MrSnappy,
I graduated from one of those high academic D3's you mentioned. Being an athlete earned no special treatment anywhere on campus for anything. I would be astonished if they waived their admissions deadlines even for a recruited athlete.
I agree with Swampboy, most high-academic schools are going to hold tight on the January 15th regular decision application deadline. This means a completed application, including your letters of recommendation. Time is very much of the essence in order to apply to these schools. Also, a 4.2 with 30 ACT is very nice, but in reality is very much middle-of-the-pack in terms of admission stats for NESCAC and other schools across the country with similar profiles, particularly when you're in the RD candidate pool. We have a friend whose son was IB student with higher GPA and ACT, and he was denied admission to Wesleyan Univ. and Claremont-McKenna as an RD applicant......very competitive.