The consensus in previous years was almost always to submit later with a higher score. If you submit earlier (say in September or October) but have an November/January test score coming down the pipeline, a lot of schools will wait to review your application, so submitting earlier doesn't do much beyond alleviate your stress about physically submitting your apps

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I know this past cycle was a bit different, and this one is expected to be a bit different as well, but if you're confident you'll be raising your score by even a point or two, I think it's prudent to wait to submit until after you get your later score.

You can submit early and request they review your application prior to score release if you're pretty sure you'll be accepted. From there, if you do raise your score, you can try to negotiate increased scholarships. Personally, unless you're hoping for a bunch of money from a t14, just wait to submit. Make your application the best it can be, and be confident about raising your score. Schools want the highest medians they can get--it doesn't matter much whether they admit someone in November or January. It might be a sin to mention it here, but PowerScore has answered this question a lot in their podcasts--listening to them talk about it helped me feel a lot better about submitting later.

For what it's worth, I applied in late 2018/early 2019 (I think I submitted my last app the first week of January) and received great scholarships and acceptances from all schools (all T30-T50) that I applied to. I am reapplying this year (thought I could avoid covid if I postponed a year... now two... haha) and am planning to submit in early October, but that's really only because I don't have a reason to wait.

I would be down! LG is my weakest but I’m probably strongest in RC. Shooting for 168+ on June and would love a study buddy!