<p>I beg to differ from previous posters. If Yale is your first choice school, you chances increase by a lot if you apply EA. Plus your ECs sound fine... you just need to learn how to play them up in your app. Your dedication to music sounds great. Working is a plus too. Wherever you decide is your first choice, your should apply EA there, because your chances will increase. Read The Early Admissions Game for more information on that.</p>
<p>The increase percentages of EA do not translate into increased chances for the average applicant. After you subtract out the recruited athletes, legacies, URMs, and other hooked candidates, the odds for the average EA student are no better than RD, somewhere around 5%.</p>
<p>Actually they are admitted more. That's exactly what The Early Admissions Game proved. After controlling for variables like hooked applicants, they found that a white, unhooked applicant applying early gives approximately the same boost as raising the SAT by 100 points.</p>
<p>I've read it too. I've also read all the posts of the rejected 1600s. The Early Admission game is 5 years out of date. Applications are up 50% in some cases since then.</p>
<p>Indeed, SCEA (both at Harvard and Yale) is not much of a boost once URMs, athletes, development cases, etc are accounted for. This is primarily because the yield for these schools is already high, as the book you mentioned makes clear. ED, on the other hand, e.g. for Columbia, Princeton, Brown gives a significant boost. </p>
<p>One point you should know re: SAT scores. You must report your SAT II scores. The College Board sends ALL scores it has on file for you, SAT I and SAT II. So, although they will "count" your ACT (they have NO preference for ACT vs. SAT), they will "see" your SAT scores which are significantly lower.</p>
<p>I think newt's post on page 1 puts it quite clearly that it will rarely matter that my SAT score is lower. I feel like that's like saying "it could hurt you that you have a 2300 cumulative, but a 1950 on your first test". The better always counts and the lower one shouldn't count against you.</p>