Although college applications are technically due at 11:59 pm on the deadline day, “11:59 pm” might be hours earlier or later than the time zone where the applicant lives, depending on the admissions policies of the college. Thus, applicants should pay attention to the local time zone where a college is located.
Although The Common Application promotes:
The end of the deadline date is in your [the applicant’s] local time zone, not the college’s time zone.
Common Application
the actual deadline for the application to be submitted may be dependant on the local time zone where the college is located.
The following is a sampling of submissions times, which I’ve written from a West Coast (Pacific Standard Time) perspective, as our Creative Marbles home base is in California:
| DUE WEST COAST TIME 11:59 pm PST | DUE CENTRAL TIME 9:59 pm PST | DUE EAST COAST TIME 8:59 pm PST |
|---|---|---|
| Boston University | Southern Methodist University | Bard College |
| Carnegie Mellon University | University of Missouri, Kansas City | Columbia University |
| Chapman University | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| Duke University | Vanderbilt University | The Ohio State University |
Harvard University | Washington University in St. Louis | University of Virginia |
Note: some college admissions officers post the required submission times on their websites, like Ohio State or Brown University. While for other colleges, I’ve learned their required submission times through annual calls to admissions officers.
I’d recommend applicants contact the admissions offices directly to be sure of the submission time.
For more information about how to both plan for and navigate the complex college admissions process in order to minimize the risk of educational malinvestment, check out Creative Marbles Consultancy
