Priority Deadline
Should I apply for a priority or a regular deadline in 2021? The Link team will answer your questions in regards to the college admissions process.
What’s a priority deadline? Is it different from a regular deadline? Is it mandatory to apply for a priority deadline? Will, it hurt your chances if you don’t apply for it? The team at Link will assist you with these questions and how to make these priority deadlines work for you and your student.
Can You Tell Me What Is A Priority Deadline?
If a student applies after this deadline, the application will be accepted, but it won't be a top priority. Students can submit these applications before a school’s regular deadline. Applications submitted before the deadline will get their application looked at immediately by that specific college admissions team. For instance, let’s say a college has a priority deadline of November 1st. If you apply after November 1st, the application will still be looked at, however, your documentation won’t be reassessed until the college admissions team looks at the applications submitted before the November 1st deadline.
Are colleges accepting Rolling Admissions?
Rolling admissions consists of students applying as long as there are still spots available. Even though students have more time to apply for rolling admissions, priority deadlines, can help a student get their classes for their first year. If a student applies by the priority deadline, the student will receive their decision regarding the priority deadline earlier, along with a specific date.
Comparing priority deadline with other specific deadlines
Here are some definitions.
Regular Deadline: The final date you need to submit your application if you want to get accepted.
Early Decision: If you apply early by November 1st, and you're accepted, you will have to go to that school. Statistics generally show that students who apply by this deadline will give the student a great chance of getting accepted.
Early Action: If you apply early, usually by November 1st, you'll receive a decision from admissions a month later. If the student gets accepted, you have until May 1st to decide if you want to go to that specific school or another one.
Priority deadlines are comparable to early action deadlines. For these deadlines, you just have to apply by that deadline. If you're accepted, the student can decide if they want to attend that college or look at other colleges. If you apply by the deadline, you'll get an earlier decision. Some schools use early priority deadlines interchangeably, but it all depends on the college. Schools with rolling admissions use "priority deadlines". Other schools use "early action." There is not much difference between the two.
What about an early decision? Priority deadlines and early decisions require students to apply before the deadline. Both can increase your chance of being accepted into a specific school. Early decision is required. If a student wants to apply for an early decision to a school and they accept you, then you must attend. For priority deadlines, you can attend any school you want if you're accepted.
Students can still get accepted if they submitted a priority deadline after the registration, however, once a regular deadline passes admission officers will not accept it. Even if you give a good excuse you won’t be able to get your application seen. If a student goes in the route of a priority deadline they will have to apply to that specific’s school regular deadline.
What are the schools with priority deadlines?
Here are some schools that are using priority deadlines and how they compare to regular application deadlines. Schools with priority deadlines tend to be larger public schools, although this isn't always the case. If a school has a regular deadline (rolling), that means it will accept applications until it fills all the spots for the freshman class.
School Name Priority Deadline
Harvard University November 1, 2021
Columbia University November 1, 2021
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology November 1, 2021
Yale University November 1, 2021
Stanford University November 1, 2021
California Institute of
Technology November 1, 2021
John Hopkins
University November 1, 2021
Northwestern
University November 1, 2021
Duke University November 1, 2021
Tufts University November 1, 2021
University of North October 15, 2021
Carolina at Chapel
Hill
What happens if you apply before and after the priority deadline?
We recommend you apply for a school’s priority deadline. If a student goes that route they not only have a chance to get into a specific college but also financial aid. There is nothing negative if a student applies by the priority deadline unless one overlooks college deadlines.
If a student applies after the priority deadline, the application will be accepted, but your chances of getting into that specific school will not be good because freshman slots will be filled up fast. If this is the case the application, won't be reviewed. It's rare for this to take place, but it's common for schools with priority deadlines for dorming, or economic aid to run out of spots for these two things. There's a chance you can get accepted, but you won't be able to dorm or receive economic aid. Try to make priority deadlines paramount.
