Cool Teja.
Interesting to not that u r in the Americas already. Intrigued to know more about your profile.
I dont think there will be any de-merit in starting ur visa processing by may. Ask ur consultant what he thinks if ur applying through one.
As for the query on police certificate, i myself was thinking of asking seniors to answer that. I will post my query shortly and keep u in the loop. Its a good question. Because, for study visa per se, we may not require Police Certificate, but when we apply for immigration it is considered as a most mandatory requirement. So, that brings up the Million dollar question : if it is prudent to apply and have the police verification certificate handy when we are available in person in our respective places of stay itself ?
Il try to get back on that shortly as i need it answered just as much as you. The same goes for ECA(but getting ECA is relatively easy affair as compared to PCC) . Meanwhile , il put this question up on a couple of groups i am in and try and get what plans our peers have on this. Still then , cheers!