GPA: 3.94 UW (soph and junior year i have a 4.0)
ACT: 36 one sitting
SAT: Didn’t take
SAT II: Math 2 790, Chem 800 US History 800
AP: APUSH 5 Chem 5 calc AB 5 Phys 1 4. (taken about as many APs so far as my school allows)
Have taken and am taking one of the most rigorous courseloads offered in the school.
ECs:
Swim Team: Varsity 4 years, Captain
Worked as a lifeguard for 2 summers
Band: 4 years marching and concert band, been playing instrument for nearly 10
about 50 hours volunteering at a hospital
Student council VP
President of a few clubs
some other minor stuff
Yale Affiliated Summer Program
Little bit of research this summer
I’m strongly considering Yale, but also have legacy at Columbia. Is it worth it to apply to Yale Early to show interest? I already did do a pretty well known program with Yale, but I’m not sure if that’s enough. I’ve also heard that legacy is really the most helpful in the early round, so I don’t want to waste anything. I’m thinking Yale is my first choice right now but Columbia is literally right there as well.
Your stats certainly are good. But I don’t see any ECs that will make you stand out. What type of summer program are you doing? Does the program require you to pay? Or is it a free summer program?
If you greatly prefer Yale, then there’s your answer. But if Columbia is “right there,” and you would be thrilled to go to Columbia, then early decision with legacy gives you a leg up in a crazily competitive admissions process in which an unhooked applicant (even one with great stats) has very, very poor odds of admission to either school. Early decision gives more of an edge than early action, legacy more of an edge than non-legacy, legacy in ED more of an edge than legacy in RD.
Yalie here, and a bit of a skeptic regarding the college admissions process, which is always a toss up. I would definitely recommend that unless your heart is set on Yale, you apply ED to Columbia. As the previous comment said, ED and legacy combined make you a very compelling applicant to Columbia, which beats your Yale odds. Furthermore, Yale (and HPS)'s restrictive early action policy is a real killer in the college process.
If Yale>>>Columbia for you, I’d apply to Yale. If they’re really on par, as you say, then I think ED to Columbia isn’t a bad idea. You just need to make sure that you’d be content if you got into Columbia ED and have no regrets. You have decent ECs but no real standouts, and although I’m unfamiliar with domestic applicants (Internationals have pretty high barriers IMO), most of the people I know here attended pretty well known schools or had some stand out accomplishments, so the ED + legacy would certainly help you.
I usually only advise students to apply ED if they’re dead set on a school. But in your case, if it’s important for you to get into either Yale or Columbia, then applying ED at Columbia is likely a better bet than applying SCEA at Yale.
Worst-case scenario: You get deferred or rejected by Columbia, at which point you can apply RD (very slim chance, but better than 0) to Yale and a host of other schools.
That reminds me to remind you to find some other schools you like and can afford. At least a couple should probably be matches (40-60%ish chance of acceptance) and at least one should be a safety. For all apps, make sure you like – or at least don’t mind – the school, and can afford to attend without taking on too much debt. Run the NPC to gain some knowledge regarding the latter.
If you’re open to other options, another advantage with Columbia ED for you would be the ability to apply to other EA schools like UChicago, MIT, Caltech, and so on. If you’re not interested in those schools and would for sure like to go to Yale, then just apply Yale SCEA.
if you like yale more, do yale. columbia legacy doens’t help as much as it does at other places, so you can’t bank on it to get in. ED does have more acceptance than ea, but it is binding and you get less aid i believe