I’ve been debating what I should do in terns of college applications this coming fall. Originally, I was thinking about applying to Stanford (my first choice) early, along with a couple of state schools (safeties). However, I don’t want to waste the minute advantage (if extant) of applying early on a school with such a low acceptance rate. For instance, I would be missing out on applying for Northwestern early and its 33% acceptance rate compared to its 10% overall acceptance rate.
No doubt you are advantaged in the admissions process applying to Northwestern ED vs Stanford SCEA but that comes with real costs. If you are a credible admit to Stanford you will likely be admitted to Northwestern and lose the opportunity to go to your dream school. If you are applying for financial aid, you also have more options and possibly leverage to get a higher award if you have several admits from non binding schools. ED is great if that is your first choice school and you know from the net price calculator that you are totally fine with paying the expected family contribution and wouldn’t be swayed by a more generous offer elsewhere. FWIW, there is no admissions advantage applying SCEA to Stanford whatever its acceptance rate and compared to HYP, which defer the bulk to the RD round, Stanford gives a firm admit or decline to many more.
If Stanford is your first choice, you shouldn’t apply ED anywhere.