<p>Anyone know if Princeton or Yale accepts more in the early admission stack? I heard that ED might actually hurt you at Princeton unless you are extremely top tier because so many of the brightest students do ED there. But, it could be the exact same thing for YAle. I don't really want to waste my ED shot..anyone have any helpful tips??</p>
<p>I think you are approaching this the wrong way. While Princeton and Yale have their similarities, they are also unique in their idiosyncracies and it would pay to visit/research the schools until you establish which one you like better. Then, you should just go with your favorite. It doesn't help to overanalyze the acceptance rates, especially if you're going to regret it later bc you actually liked the other school more. </p>
<p>Remember that ED is binding for Princeton, so if you're not 100% sure you want to go there, it might not be a good idea to apply ED. </p>
<p>Raw percentage-wise, Princeton accepts more in the early round. Princeton also defers most applicants instead of straight-out rejecting them. Yale, on the other hand, doesn't hesitate to reject early applicants. In the RD round however, Princeton does not take as many deferred applicants as Yale does. </p>
<p>Take that information how you will, but I think you should give your best shot to the school you love, regardless of the numbers.</p>
<p>thanks zante..thats really good advice. It makes alot of sense. I, however, have visited both and can't decide between the two. Thats why i ask.</p>
<p>Each fills roughly the same 48-49% of the class from the early pool - as do Harvard, Stanford, Penn and Columbia.</p>
<p>Well, to refer to something you mentioned in your first post, I don't think that applying ED would hurt your chances at Princeton. I assume you're a strong applicant, since you are considering these schools. Yes, you will be compared to very strong applicants, many of which will have hooks (sports, arts, legacies) but even if you are deferred, you wouldn't suffer in the RD round. They'd know that you had applied ED, so you must have been very interested, and that if you were accepted, you would probably attend. So you get a little advantage in the RD round. </p>
<p>It has always been my belief that when they defer people, they have three stacks. One for the polite deferral (people who they deferred bc they accepted someone with lesser stats from the same school, a legacy who is not really qualified, etc. basically people they know they're going to end up rejecting); One for the probably will take (people they are very interested in but just don't have space for in the ED round...also, some people believe that they want to save very high-stat non-hook people to boost the averages in the RD round) and One for people they really have to reevaluate bc they have no idea. </p>
<p>I'm starting to babble, but I don't think you should get turned off from applying ED to Princeton just because you think you'll look bad next to very qualified candidates. Focus on your own strengths and write a strong application. </p>
<p>For the record, I applied ED to Princeton and was deferred then accepted. I also applied RD to Yale and was rejected. I think that if I had applied RD to Princeton I wouldn't have gotten in...but that' just speculation.</p>