越早越好，否则有可能出现麻烦！你应该到你申请的学校的官方网站看一看，有些学校在前面的优先日期录满之后不再考虑后面的申请者，尽管这些申请者所递交的材料是在截止日期之前。以下我给你一个申请威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校被拒的案例：

Thank you for applying to the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Unfortunately, we have reached capacity in our incoming freshman class and will not be able to review your application.

When we acknowledged receipt of your application, we explained that your application had been submitted after our December 15 international priority date. Our intention was to review applications submitted after the priority date as long as space remained in our incoming freshman class. At this time, our projections indicate that we have reached capacity in the class, and thus we cannot continue to review applications submitted after the priority date.

所以，我建议你尽快寄出你的申请，以免夜长梦多。此外，如果你申请奖学金，更需要尽快寄出，因为奖学金往往是先到先得，发完即止！