<p>I have trouble deciding where to apply EA. My school is not such agreat school, but we're located somewhere near Stanford. So, many of our students apply there, and one gets in, rarely two get in, and of course none get in at all over the years.
But very very few apply to MIT and Caltech. For the past seven years or so, records show that none have gotten into MIT and Caltech. I would love to apply to all of these three schools, but I don't know which in EA. If I apply to Caltech EA, then I can also apply to MIT EA, which means I have a better chance of being accepted than applying to lone Stanford (Stanford doesn't allow to apply to other schools during EA).
But then again, my Stanford is probably familiar with my school, so I might have a better chance?? Correct me if I'm wrong.
What would you all say?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Which schools are you more interested in? Seems like Caltech/MIT are quite different from Stanford. Applying EA doesn't really increase your chances of getting in, definitely not for MIT, so if you're interested in a math/science/nerdy school like Caltech or MIT, apply to them; if you're interested in what I assume to be a more broad/possibly humanities school, and if you really want to go to Stanford, apply to Stanford. Either way, you'll hear from all three eventually :-)</p>
<p>@Ashwin,
You will not have a better chance of getting in to Stanford simply because your school is in the neighborhood. If anything, that is a disadvantage. All three schools enroll students from across the country, and although they each state that they don't have a geographic quota, they definitely seek geographic diversity. Also, of the schools on your short list, MIT is probably the most committed to the idea of creating social opportunity by actively seeking students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The fact that your school is not Gunn (Palo Alto) or Monta Vista (Cupertino) could actually be a plus.</p>
<p>On the other hand, to gain admission to MIT from a Bay Area high school, you'll have to demonstrate a real passion for math/science/engineering or some related field. You'll need to show that you've taken advantage of some of the many, many opportunities available in the Bay Area. </p>
<p>My advice: fly the nest. Apply to a college that will give you a new, exciting experience. Stanford is too close to home. I just finished teaching at Stanford as an invited faculty member this year, and I had dinner with two freshmen as part of "Faculty Night." Both students were from the Bay Area, and I left the evening feeling that neither had really had the "OMG --I'm in THIS AMAZING PLACE!!!" experience, as my daughter has had living in Boston this year. Go for it. Shoot the moon: MIT.<br>
:-)</p>
<p>
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Stanford is too close to home.
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</p>
<p>CalAlum, I'm with you. While Stanford is a fantastic school, when my son applied a few years ago I really truly hoped he would not attend. It just seemed to me to be four more years of very much the same thing as his top-notch Silicon Valley high school. I was pleased when he was accepted at, and matriculated to, MIT. A new place, a new outlook, something new and different for him. He has several close friends from his HS class who are at Stanford, and they give me the same feeling of, "Sure, Stanford is a great place, I like it just fine," but not the "ZOMG I AM HAVING AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE I AM SO HAPPY WITH MY COLLEGE CHOICE!" feeling.</p>
<p>Another vote for MIT. :-)</p>
<p>I picked MIT simply because I grew up too close to Stanford. I could have very well been one of the students CalAlum mentioned because I went to a good public school in the Bay Area, spent a bunch of summers at Stanford taking classes/working/etc, applied EA and got in, but decided after CPW that it was way too close to home. </p>
<p>Stanford still remains on my list for grad school. The undergrad experience, to me, should be one of maturity and learning the intangibles, whereas a grad experience is more strictly academic. Thus, it's a possibility. </p>
<p>Stanford is a great place but honestly, from the Bay Area? Get out of there and see a new place (Boston) for four years. You can go back after because the weather's great but please, explore during college. </p>
<p>Another vote for the 'Tute.</p>
<p>
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If I apply to Caltech EA, then I can also apply to MIT EA, which means I have a better chance of being accepted than applying to lone Stanford
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</p>
<p>If admissions were a random event (i.e. you randomly chose them out of a bag), then yes. But since they aren't, you won't have a better chance of getting into MIT or Caltech EA than applying to Stanford alone.</p>
<p>Which one is your first choice? That's the answer.</p>
<p>Also it's not an advantage to apply to MIT EA (not sure about Caltech), it's much more of an advantage to apply SCEA to Stanford.</p>
<p>It is 100% not advantageous at all to apply early to MIT?</p>
<p>If what you want to do is apply tactically then, no, it's not going to be more tactful than applying to stanford if you want an admissions boost from the early program and you dont care which school takes you. But if what you want is to go to MIT, then applying early gets you two shots at it, like everyone here says all the time and you get to find out early and withdraw your other applications.</p>
<p>There is a significant advantage to applying EA at MIT. Overall, for the class entering in 2007, the admit rate was 12.5%: MIT</a> Admissions: Admissions Statistics</p>
<p>How does this compare with EA admits? 3,493 students applied EA; of these, 390 were admitted EA, and another 289 were deferred and eventually admitted. Thus, 679 of EA applicants were eventually admitted, an admit rate of 19%.</p>
<p>But this group is also substantially stronger and more self-selected and therefore a better fit... it's so confusing.</p>
<p>@ classof09: but if you were able to submit the app on time, then you are part of that more self-selected and therefore a better fit group XP</p>
<p>I wouldn't apply Stanford SCEA, they reject way to many people, and those who gets deferred has close to 0% chance. MIT and Caltech are much better with deferred students. I got into both after getting deferred EA ( didn't apply to Stanford, too close to home and I never really liked it when I visited during different competitions). From what I've seen within my friends, MIT and Caltech admissions are a bit more predicable. well not really, it is just that Stanford is just REALLY RANDOM.
If I am picking, I'd apply for MIT and Caltech EA.
That's just me though.</p>
<p>EA is "more advantageous" if you include the applicants that got in EA and RA (after deferral). But it's a very small advantage - and it's negated by the fact that the EA crown is more self-selective. So no, not better. It may even be worse if you're not among the strongest applicants, as you will look worse with other EAs =D</p>
<p>And seriously, apply early to the schools that you feel you're a good fit for and feel you really want to go to.</p>
<p>Ashwin- I'm really to "hijack" your thread for a moment, but I don't feel that my question deserves anew post.</p>
<p>I'm in a similar position in that I'm having a hard time choosing EA MIT/UChicago (I don't feel that comfortable going to Caltech) and SCEA Yale. While these choices may seem somewhat different (well, a lot different), both MIT and Yale represent me in different ways. I'm a very well rounded person, and while I'm a prospective course 18-er, I'm not quite as advanced and talented as others out there and I would benefit just as much from Yale's program. That and I would want to double minor in 21w and 21m anyway. </p>
<p>For the longest time (aka 2 months), I was sure I was going to EA to MIT. When I visited in April and sat in on a class, it was purely amazing. I walked out feeling like I was one of the students- I hid my map. But while MIT is who I am right, Yale secretly represents who I want to be in the future- cultured and sophisticated and all that schmaz. I can also easily see myself at Yale. </p>
<p>My predicament is unique in that my school has sent a couple students to MIT and most other top schools in the past decade, just not Yale. On the other hand, out of my friends from summer programs who applied early last year, only one was ultimately rejected. If I could get into either Yale or MIT, I would be elated, I'm just not sure where it would be more advantageous for me to apply early (also given the fact that if I apply to MIT, I can also find out early from UChicago, which I believe is a boost.)</p>
<p>Again, sorry Ashwin.</p>
<p>@Yale vs. MIT -- Only you can decide which school is the better fit. They're very different schools with quite different cultures. </p>
<p>My daughter had that choice. She was admitted EA to MIT and then also RA to Yale, among other schools. At the end, she went to visit both for an overnight stay and came home with MIT as the clear choice. It had something to do with the fact that Yale's equivalent of CPW didn't have any math courses listed as an activity that might be of interest to incoming students, and also the fact that there were so few physics majors there. But I can address another concern that's embedded in your post: the idea that you can not attain any sophistication or polish at MIT. I don't think that's necessarily true. There are all sorts of living groups at MIT, and all sorts of activities. Since she's been at MIT my daughter has engaged in some "typical" MIT stuff: late-night psets, all-night snow-ball wars, videogaming, hacks, etc. But she has also learned how to sail, has dressed up in formal wear multiple times to go on a cruise, attend concerts, art galleries, etc., and she has begun dating.</p>
<p>Nma, sorry to reply so late. I was in COSMOS all this week without a PC that connected to the internet O_0</p>
<p>But thanks for all your posts, guys. CalAlum, I just wanted to tell you that I'm from Wilcox high school, and it is certainly not as competitive as Gunn and MV and Lynbrook.
But you said it would be a positive thing. But if enrolled in competitive schools, wouldn't it be much easier to explore more and different opportunities? My school just registered to the AMC some couple of years ago . . . we have about three people voluntering in the Tech Museum of Innov. We aren't involved in the USABO competition. There probably is more competitions I don't know about that my friends from gunn and MV talk about. Isn't that a minus?</p>
<p>to classof09. No problem! Your question was semi-relevant. Don't worry about it. It's good to hear there are other people who are in an application dilemma here.</p>
<p>It's not a minus if you talk about your school and if you can also show that you've pursued math/science/engineering interests (or other relevant interests) while at Wilcox.</p>
<p>classof09: I feel like I can offer some insight on the Yale/MIT question because my twin sister, as it happens, goes to Yale. I've visited her a few times, and while I really appreciated the college's vibrant social life and beautiful campus (not to mention their world-class reputation and academics), I'm still very glad I went to MIT. (In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't even apply to Yale.)</p>
<p>As CalAlum said, and as you've probably realized, MIT's culture is more strongly based around being "nerdy" than MIT is. But that's not to say there aren't plenty of sophisticated, well-heeled, well-dressed people at MIT - I'd like to consider myself relatively well-mannered, after all. ;) More seriously, being at MIT has exposed me to a very vast range of students from all sorts of backgrounds (cultural, ethnic, financial, geographical)...and just having the opportunity to mingle with those people has been very rewarding for me.</p>
<p>Regarding the EA question, though...it really depends, and I think applying to the school that you are most passionate about makes the most sense. I feel as though you'd be competitive wherever you apply, whenever you apply - so my basic instinct is to tell you to apply early to the school you love the most, since that's what Early Action is really for, anyway.</p>
<p>CalAlum: I like how you casually slipped your daughter's hacking activity in that list of MIT activities. :)</p>
<p>Ashwin: I was the first person from my school to go to MIT in twenty years, and the first person ever to get into a host of other schools. Selling yourself short because "no one" from your high school has ever gotten into Such-and-Such College is silly. :)</p>
<p>Like CalAlum's daughter, my son applied EA to MIT (as well as to two other unrestricted EA schools, UChicago and UNC-Chapel Hill), and RA to Yale. He was accepted at all three EA schools; he was deferred and ultimately rejected at Yale. We thought the science programs at Yale were somewhat of an afterthought; small programs and hinterland location. They are starting to throw some money at the sciences, though.</p>
<p>To address the OP's question, our feeling was that applying to multiple unrestricted EA programs was tactically better than application to one SCEA school, because the multiple EA acceptances were a great source of satisfaction and relief; the pressure was off for the ensuing few months. Rejection or deferral at the one SCEA school would not have been devastating, but the subsequent worry in general about the April outcomes would have clearly been unpleasant.</p>
<p>Do you mean "waitlisted" at Yale?</p>