<p>Well, do they? I mean, do they talk to one another and know if you applied to, for instance, Yale SCEA? My friend applied to Yale SCEA and was waitlisted at Harvard along with many of her friends who did the same by applying early to Yale and RD to Harvard. She claims that if you apply early to one, the other knows you want that school more and will waitlist you. For me, I want Harvard more, but think I have a better chance at Yale with applying SCEA. Will doing this crush my chances at Harvard? What do you think???????????</p>
<p>Why would you have a better chance at Yale than Harvard? It's probably equally difficult (or equally easy...if you're an REALLY, REALLY optimistic person...) to get it to the two schools.</p>
<p>The colleges would surely know if someone applied early to BOTH colleges SCEA, which is against the SCEA rules at each place. We know from anecdotes here on CC that every year there are students who signal their first choice (by applying either ED or SCEA to the Ivy of their choice) who get rejected by their first choice (whichever college it is) but then get admitted by another college, sometimes a "better" or more desirable college, in the regular admission round. I'm sure that last year there were both early Yale applicants who were rejected by Yale but then admitted by Harvard in the regular round, and the other way around. </p>
<p>In short, colleges don't hold it against you that you apply to more than one college, nor do they hold it against you that you do the smart thing and apply SOMEWHERE in the early round. You decide which early round opportunity to use. I agree with Byerly, having consulted the same sources that he cites, that every college (with the possible exception of MIT) has a higher base acceptance rate for its early applicants than for its regular round applicants. So if you like one particular college, apply to it early to maximize your chances. If you have other colleges that look like good choices to you, apply to those in accordance with the rules of the early round college. (For example, most of the SCEA colleges allow "rolling" applications to a state university at any time, so if your state university is a satisfactory "safety" school, one you would like to attend, apply there as soon as you can put your paperwork together.) </p>
<p>Don't worry about psyching out admission officers too much. They themselves acknowledge that two "equally" selective colleges can treat "comparable" applicants with inconsistent results. Just be sure to APPLY to the colleges you would really like to attend--you can't get in if you don't apply.</p>
<p>Those who apply SCEA to Harvard and Yale have a roughly equal chance of admission. </p>
<p>The Harvard early pool may be slightly stronger, but gaming the situation by applying SCEA to Yale even though Harvard is your "real" first choice makes little sense; in either case, if you don't get in early, your odds of admission fall to 1/3 the early pool admit rate.</p>
<p>Thanks. I agree with everything said. And I will try for both because I'm interested in both. To WindCloudUltra-I won the Yale Book Award, lots of Yale reps visit my school, my school always sends someone to Yale (not the case with Harvard) and I have relations who go to Yale, so you can't blame me for thinking I have a better chance at Yale than I do Harvard. And yes, I am a very optimistic person :)</p>
<p>I thought it might be interesting to post once again the actual outcomes of two SCEA international applicants to Yale: the one an international applicant from a prestigious NE prepschool, the other applying directly from a distinguished "gymnasium" in northwestern Europe.</p>
<p>Both girls have an identical(European) ethnic background, have similar classical/modern languages training, virtually identical Finaid need and both are first in their class at their academically very distinguished schools. The SAT score of girl A is 800 CR, 720 M, 680 WR. SAT score of girl B is 800 CR, 800 M, 740 WR. </p>
<p>Girl A expresses interest in doing neuroscience and theatre and has the course profile to back this up, Girl B expresses interest in mathematics, and music and has the course profile to back this up. </p>
<p>Both girls are deferred SCEA at Yale and then apply regular admission to Harvard, Princeton and to 3 First Tier LACs In the regular admission round both girls get into all the LACs they applied. Girl A gets into Yale and Princeton but not into Harvard; girl B gets into Harvard, waitlisted at Princeton and rejected at Yale. </p>
<p>Neither of the two girls noted above had any special hook, although in retrospect Girl A did rather a better job of marketing her first generation status and family dysfunction than girl B -- who took the position that all happy families are alike and that a product of a happy family was thus not ipso facto a victim. The only difference really was the essay the interview and perhaps the prepschool handicap of girl B in the eyes of Yale/Princeton admissions. So go figure</p>
<p>I had worried about this same issue when I was applying to schools last year. I ended up applying SCEA to Yale (only because at the time I like the school better, not because I thought it an easier option) and RD to Harvard. When I went to the admitted students weekends for both schools, there were a lot of crossover admits between Yale and Harvard. I wouldn't worry too much about Yale and Harvard admins talking. Just go with the school you like the best early and whatever happens, happens.</p>
<p>I'm assuming you are African-American. If you in fact are, it is in your best interests not to apply to any school ED, EA, SCEA, or anything else I may have forgotten.
If your grades are good, you've taken AP classes, youre new SATs are 2150+/your ACTs are 30+, you are golden. Especially if you are a black male.
Search through my previous posts on this website to find out why I say this. I am currently enrolled at Harvard University, and will be a sophomore this fall. I made every single school I applied to - Wharton, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and Northwestern - and somehow, although I never applied, I was admitted to GWU and Howard with full scholarships at both. Of course I made the right decision and chose Harvard, but that's besides the point.
Best of luck with your applications, and I hope you take my advice to heart. </p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing better than a 5-way bidding war over you between the top 5 universities in the country - I ended up extracting a significantly larger financial aid award from Harvard (although they say they don't do that sort of thing). You would be prudent to do the same.</p>
<p>i applied to Harvard SCEA (deferred then accepted) and Yale RD, i got rejected from Yale. But i also applied to Columbia and a lot of top 25 schools RD also and got into all of them, so i don't really know.</p>
<p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing better than a 5-way bidding war over you between the top 5 universities in the country - I ended up extracting a significantly larger financial aid award from Harvard (although they say they don't do that sort of thing). You would be prudent to do the same.
Hahaha that is brilliant.</p>
<p>To skigirl290-Wow that's interesting and good to know. I definitely won't stress too much over it now. And besides, it's only four years of my life. Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>To ethioman00-I'm not african american but white and female. But nice try. Anyways, thanks for the advice and i will check out your other posts. I feel I definitely meet the requirements of top schools' applicant pool-hopefully my strengths will outweigh the fact that I'm white, female, and from an over-represented state --NY. Oh, and I will try to hold out for some financial aid. Thanks.</p>