Apply online now, or wait to network with an alumni when I get back to school?

Looking to get some input on this. Some online applications just opened at a certain bank and I am wondering whether I should go ahead and apply online, or whether I should wait a month or so to see if I can network with an alumni from my school that's an SVP of something there. I would have emailed earlier, but I'm not really fond of cold emailing and would rather sit down for coffee so it's not as awkward asking them if they'd pass my resume on later. I should make it past any auto-dings (high GPA, decent resume) so I'm not worried about that, guess I'm just wondering if it would make a difference since I'm assuming they may have already done OCR last semester and usually by the time online opens a decent amount of spots are already filled. For context I'm not at a target school but I am in a region where they have a heavy presence. Thanks for any input.