List Grows of Early Deadline Extensions For Common App Member Colleges

Providence College is extending its Early Action deadline to November 8

As the Common Application calls in a support team from Amazon to help sort out problems with server

overloads and explain why the system isn’t working the way it should, colleges and universities are throwing in the towel for early admission and extending deadlines.

From the college standpoint, it’s a complicated series of problems.  Many have been worried about their continued inability to access applications through online enrollment management systems.

As of this writing, the Common App reports that about half of those colleges using a daily automated process to retrieve files are either testing or waiting to go live with a software fix rolled out just last Thursday.

For those with operating systems, there are still reports of applications and documents showing up as empty files or blank pages.  

At the same time they struggle with glitches in the automated retrieval systems, colleges are also fielding hundreds of calls from anxious applicants, teachers, and school counselors seeking acknowledgement of documents sent weeks ago.

Between problems with the Naviance connection and the inability to access documents through automated processes, some schools simply have no way of telling whether a document has been received. 

It’s stressful for all involved—applicants, recommenders, and colleges.

Adding to the stress, colleges are also really worried about numbers.  No one wants to report a decline in applications received during any phase of admissions.

So to accommodate all of these concerns, many colleges have announced deadline extensions and others are taking a more flexible approach to enforcing their deadlines.

But while procrastinating applicants may heave a sigh of relief, it’s worth mentioning that the wise student will make every effort to get applications sent long before deadlines. Not only is it worth the peace of mind, but you also potentially avoid further traffic jams and service interruptions down the road.

Thanks to the tireless work of Tara Anne Dowling, here is a list of colleges so far that have announced extensions to their early action (EA) and binding early decision (ED) deadlines (be sure to check with individual websites for the most up-to-date information):

Barnard College:  ED extended to November 8

Bentley College:  ED and EA extended to November 15

Boston University:  ED extended to November 15

Brandeis University:  ED1 extended to November 8

Brown University:  will consider individual extension requests

Butler University:  EA extended to November 8

Columbia University:  ED extended to November 8

Cornell University:  ED extended to November 8

Dartmouth College:  ED extended to November 8

Duke University:  ED extended to November 8

Emerson College:  EA extended to November 8

Emory University:  ED1 extended to November 4

Fairfield College:  EA extended to November 15; ED remains November 15

George Washington University:  ED1 extended to November 11

Georgia Tech:  EA extended to October 21

Johns Hopkins:  ED extended to November 8 (also accepts UCA)

Lewis & Clark College:  EA extended to November 8

Marist:  ED extended to November 8

Morehouse College:  EA extended to November 8

Northwestern University:  ED extended to November 8

NYU:  ED1 extended to November 8

Pomona College:  ED extended to November 8

Providence College:  EA extended to November 8

Purdue University:  EA extended to November 8

Rice University:  ED Extended to November 8

SMU:  EA and ED1 extended to November 8; RD and ED2 extended to January 15

Stonehill College:  EA extended to November 8

SUNY Fredonia:  ED extended to November 15

SUNY Geneseo:  ED extended to December 1

Syracuse University:  ED extended to December 1

TCU:  EA and ED extended to November 8

Tufts University:  ED extended to November 8 (also joined the UCA)

University of Chicago:  EA extended to November 8

University of Denver:  EA extended to November 8

UNC Chapel Hill:  EA extended to October 21

University of Miami:  EA and ED extended to November 8

UNC Wilmington:  EA extended to November 11

University of Vermont:  EA extended to November 11

Villanova:  EA extended to November 8

Wellesley College:  ED extended to November 6

William and Mary:  ED extended to November 8

Yale University:  Single choice EA extended to November 4