Cree Bautista was the first high school student to submit a Common Application to his first choice, N.Y.U., early on Aug. 1.
Cree Bautista's application for next year's freshman class at New York University isn't due until Jan. 1, but Cree, an incoming high school senior from Pflugerville, Tex., was not taking any chances.
Just after 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 1 -- when this year's version of the Common Application, the passport to N.Y.U. and more than 400 other institutions, was first posted on the Web -- Cree sat down at the computer in his parents' bedroom and began filling out the form. The room was dark, because they were sleeping.
After listing his extracurricular activities (including cross country and show choir), tallying his Advanced Placement courses (seven) and putting a final polish on his essay, he pushed the "send" button. It was about 3:30 a.m. Never mind that he had never visited New York, let alone New York University. This, he said, was his "dream school," and he was determined "to be the first to apply."
As it turned out, Cree, 17, was the first applicant for the class of 2015, not just at N.Y.U. but to any institution that accepts the Common App, including those of the Ivy League. By Tuesday he had plenty of company: Nearly 1,000 applications had been filed by students to colleges -- Harvard, Miami of Ohio and Vanderbilt, among many others -- a nearly fourfold increase over the comparable period last year.
But as more students each year seek to get the earliest possible jump on the nerve-racking process of applying to college, as if they were securing tickets to a soon-to-be-sold-out rock concert, the deans of admission at N.Y.U. and elsewhere are sounding a cautionary note. They say that there is no reason to apply five months in advance, let alone two, and that they are far more inclined to put a premium on thoughtfulness and contemplation than speed.
Asked when a member of his staff might first see Cree's application, Shawn Abbott, assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions at N.Y.U., said it would probably not be until mid-October at the earliest.
"We won't even download it until months from now," Mr. Abbott said. "It's not a horse race."
While Cree is applying to N.Y.U. in the regular-decision round, several deans said Mr. Abbott's plea for deliberation and patience was also good advice for those applying to selective colleges through their early application programs.
For example, the deadline for students to file early-action applications to the University of Michigan -- which is accepting the Common Application for the first time this year -- is Nov. 1. Asked if filing well in advance of that deadline would give an applicant a leg up, Ted Spencer, the longtime executive director of undergraduate admissions at Michigan, said no.
"As long as you pay attention to the deadline, you're going to be in good shape," Mr. Spencer said.
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SOURCE: The New York Times
