Big 3 Ivies in early action

Hi all, I am an international student with 1570 in my only SAT test, strong extracurriculars. I know all my options are reaches, but my local options are good so I would only study in the US in top schools.
As a international, Harvard’s name is HUGE outside the US, so is my Early Action obvious choice.
But, if there was some good reason for applying to Princeton or Yale in EA and then seeing what happens with the other two in RA, I would go this way. I have been gathering info and I don’t see great evidence that Princeton or Yale are easier in EA, except in the fact that both consider interest a factor and Harvard doesn’t.
Any thoughts on this? Thank you!

They are all fantastic universities and exceedingly difficult admits. Apply REA to whichever one you most want to attend.

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thank you.
Any though in yale and princeton?? are they easier than harvard in EA??

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They all have single digit admit rates.

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No different. And you don’t need to show demonstrated interest for any of them.

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thank you

But all three are somewhat different from each other in terms of what experience you will have on campus. You may want to spend time talking to people if possible before deciding which of the three is a better fit for EA.

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All three schools assume you have interest and are indifferent towards it as they typically deny 97 of 100 applicants. Choose the one you want and good luck.

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If you are trying to figure out which is the easier admit for EA…that just is folly. All have low single digit admission rates for international students. So…if you like them equally, just pick one.

Harvard is in Boston, a major city on the east coast with tons of other colleges plus everything a major metro area has to offer.

Yale is in New Haven, a smaller city in CT. But still an urban area.

Princeton is in…Princeton NJ. It’s a smaller city but feels more suburban to me.

If travel is an issue, look at airports nearby. See how easy or hard it is to get to your home country from these colleges.

In terms of cost of living, college strength, all are pretty equal in my opinion.

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I have heard that even from large countries (China, India) they take miniscule numbers. But there are differences. For example I heard that Princeton takes something like 5 from China, and Harvard may take 15. And I heard that they often take from particular target schools in these countries. So you may want to find out how many kids each of these places take from your country, and which target schools they take from. I don’t have this data.

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thank you

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Harvard takes about 10 from China and 6 from India a year.

https://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics

Umm, can’t seem to find where OP said they’re from one of these countries.

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I meant to give this as an example of what the numbers are even from large countries. And I heard they have target schools etc. The numbers differ between Harvard and Princeton. Princeton takes fewer kids. All of this can figure into the OPs decision process if they choose to.

Princeton does not track demonstrated interest. I doubt Yale does either. They don’t need to.

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I have seen the reverse in my area. Harvard enrolls 5 Indians/year, Yale 8 and Princeton 11. And from the international schools in the area, more go to Yale or Princeton than Harvard.

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@janderclander perhaps you could google the colleges and your country to see how many students are represented.

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If you look at the Ivies Common Data set, Penn and Dartmouth are the only Ivies that consider interest.

Penn fills half its class plus fro ED. If you’re purely looking for an Ivy acceptance, you’d have better luck expanding past the big 3.

But again - getting in somewhere and getting into the right somewhere for you should matter.

You want to be at the right school.

I feel sorry for these kids choosing a school solely for reputation.

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thank you!

Big 3? :thinking: Wonder how Stanford and MIT feel about this new moniker.

No Ivy League schools consider interest. (Actually, I’m wrong. They didn’t used to, but tsbna44 is right.) And you cannot apply to all of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton Early Action. They all offer only SCEA. SC means single choice.

Why these colleges? If your local colleges are good options, figure out what HYP offers that makes those better choices. And figure out how you will pay.

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