[Goose]

true, but...imo deadlines are not imposed for the sake of education - ie students and faculty - but rather for the convenience of administrators, who gradually feel like they own the school.

I am one of the vocal critics of Stanford's excess of administrators and these administrator's unintended assumption of powers. That said, AFAIK the faculty is the group that controls graduate admissions. If some administrator(s) are making it harder than it needs to be, I strongly suspect the faculty would put them in their place very quickly. The graduate admissions process is a jealously guarded faculty prerogative. They aren't going to be pushed around in that regard. For that reason, the way it is is probably the way the faculty wants it to be.

faculty certainly control the particular students admitted. i believe they defer/delegate to administrators the exact timeline and, in particular,  flexibility of deadlines. sure, if it were a big deal, a bunch of faculty could get together and petition the chair or dean.

I am quite sure the faculty also controls the process of when and how applicants are evaluated. The existing timing is certainly fine with the faculty but possibly not critical and they would accept modifications if asked. I would assume that at least some of the faculty is already aware  that the schedule presents problems for some potential applicants. The fact that the system has not changed indicates to me the faculty likes it as is and will resist strongly substantial changes. Realistically, IMO it is hard to imagine a graduate admission process that allows applications to arrive in March.  There are lots of potential grad students that have to decide where they are going to be next year well before they actually graduate.

[Goose]

true, but...imo deadlines are not imposed for the sake of education - ie students and faculty - but rather for the convenience of administrators, who gradually feel like they own the school.

I am one of the vocal critics of Stanford's excess of administrators and these administrator's unintended assumption of powers. That said, AFAIK the faculty is the group that controls graduate admissions. If some administrator(s) are making it harder than it needs to be, I strongly suspect the faculty would put them in their place very quickly. The graduate admissions process is a jealously guarded faculty prerogative. They aren't going to be pushed around in that regard. For that reason, the way it is is probably the way the faculty wants it to be.

faculty certainly control the particular students admitted. i believe they defer/delegate to administrators the exact timeline and, in particular,  flexibility of deadlines. sure, if it were a big deal, a bunch of faculty could get together and petition the chair or dean.

I am quite sure the faculty also controls the process of when and how applicants are evaluated. The existing timing is certainly fine with the faculty but possibly not critical and they would accept modifications if asked. I would assume that at least some of the faculty is already aware  that the schedule presents problems for some potential applicants. The fact that the system has not changed indicates to me the faculty likes it as is and will resist strongly substantial changes. Realistically, IMO it is hard to imagine a graduate admission process that allows applications to arrive in March.  There are lots of potential grad students that have to decide where they are going to be next year well before they actually graduate.