R1 or R2?

Clear Admit has brought up a very valid point about deciding on which rounds to apply for this year - consider the decision date in addition to the application deadline.

This was also something that I'd considered last month when trying to finalize my application schedule - I had decided to apply to Wharton, MIT, and Chicago in R1, and to Tuck in its Dec based on application deadlines, decision dates, and deposit payment date. However, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry so why would my case be any different? With the Chicago R1 deadline this year on Oct 26 (right smack in the middle of Oct 13 for Wharton and Nov 2 for MIT) instead of mid November as I'd originally thought, I'm honestly not sure if I am going to be able to pull together 3 applications in the space of 3 weeks.

So now, this is the tentative plan.

• Oct 13 - Wharton (R1, decision on Dec 22, 1st choice)
• Nov 2 - MIT (R1, decision on Jan 30, 2nd choice)
• Dec - Tuck (I don't think this will change because of their Early Action round in Oct)
• Jan 4 - Chicago (R2, decision on Mar 22)

Just have to pray that the often quoted advice of not applying to your 1st choice first (because it's usually your worst application) doesn't hold for me.