The college admissions season is not over, believe it or not. Yes, the traditional admissions season is over, but there's a lot of application time available for those who may still be looking for a college to enter this fall. Why would someone be looking to submit college applications at this late date?
There are a number of reasons. First, you may have had an unfortunately unsuccessful set of application results during the traditional application period. Or perhaps the schools to which you were accepted now seem less than appealing to you. Another possibility is insufficient financial aid. If you’re smart, you won’t choose to go into heavy debt just for the sake of a “dream” college. Finally, you may be a nontraditional student, someone who is not a high school senior, perhaps a recently discharged military veteran, who needs to take some time considering your options for a college this fall.
Also, you may, in fact, have a nice selection of acceptances but still want to explore your possibilities for geographical location, specialized curricula or some other reason. There’s no hard and fast law that says you need to have all your decisions in hand and be ready to make an enrollment choice by May 1. The richness of America’s many thousands of institutions of higher learning provides you with options.
If you are one of those in the above circumstances, or even in another situation looking for additional colleges, there’s a truly convenient resource for you to use: The College Board’s BigFuture listing of schools with late application deadlines. The introduction tells us:
Many regular college application deadlines fall in January. But if you missed those deadlines, it’s not too late to apply to a college and enroll next fall.
The list below shows colleges with application deadlines of January 15 or later. It includes colleges that use a rolling admission method. That means they have a long window of time to apply, and they respond to applications as they get them instead of waiting till all applications are in.
Click on the college’s name to see its profile in College Search and learn more about its application requirements.
Note: The colleges gave us the information below — but deadlines can change. To make sure you have the most up-to-date information for a college, visit its website or contact its admission department.
To give you a taste, I have excerpted some of these schools from the BigFuture listings, sampling them in chronological order of their application deadlines. Go to the BigFuture site to see the entire comprehensive list, which can be a little overwhelming at first glance. I'll start with some schools that have mid-April deadlines, since we're still in early April.
My list of excerpts isn't even 50 percent of the BigFuture list. Thus, your options are plentiful!
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April 15
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
University of South Florida: Saint Petersburg
April 30
University of the Virgin Islands
May 1
Baptist College of Health Sciences
California State Polytechnic University: Pomona
Georgia Southern University ...
May 31
City University of New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
June 1
Central Connecticut State University
Columbia University: School of General Studies
Haskell Indian Nations University
Lubbock Christian University ...
June 15
Mercy College of Health Sciences
University of Alaska Anchorage
June 30
Elizabeth City State University
Medical University of South Carolina
University of the Sacred Heart
July 1
Adventist University of Health Sciences
Cincinnati Christian University
July 15
Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University
Bowling Green State University
Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary
Mount Vernon Nazarene University
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
July 31
South Carolina State University
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
University of Texas at El Paso
August 1
Auburn University at Montgomery
Centenary College of Louisiana
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Colorado State University: Pueblo
Columbia International University
August 15
Concordia University Wisconsin
Eastern Illinois University ...
August 31
California State University: East Bay
As they say, "Better late than never!"
