I had a question about Early Action. I know some people will say that EA doesn’t raise the chances of admissions, but the data shows that even given the number of recruited athletes in the beginning that at the very least it gives a small bump (even if it’s just that extra 1%). That being said, I was doing some thinking. I came to the conclusion that Harvard (or perhaps MIT in the engineering/maths field) would seemingly have no reason to care about how much a student actually liked Harvard. Even if one would take away its prestigious name, by the hard numbers alone it has the highest matriculation rate by a fair margin.
Given that, wouldn’t schools like Yale and/or Princeton be more appreciative of demonstrated interest brought upon by EA?
I know that admissions at these places are very difficult, but every percentage counts. Please do share your opinion if you know something that relates to this (especially if you know someone from admissions).
Most top schools do not offer EA, only binding or singular decisions such as ED and REA. I’m applying EA at University of Chicago and Georgetown, and the purpose really is just to get decisions sooner. For EA, the acceptance rate is generally higher because it is a smaller, more serious, pool of applicants, not because it shows more interest. My understanding is the ED is similar. Hope this is useful.
You’re missing the point of EA at schools like HYPS. Might there be a tiny statistical advantage? Maybe. But that’s not the point. The point is, if a school truly is your top choice, then apply to it EA whether or not you get this supposed statistical advantage. The perceived differences on which you can gain are a waste of time.
“Well, Princeton is my first choice – but if I apply SCEA to Harvard, I might get a 4% boost in getting accepted. I’ll still apply to Princeton RD and hope for the best”
That sounds crazy to me. For that person, I’d say “Apply to Princeton and get all others ready for RD. Period.”
The caveat above applies only to a small sample however. If you include schools like other EA or ED schools (e.g.Chicago, Dartmouth, etc.) then it might veer more. But if you’re only talking about the subset of HYPS, then no practical difference IMHO
No, I don’t think demonstrated interest matters much to any of the top colleges you mentioned. You can check the Common Data Set available online to verify this.
Also, I know you said otherwise, but I really don’t think applying early gives you much of an advantage at all - just looking at the percent accepted is really misleading.
For example, my high school had a 41% early acceptance rate to Harvard this year and only ~20% for YPSM, which would make you think that applying early to Harvard gives you a big advantage. However, the reality is that typically only the very top students from our school (USAxO finalists, MOSPers, RSI) apply early to Harvard, which really skews the percentage. If your accomplishments aren’t of this caliber but you only see the 41%, you could be in for a nasty surprise - not saying you personally, but as an example.
In reality, I don’t think applying early for any one individual helps much at all except for the fact that it gives the admissions committee a chance to look at your file more closely and seriously than maybe would happen in RD if you’re a borderline applicant.