Does Applying SCEA Give You an Advantage?

[LovePeanutButter]

I was just wondering since the SCEA acceptance rate for Harvard (and most of the other schools with SCEA) is much greater than that for RD. Is admissions more lenient? Is it better for certain people to apply SCEA and for others to apply RD? Thanks!

[gibby]

This question has been asked and answered many times before. If you use the search option, you will literally find hundreds of threads similar to yours with answers. Here, I’ll help you get started: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search?adv=1&search=advantage+to+SCEA&title=&author=&cat=29&tags=&discussion_d=1&comment_c=1&within=1+day&date=

If you don’t have the time to wade through all of those threads, here’s my answer from one of them:

SCEA is not for everyone – it is SUPER competitive. Having been through this with both my kids, here’s my advice:

In the SCEA round HYPS are looking for the best of the best, meaning that if you have a 2200+ SAT, with lots of AP classes and AP tests (all with 4’s and 5’s) and an unweighted GPA above 95 (on a 1-100 scale) or an unweighted GPA of 3.9 (on a 1-4 scale), and are ranked in the top 1% to 3% of your graduating class, then you should apply to HYP or S in the SCEA round. Pick a school, whichever one is your favorite, and apply, as the odds tend to be better for high-end students in the early round, no matter what Admissions says otherwise.

If you have a sub-2200 SAT or the ACT equivalent, and are ranked in the top 4% to 10% of your high school’s graduating class, then you should NOT apply SCEA, as there is a high probability that your application will get buried by the polly-perfect’s of this world, and there is a greater likelihood you will be deferred.

Instead, student’s with sub-2200 SAT’s, and ranked in the top 4% to 10% of their graduating class, should apply to a broad range of non-binding colleges in the early round and apply to HYPS in the RD round.

Full Disclosure: My daughter applied to Yale SCEA with a 97.8 unweighted GPA from Stuyvesant High School. She was the salutatorian of her class (academically ranked 2nd out of 860 students, all of whom had to pass an SAT-like test to be admitted to the high school), 8 AP’s (all 5’s), 6 SAT Subject tests (all 750+), and a 34 ACT. She was deferred from Yale and then rejected. She applied to Harvard and Princeton in the RD round and was waitlisted at Princeton and accepted to Harvard.

My son applied to Yale SCEA with a 96.7 unweighted GPA from Stuyvesant High School (academically ranked about 20th in his class of 900 students), 8 AP’s (all 5’s), 8 SAT Subject tests (all 750+), and a 36 ACT and was accepted SCEA to Yale. He applied to Harvard and Princeton in the RD round and was accepted to Princeton and rejected from Harvard.

[normanxi]

well 8 subject tests seems a little bit excessive…

[gibby]

@NormanxI: The high school requires a student not taking an AP course to take the SAT Subject Test at the end of the year. The Parents’ Association even raises money for student’s who cannot afford the SAT Subjects tests, so student’s can take them at no cost. So there is no reason not to take them, other than laziness. Given the high school is a feeder school to the ivies, with an acceptance rate lower than Harvard, Admissions understands the high school’s requirements. So, for that high school, it’s not excessive, it’s the norm. For another high school, the number of SAT Subject tests would be excessive.