My school won't submit my UCAS and the deadline is approaching

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone knows if it makes a big difference how soon you apply before the deadline, particularly for applying to undergraduate art courses? I sent my application in on UCAS in time for my school's internal deadline (mid December) but it's been nearly a month and despite a lot of people asking why my school won't pass them on to UCAS, they still say not to worry about it. Is this true? Or is it possible that this will hinder my chances of getting into other unis? I really really want to get into Edinburgh or Loughborough and I'm so scared I might have missed the opportunity now...
Thank you.

Universities make a commitment to ucas that ALL entries received by ucas before the deadline will be treated equally and they ensure that. You wont be disadvantaged provided your application is received by the deadline and in most cases even after the deadline.

If it is submitted after the deadline it will affect your chances. Your school will have to process each application individually to make sure that it has been done properly etc. If you are worried I would go and speak to whoever is responsible for the applications directly.