No. 1 Tip on College Application: Don’t Delay

There is one thing Karagin Miller would tell every prospective University of Arkansas student if she could:

Complete your application for admission at least one month ahead of the deadline listed.

“The earlier the better!” Miller said.

Miller is an online student liaison at the Global Campus at the U of A. The Global Campus provides support to U of A academic colleges that offer degrees delivered online. The liaisons answer questions six days a week including several after-business hours because many students in online degree programs work full time. The liaisons are available by phone at 479-575-6493, email at online@uark.edu and live chat. On the liaison page, click on the Razorbot chat button on the lower-right area of the page and type in “live chat” to chat with a liaison.

A 2024 survey of U of A students studying online found 81% work full time and 51% are parenting, according to the 2024 annual report of the Global Campus. The average age of students in undergraduate online programs is 31, the report said, and the average age of students in online graduate programs is 35.

Most of the inquiries fielded by liaisons come from students in the application phase, Miller said.

“I would say the biggest topics that come up from students are programs’ admission requirements, deadlines, and transcripts,” she said. “The biggest thing I think people would benefit from understanding about the application process is that application deadlines can be a little misleading. When you hear deadline, it can make you think that that’s the final day to complete something and that everything gets reviewed after that, which in most cases, makes sense. But when it comes to applying to college, you really want to complete your application at least a month ahead of any deadline listed.”

The U of A application for undergraduate programs and the application for graduate programs can each be found online. These pages contain additional information about such topics as admission requirements and test scores as well as a link for checking your application status. An online liaison can help with any questions a prospective student may have about the application process.

Undergraduate program deadlines:

• Fall – Aug. 1 
• Spring – Dec. 20
• Except for the LPN-BSN program which is Nov. 15 for spring and July 15 for fall. Then, the deadline is April 1 for summer but students can only apply for the summer term if they need to take prerequisites.

For the graduate programs, all the deadlines are typically different and depend on the program. 

People underestimate the time it takes for a transcript to be processed once it has been ordered or delivered to the university, Miller said.

“If you wait until the week of the deadline to even order a transcript, it really comes down to luck on whether or not your application will be completed in time to be evaluated,” she said. “This is because an application can’t be evaluated until all required materials have made it through processing. Even then, the later you get admitted, the less time you have to take advantage of student resources like academic advising and enrolling in classes.”

The admissions team evaluates applications all year, so the earlier you apply, the earlier you get admitted, Miller said, which also affects how early you can prepare for classes.

“We see so many applicants that complete everything but sending in their transcripts and wait until close to the deadline to begin ordering them,” Miller said. “Applicants can check their application progress at any time by logging into the portal and viewing their application checklist. Our office is a great resource for any questions people have about what they are seeing on their checklist or how to complete it.”