ED, EA, or SCEA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I'm an international student studying at an international school. I understand that chance posts are not very predictive -- but given that my circumstance is quite unique (This is my third school, went to US for freshman year, came back for sophomore year, and changed to another school in junior year because I ran out of courses at my old school), can I have some guidance on where to apply for early? I'm really lost as to what may be my best option for applying in the early round. All my leadership positions are attained this year since I'm a new student to my current school. </p>

<p>Right now I'm thinking of
1. Doing Yale OR Princeton SCEA which are my top choices </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Doing UPenn Wharton ED with UChicago EA (I'm going to a program at UPenn this summer, past participants have nearly 100% success rate at applying early decision wharton/M&T program). </p></li>
<li><p>Doing UChicago and Georgetown EA (which leaves me RD round for applying to my top choices Princeton and Yale). </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you very much!</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2300, just got it back (730 CR/800 M/770 W)
SAT 2: Taking it in Oct</p>

<p>GPA: Freshman Year: 93 ish Sophomore year: 3.96 Junior Year my first semester dropped to 3.83 (this school is significantly harder) but second semester is 3.95. (The average GPA for accepted students at Georgetown/UChicago from my current school is 3.76, for Yale it's 3.85, and for Princeton it's 3.89). </p>

<p>APs: Sophomore year: AP Physics B (4), AP World History (5), AP Calculus BC (5 Self-studied), Junior year: AP Physics C (Mechanics & E&M), AP Comparative/US Government, AP English Language, AP Macro/Micro Economics</p>

<p>Senior Courseload: AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Eng Lit, AP Statistics, French, AP Psychology</p>

<p>Awards: AP Scholar, Steinway Piano International Competition Regional Gold, Asian Open Piano Competition Outstanding Performance, some school honors, some regional/international (as in SE Asia) MUN/Forensics awards. </p>

<p>Clubs: Forensics (Vice President at my old school, numerous awards), MUN (numerous awards), Math and Science Tutor, Service Club 1 (Senior Director), Service Club 2 (Senior Director), Service Club 3 (Manager for Fundraising), Political Union (Founder & President), Investment Club (President), Staff writer for school newspaper, Piano/Saxophone (12&4 Years), </p>

<p>Summer Activities: UPenn Program this summer, Yale Ivy Scholars last summer. Internship at an architecture/design firm.</p>

<p>Volunteering: Volunteer for Virginia Paralympics. Been to Fiji, Cambodia, and Indonesia for short term services (2 weeks ish). </p>

<p>Recommendation: One teacher knows me really well and wrote me my recommendation for a quite competitive summer program (I got in so should be at least decent), the other not sure (I was a top student but not sure if he likes me). </p>

<p>Financial Aid: Not applying
School Type: highly competitive private (around 10 to 15% to ivies each year) (although some are legacies)
Ethnicity: Asian
Hooks: First gen for asians..don't know if that helps.</p>

<p>Any advice is welcome, thanks a lot!!</p>

2

<p>You answered your own question. Since Y or P are your top choices, you should SCEA one of them. There’s no “gaming” this to any advantage, given your list of top choices.</p>

3

<p>How was your experience in Ivy Scholars? The Yale admissions success rate for applicants from our D’s Ivy Scholars cohort seemed to us to be quite high. If you made a good impression while in that program, your chances at Yale may be better than you think.</p>

4

<p>@ T26E4 Thanks for your reply. Wharton is actually quite high on my list, but it’s not my first choice. Strategically my counselor thinks it’s best for me to apply wharton since the past participants from the program I’m going this year have really high success rate at applying upenn wharton or its M&T program. I would love to apply SCEA, I was just worried that I may end up with no schools accepted in december and have to apply to some other safety schools, which significantly limits my choices since my school limits our applications to a maximum of 10 schools.</p>

5

<p>Hi niceday, thank you for your advice. Actually the success rate from my session wasn’t as high as expected. A lot of my friends applied Yale early and got deferred and ended up going to H or P or some other great schools. I thought it would be much higher. As for how I did in the program, I think I made a positive impression but I did not win any specific awards at the end of the program (like Best Writing or the Top 5 student award they give out)…I’m not sure if that will help.</p>

6

<p>I agree with T26E4: Since Y or P are your top choices, you should SCEA one of them. There’s no “gaming” this to any advantage, given your list of top choices.</p>

<p>Top US colleges usually limit the number of international students to about 10-11 percent of a class. You can’t game the system, so you need to apply SCEA to whichever school like the most and hope for the best.</p>