ED help?

I am a strong applicant, and my reach schools are Ivy League. I’m trying to decide where to use my SCEA and my ED. My first choice school is Yale, but I also like Penn, which grants a substantial boost to ED applicants. My current plan is to apply to either Penn ED, Princeton SCEA (I would say Yale SCEA but I’ve heard it doesn’t grant a substantial boost), and then depending on the results, applying to Vanderbilt ED2. I would like to not apply ED anywhere so that way should I apply to Yale regular along with the rest of my schools, I could then choose where to attend based on where I was accepted, yet I fear if I do that then I won’t utilize the ED boost anywhere and then not get in to any of the selective schools which I like.

Any advice?

@TrapNumen - just now seeing this. Where did you decide? I decided on Penn ED because I found out that the overwhelming majority of Yale’s SCEA applicants are deferred to the RD pool. And that the increased acceptance rate is largely due to recruited athletes and legacies who are told they must apply in the early round at Yale. Consequently, it seemed there would be no benefit to applying to Yale early for me (a non-athlete, non-legacy.) I didn’t really feel “at home” when I visited Princeton, though it is lovely. Since Penn defers fewer applicants than Yale, (however their legacies and recruited athletes are also encouraged to apply in the Early round, thus skewing the acceptance rate of the ED round higher.) Overall, it seemed like my chances were better going with Penn ED. Plus I really did like it better than all the other schools! Just a few more weeks until we find out who likes us back!

I deviated from my original intentions and applied to Chicago ED1. Chicago took nearly 70% of its freshman from its ED1 pool, with a seemingly nonexistent acceptance rate for its RD applicants. Apparently I had absentmindedly changed ED to EA before submitting my application; however, I’ve decided to stay with EA because I was unsure about whether I would truly enjoy Chicago or whether that would be what’s best (I plan on applying to medical school, and Chicago’s honor classes are apparently more time-consuming, rigorous versions of their already challenging courses; lots of premed students drop that path due to rigor). I also decided that there was no benefit in applying to Yale SCEA, and while I realize that Penn admits many of their athletes and legacies get a bonus ED, the boost from ED compared to RD is still significant enough that it must carry some weight.

Currently I’m applying to Columbia, Yale, Vanderbilt, Penn, and possibly Harvard. Still unsure on Harvard, but might as well apply if I have time. I also greatly enjoyed Princeton’s campus, yet I had the same sentiments as you, and I don’t believe I’ll even be applying there RD. People (mainly parents and college confidential users) scared me into applying to too many match schools so I do regret that but worst comes to worst, come April I’ll have plenty of options.

I wish you luck on acceptance to Penn! I’m sure you’ll make a great addition to their incoming class.