Princeton states in their common data set that they do NOT consider demonstrated interest in their application (duh) and I take this as ‘applying SCEA will not help you get in.’
Now, I’m torn between applying SCEA or RD because…
…I really want to go to Princeton, and if there IS any admissions boost, I would love to hop on it, but…
…my GPA isn’t spectacular; 3.75 UW, school doesn’t weigh grades but I take all college prep courses, and my course rigor/level is high. I’m an intended math major, and I’ve taken up to multivariable calc and am taking real analysis right now. But, this semester should be all A’s, which would boost how my GPA appears in the RD rounds…
…I will probably have higher quality essays for the RD round, but I think I’ll still have pretty good essays for SCEA deadline…
…So, I have the option of a) jeopardizing my admissions chances by applying SCEA and submitting a lower-quality application under the false assumption SCEA helps me, or b) possibly boosting my admissions chances by applying SCEA and sending a slightly lower-quality app. but benefiting from the boost in chances from SCEA.
So, does applying SCEA provide any real boost in chances / should I believe it does?
Princeton’s admissions FAQ’s specifically states the following regarding the question of whether there is an advantage to applying SCEA:
“All applicants to Princeton, whether they apply early action or regular decision, receive the same comprehensive, holistic review. Those who apply early gain no strategic advantage; the only advantage is one of convenience. If you know that Princeton is your first choice, then it may make sense for you to apply early.”
Some folks like to override this official statements by Princeton and believe that there’s an advantage to the contrary by pointing out that there’s larger percentage of SCEA admits compared to the RD round. The fact that the percentage of admits is larger in the SCEA round doesn’t mean your chances of being admitted are also correspondingly better. If there is any advantage to applying SCEA, it is to the institution and to those who can fill its needs and wants, i.e., recruited athletes, development cases, URM’s, legacies, special talents, FLI’s, cream of the crop, etc. You see how carefully they use the word, “holistic” in the above official statement? Holistic means, among other shades of its meaning, that the institutions have the privilege of picking who they need and want first.
As the FAQ statement stated above, if you know that Princeton is your first choice, by all means go ahead and apply SCEA – but, only if your application is fully satisfactory and complete. In your case, OP, it’d be wise to wait until you can improve on your GPA as it seems that’s a likely scenario come RD round.
When my son applied SCEA to Princeton in 2017, I didn’t know about how random the admission process is. Quite honestly I thought he was a shoo-in and I was shocked when he was deferred in December. Then finally he was rejected in RD round, but by that time he didn’t really care. Other 3 Ivies accepted him, including Harvard, so go figure. It is honestly a lottery in my opinion - unless you have hooks. We didn’t.
Not random at all. It just seems to from the point of view of an applicant, since, for an applicant, there are only two discrete outcomes: accepted or rejected. However, when you look at it from the perspective of how many kids like a specific applicant are being accepted versus rejected, those number tell a very different story. A far higher percentage of kids like your son are accepted each year to Princeton.
Consider people applying for a position in a philharmonic orchestra. Mediocre musicians who apply are going to be rejected. But what happens when there are three top contenders for two positions of violinist applying, all who are good enough for a place in the orchestra. So the orchestra has to decide which one to reject. Imagine that two of the three play in a manner which harmonizes a little better with the string section when they play together, so they reject the other one. However, that very same violinist is also applying for a job at another orchestra, which is even more prestigious, and their playing harmonizes with the other orchestra’s string section a lot better.
At the same time, among the percussionists, they select a very good drummer, who is not the best drummer, but knows how to play a bunch or percussion instruments which are not commonly used. The orchestra takes them, because they already have an excellent drummer, and this new percussionist brings something which they don’t have.
Looking from the outside, all you see is that an amazing violinist is rejected from the first orchestra, but accepted elsewhere, and that a great, but not amazing, drummer is accepted to their percussion section, while much better drummers were rejected. That would seem pretty “random” to an outside observer, but it isn’t random at all.
Multiply that time a few tens of thousands, add minor preferences of AOs, and, most importantly, have only the best musicians talk about how they were rejected and where they were accepted, and it even looks more like a random mess.
PS. I am not really sure how players are selected for places in philharmonic orchestras, so I’m kind making this up, for my imaginary auditions for my imaginary orchestra.
I hope that nobody actually assumes that this is how it works, and I apologize to all classical musicians for any and all of my erroneous assumptions.
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