Is It Bad to Apply Late in Rolling Admission?

“You have to stay in school. You have to. You have to go to college. You have to get your degree. Because that’s the one thing people can’t take away from you is your education. And it is worth the investment.” — Michelle Obama.

Waiting for an admission application result is hard enough. One would have to wait months after applying just to be later rejected.

Other universities or colleges’ applications may have closed by that time. But is it bad to apply late in rolling admission?

No, you can apply and have your feedback early. If not accepted, you can apply to various other universities through it and still have your feedback earlier than regular application. Schools that advertise rolling admissions work differently from those that don’t.

They constantly and continuously accept applications and provide decisions as soon as your application review is complete.

Simply put, rolling admissions means there is no set deadline to apply—colleges with rolling admission review applications as they arrive on a rolling basis.

Instead of collecting everyone’s applications, reviewing them, and sending out notifications in masses or at once, admissions officers at rolling admission schools consider applications as they arrive.

What Is the Point of Rolling Admissions?

Is rolling admission good? You may be wondering, so here’s the deal. Many colleges and universities have a set deadline to apply.

Usually, it may fall, and the staff won’t start notifying applicants of their acceptance or rejection status until several weeks after this deadline. But schools that use rolling admissions work a bit differently.

How? You may ask. They constantly and continuously accept applications and provide decisions as soon as your application review is complete.

Simply put, rolling acceptance means there is no set deadline to apply. Is it good to apply late in rolling admission?

Do employers care about GPA? Colleges with rolling admissions evaluate applications as they are received. Schools will continue to evaluate applications until they’ve filled all the slots for their incoming class. Check our full article that answers the prior posed question for more detailed info.

Key Disadvantages of Rolling Admissions

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” —  Anthony J. D’Angelo

But with great advantages come great setbacks or drawbacks. You need to understand the downsides of rolling admission vs regular decisions to make well-informed decisions. These are some of the reasons rolling admissions may be a bad idea:

Spots Filling Up Quickly

Despite the added time to work on your application, it should be noted that applying early to rolling acceptance schools can significantly increase your chance of being accepted.

Because these officers will be filling in their admitted classes as they go, there are more spots to be filled earlier in the application process than if you were to wait until the final rolling deadline.

There are only so many spots to fill at the university; if you wait too long, those spots might not be available.

While you have time to plan and make a perfect application, you don’t want to wait too long. A perfectly qualified applicant can still get denied because there are no more spots.

Procrastination

Similarly, the lack of a hard deadline allows for more chances to procrastinate. The earlier you apply, the sooner you hear back from the school, and the higher your chance of being accepted.

As said before, it will be said again: it gets harder and harder to get into a school with rolling admissions the longer you delay your application.

If you apply early, there’s a fair bet other students have had the same thought. But applying late means your application will be coming up against significant competition.

First Come, First Serve

One of the disadvantages is that it works on a first-come, first-served basis, which creates pressure on prospective candidates who wait for long; also, the housing and AUD are provided to first-come candidates, thereby leaving the candidate with no deadline, no housing, or the poor housing market.

Benefits of Rolling Admissions

“I think a college education is important no matter what you do in life.” — Phil Mickelson

There are several benefits to applying to one or more schools that offer rolling admissions, such as:

Time To Work On Your Applications

Since the hard deadline for rolling admissions is significantly longer, you can spend more time working on various aspects of your application, like improving your grades, reviewing your statement, and bringing up your standardized test scores, goals, and achievements.

Once you’ve completed applications with earlier deadlines, you can spend a few more weeks editing, revising, and making sure your rolling admission applications are perfect.

Use this time to your advantage to ensure your application is the best and make it as enticing as possible to have a higher chance of being accepted.

Smaller Application Pool

Since your application is reviewed as it is submitted, one of the advantages of rolling admission is that you aren’t being compared alongside the entirety of all applications.

Your application is reviewed, and the officers will decide based on the number of spots remaining. The earlier you apply via rolling admissions, the fewer students you compete with for acceptance.

Quick Turnaround Time

And it doesn’t stop there. It allows you to continue to apply to school once you’ve received admission decisions from your early action or early decision applications. This is a great backup option to have.

If you get rejected or deferred from your top choice schools with earlier deadlines, you can work more seriously on their rolling admission applications with more experience.

So, Is Rolling Admission Bad?

“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.” — Carl Rogers

Some ask, is rolling admissions bad? There should be more time to think and evaluate the choices during application because slots fill as applications come in.

You may be rushed because you’d also want to get a slot for being admitted, so submissions are rushed and incomplete. One may apply just because he wants to fill seats, not because the school is selective.

What is the top college consultants online list to consider? You’ll find a separate article for the cost and type of consultant to hire on our site for more clarification.

But here’s the thing. In rolling admissions, you can apply anytime since there’s no set deadline, but applying early gives you a higher chance of being selected with greater benefits.

Rolling admission might be less stressful for students, and university application offices have less data to process because applications do not all flow in simultaneously.

So you should kickstart your application early to have a higher chance of getting accepted.

FAQ

Is Rolling Admissions Better than Regular?

Schools with rolling admission look at applications as they come in, meaning you’ll likely get an admission decision sooner than if you’d applied to a school without rolling acceptance.

Is Rolling Admissions Harder to Get Into?

A rolling admissions process will usually still have a priority deadline. More content on this deadline is available for reading if you need it.

A rolling admissions process is more challenging than a regular one, so you still need to craft a strong application.

You should also consider deadlines for housing and financial aid when choosing when to submit your application.

Is Rolling Admissions First Come, First Serve? 

It just means that the college has a first-come, first-serve policy, to which the regular decisions are not binding.

A person who applies early is attended to first and given better housing and AUD features than someone who applies late since it’s all about filling spots.