Does SCEA help or hurt?

<p>I've already set my mind regardless of what comes of this thread, but I'm just curious to know what you guys think - does applying SCEA hurt your chances in any way? Instead of feeling inclined to admit early applicants who would probably matriculate immediately admitted, would they use them as "safeties", so to speak?</p>

<p>Just to clarify, do u mean the colleges using SCEA applicants as "safeties," meaning saving the applicants for the regular decision round and admitting them then? I dunno, that kinda defeats the purpose of early action, which is to admit students who show a strong interest in a particular school, provided they have good credentials.</p>

<p>I always thought for an applicant who is fully ready, applying EA or SCEA to any college can't hurt. For applicants who get deferred EA, the admit rate regular is usually higher than the overall admit rate. For applicants who get rejected EA, they probably would have been rejected RD too. So I don't see any harm in applying SCEA.</p>

<p>it seems to help your chances of getting in to yale a little bit, as wrath indicated. However, it does not seem to be a big difference, and is not strategically the wisest choice unless yale is your first choice school. ED give you a real advantage.</p>