<p>I'm sorta wondering what to do right now; Harvard and Princeton are reinstating SCEA the year I'm applying, so it's gonna change things up a bit. Here's my situation--my first choice at this point is probably Harvard, but I don't know whether to apply early or not. I consider myself a pretty strong candidate...but no hook. I was thinking: Yale's going to lose some applications to Harvard/Princeton, which might make the pool slightly less competitive. Should I apply early to Yale (which I'd be happy to go to), where I could have a better chance of being admitted? Won't Harvard's SCEA pool just be URMs/athletes/legacies? I'd rather be accepted by Yale SCEA than deferred by Harvard xD</p>
<p>Some of the more important stats:
-go to a small private school in Georgia (one of the best), generally 10/200 Ivies a year--started attending sophomore year
-no rank, but probably top 10%
-Asian male
-2400 SAT
-1 AP EXAM sophomore year, 7 junior year, probably 3 senior year
-varsity debate (not nationally competitive)--3 years
-working with organization that saves North Korean refugees (starting a chapter at school)
-decent community service--going to Taiwan to teach English (80 hours), Habitat for Humanity
-no major awards (except NMS)
-a few leadership positions
-trying to start a nonprofit </p>
<p>There is no reason to think there will be a change in Yale SCEA competitiveness this year. The application numbers will drop, the admits will drop, and more work will be pushed to the RD application period for the admissions officers. Looking at the admitted students threads, there are plenty of kids admitted to H and not to Y or P. In fact H’s class size is bigger so they admit more total students too. If H is your first choice, use your SCEA bid there and save your money and efforts applying elsewhere until you hear in mid-December but be prepared to send to reaches/matches/safeties if deferred. I would be surprised with your stats if you would be a straight-out SCEA reject.</p>
<p>Yale and Harvard are equally selective, and the admissions process is equally subjective at both schools. All you need do to demonstrate that is scan the acceptance lists on CC: Plenty of students accepted at H but denied at Y, and plenty of students accepted at Y but denied at H. This isn’t the place for a decision based on strategy. If Harvard is your top choice, apply there SCEA.</p>
<p>I agree with the other posters. Apply to your top choice. Admissions SCEA is slightly less competitive everywhere, and you do get an advantage in RD if you are deferred as the percentage of acceptances for deferred students is higher than the regular percentage.</p>
<p>Put it this way: there’s no way you can say you might get into Yale more than Harvard in SCEA. Both are equally treacherous – there’s no room to game here – especially for the unhooked. Apply to your first choice. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Your most important decision will be to decide how competitive you are for the top tier colleges. What you have described so far is not too compelling for the SCEA round at any of these schools. If you are really eager to secure an early acceptance, you may want to consider a less competitive non-binding EA school.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m leaning towards applying to Harvard. I’m just worried that because it’s the first year, there’ll be a surge of athletes/URMs in the SCEA, which would make it brutal…</p>