The submission itself trips up more applicants than it should. Each program has its own portal with its own rules: file formats, character/word limits inside form fields, required forms in the package.
Two habits prevent most disasters:
- Learn the portal before deadline day. Create your account, read the field limits, understand the upload process in advance.
- Submit at least 48 hours early. Portals get overloaded near deadlines; uploads fail; a form gets rejected on validation. Submitting early leaves time to fix a technical problem before the door closes.
After submitting, confirm the package was actually received and validated — a submitted application can still fail processing.
The takeaway: the portal is part of the test. Learn it early, submit 48 hours ahead, and confirm it went through.