What does a November 1st deadline mean?

Sikorsky
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 19:23:34 +0000

Oh, is it time to recycle this question already? It’s been asked and answered a gazillion times on College Confidential.

A November 1 deadline means that the college wants your materials submitted on or before November 1. So if you submit at 11:59 p.m. on November 1, you meet the deadline. But you should be aware, many colleges have so many last-minute submissions that applicants crash the servers at colleges or at the Common Application. Some students have technical difficulties on their own end. It’s not prudent (or relaxing) to aim for 11:59 p.m. on the due date.

Most colleges and universities, however, want applications, and most of them won’t actually round-file your application if it’s received at 12:05 a.m. on November 2. Or even at 9:00 a.m. on November 2.

But some will. If I recall correctly, Stanford is very clear that they want your materials by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (because that’s where Stanford is) on the day that they’re due, and they don’t take late submissions.