Senior year is upon us. The main thing that we stress at TKG is that we never miss deadlines. They are critically important and essentially our central rule that guides everything that we do, both internally and with clients. There is no getting around deadlines. You can’t argue with Common App, College Board, or the colleges. You get your applications, testing, and submissions in on time or you don’t. It’s the only black and white part of the entire process. Kapish? With us? Fabulous.
We’re going to run through the essential deadlines for you to be aware of. We highly recommend that you put these on whatever calendar you work best with, whether it’s your iPhone, a manual written planner, or a big paper calendar in your home. Whatever you will pay attention to, put these deadlines in there and make sure that you are cognizant of them throughout application season.
If you work with us, your deadlines will be well ahead of these so that you are done with everything by the start of your senior year. If you want us to help you set those deadlines, let us know. We’re here to help and would love to get you on track to complete your applications ASAP. Our students are essentially done with applications by the start of senior year so that if they need to complete any additional testing they can do so without distractions.
Task: Recommendation Letters
Deadline: November 1/January 1
Task: Additional Recommendation Letters
Deadline: November 1/January 1
Task: Transcript
Deadline: November 1/January 1
Task: Arts Supplements
Deadline: October 1 (many schools are either October 15 or November 1 if submitting with Arts supplement, so why not get ahead and make your deadline October 1)
Task: First term grades
Deadline: Send the moment you receive them at the end of your first term.
Task: Sending in AP tests
Deadline: For sending in past AP scores, we’d recommend filling those in on your Common App. Few colleges ask for the score reports, and if they do you can do that through your school. For AP tests that you take in May/June of your senior year, you can send them directly to your college of choice using their code.
Below is a grid of all of your testing deadlines. The school is listed, as well as the actual last possible SAT/ACT/SAT II that you can take in order to get the tests sent in by the deadline.
National Universites
| School | Last SAT for ED/EA | Last SAT for RD | Last SAT II for ED/EA | Last SAT II for RD | Last ACT for ED/EA | Last ACT for RD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princeton | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Harvard | October | November | October | November | September | November |
| Yale | October | December | October | December | October | February |
| Columbia | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Stanford | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| University of Chicago | November | December | November | December | October | February |
| MIT | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Duke | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| U Penn | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Cal Tech | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Johns Hopkins | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Dartmouth | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Northwestern | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Brown | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Cornell | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Vanderbilt | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Wash U. St Louis | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Rice | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Notre Dame | November | December | November | December | October | February |
| UC Berkeley | N/A | December | N/A | December | N/A | December |
| Emory | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Georgetown | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Carnegie Mellon | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| UCLA | N/A | December | N/A | December | N/A | December |
| USC | N/A | December | N/A | December | N/A | December |
| UVA | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Tufts | November | December | November | December | October | February |
| Wake Forest* | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| University of Michigan | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Boston College | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| UNC Chapel Hill | August | December | August | December | September | December |
| NYU | October | December | October | December | October | December |
*test optional
Liberal Arts
| School | Last SAT for ED | Last SAT for RD | Last SAT II for ED | Last SAT II for RD | Last ACT for ED | Last ACT for RD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williams | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Amherst | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Swarthmore | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Bowdoin* | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Middlebury | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Pomona | October | December | October | December | September | December |
| Wellesley | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Carleton | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Claremont McKenna | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Davidson | August | December | August | December | September | December |
| Haverford | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Vassar | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Hamilton | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Harvey Mudd | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Smith | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Washington & Lee | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Wesleyan* | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Colby | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Colgate | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Grinnell | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Macalaster | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Oberlin | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Bates* | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Colorado College | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Kenyon | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Barnard | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Scripps | October | December | October | December | October | December |
| Skidmore* | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Dickinson* | November | December | November | December | October | December |
| Bard* | October | December | October | December | October | December |
*test optional
Here are all of the upcoming fall SAT, ACT, and SAT II Exams, along with their registration deadlines. There are a number of SAT II exams offered on each of the below SAT Exam days--make sure you know when your specific SAT IIs are being offered. Take note: starting in 2018, there will be NO January SAT testing option. This is new. This means you really have to make sure that you complete your testing in time. They’ve added an August test date to make up for the lack of a January test date.
| SAT Date | Register by | Late Registration (added fee) |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Aug | 28-Jul | August 15 (online**) |
| 7-Oct | 8-Sep | September 27 (online) |
| 4-Nov | 5-Oct | October 25 (online) |
| 2-Dec | 2-Nov | November 21 (online |
| ACT Date | Register By | Late Registration (added fee) |
|---|---|---|
| 9-Sep | 4-Aug | 18-Aug |
| 28-Oct | 22-Sep | 6-Oct |
| 9-Dec | 2-Nov | 17-Nov |
| 10-Feb | 12-Jan | 19-Jan |
**late deadlines are 1 week earlier for mailed registrations
Bottom line--don’t miss deadlines. Just don’t. Additionally, it’s always wise to check with your college directly to triple check what their specific deadlines are. The above deadlines are all for ED/EA, but some schools have multiple rounds (of which the deadlines are often the same as RD). Make sure that you create your own deadlines well ahead of the actual due date to ensure that you don’t fall behind. If you need any help doing so, don’t hesitate to reach out. We can help you come up with a comprehensive plan to ensure that you not only get everything in on time, but that you get everything in ahead of time.