasons - high school offices have been closed for at least a week, college offices have been closed for a few weeks, it’s a holiday so access to public computers is limited, many people are on vacation, there are power surges or outages depending on whether, there is big end of the month traffic on servers, and it is usually the start of a long weekend where there is no way to resolve problems that occurred on Jan 1. Look at the posts from kids on CC over the last few weeks. They have no one else to ask, so they are here asking if Kansas State will take a late app, or if Harvard wants 3 letters of recommendation and they only have 2 what should they do, or if it matters if they got a C- in math. The advice is usually the same - call the school. Most of the questions I’ve read don’t seem to be from students who were off touring the palaces of Europe, but kids who may be working a job over break, who were very busy, or who don’t have parents who can help rather than ones who have had special counselors or a lot of GC help.
Every day is going to be bad for someone, and there are going to be last second (and late) filers no matter which day the deadline is, but Jan 1 just seems to ME to be bad for a greater number of people than Jan 15 or Feb 1 or even Dec 1 would be. Florida schools have the early deadline of Oct 15/16 for FIRST consideration, rewarding those who get apps in early. There is a second deadline in Jan or Feb. Schools with rolling admissions obviously give a preference to those who get apps in early as there just may not be any room left the later the applicant waits. A handful of schools, including W&M as the subject of this thread, have extended ‘deadlines’ which don’t even seem to be working for the schools either.
If you are complaining about a January 1 dad line, what are some of you going to do when you have a student applying 2017-2018 and the FAFSA opens in October?
The October filing is going to be a game changer for a some programs, which is going to prompt earlier filing of applications. If you have a kid that is applying to or eligible for an opportunity program (in NYS I am talking about College Discovery, SEEK, EOP, HEOP), filing January 1 is essentially going to knock you kid out of the box for these programs. Since a big component of these programs are students being financially eligible some schools are going to make these decisions earlier because they will have the financial piece of the application earlier.
What about programs that give Merit tied to the FAFSA, where a lot of merit money is given on a first come first served basis. The October FAFSA filing may also affect the filing of ED/EA applications once parents who file in October see their minimum EFC when they file the FAFSA in October.
I think it is yield management. I got a mail from Tufts asking me to apply. It stated that more than 10K applicants apply after Dec 26th. It is interesting to note that Tufts admits more than 50% of incoming class via ED. So my guess all the last minute application is to reject so they can show low acceptance rate.
I was just checking my email and saw an email from Vanderbilt U extending the deadline to Jan. 5 for my D. She hasn’t applied, or started an application or expressed any interest in the school as far as I know. After reading this thread, I literally laughed out loud.
Just because January 1st is disagreeable (to a few parents) doesn’t preclude the students from submitting before winter break and even, before finals.What I DON’T see happening is a much later deadline. You’re asking schools getting tens of thousands applications for a few thousand spaces to lop off four weeks of evaluation because January 1st didn’t make sense? I can see moving it back a couple of days to the Monday after, even a week, but four weeks? Universities and colleges, even the elite ones, will act in their own best interest.
I think it is the most convenient date for the school. They can hit the ground running then when break is over. And remember, in this Through the Looking Glass world, the seller (college) has all the control. The buyer is left begging to spend their $250k! Sellers’ market indeed!!
Think for a minute here. If you were an ad com and tasked with reading thousands of apps right after the new year, wouldn’t you make the deadline Jan 1 (knowing that a few will squeak in Jsn 2) so that it’s all set and ready to go once you are back from break? That’s simple common sense to me. If people can’t get their act together on a deadline published well in advance, that’s on them. Why should it impede my schedule or delay me? It just seems like normal organizational skills.
“Geez, they can pick any day they like, but it just seems to me that Jan 1 is hard for a lot of reasons - high school offices have been closed for at least a week, college offices have been closed for a few weeks, it’s a holiday so access to public computers is limited, many people are on vacation, there are power surges or outages depending on whether, there is big end of the month traffic on server”
These points would be valid if Jan 1 were a mandatory submission date. But it’s not. It’s a deadline. There is absolutely nothing preventing you from setting an internal deadline a few days prior.
