<p>I will be applying Yale EA in the fall, and I want to make sure Yale knows it is my first choice. However, I don't have the means to travel and visit the campus, so what else can I do? I will also try to secure an interview, although I don't think any Yale alumni live close to my area.</p>
<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>contact the admissions office and just be honest</p>
<p>Y doesn't care one lick about "demonstrated interest". Whether or not you visit won't even be recorded. To be frank, Y assumes high interest so isn't trying to market to the folks who visit and show extra incentive. Applying SCEA is statement enough.</p>
<p>mm. good point. Still can't decide between Yale and Stanford for EA :/</p>
<p>Honestly, I think that if you don't see yourself as a VERY competitive candidate for Yale I would apply EA to Stanford and not to Yale. Why?</p>
<p>Yale is going to select the candidates it really wants in its EA stage and if it is uncertain about you they are just going to defer you. They care a little bit about whether you fit the school and are likely to attend but they care most about letting in the most competitive applicants -- and hence applying early isn't really going to sway them for or against you...</p>
<p>Stanford cares much more about demonstrated interest and selecting an applicant pool that is likely to attend. The reason Stanford cares so much about yield is that they are trying to increase their apparent desirability relative to HYP through increased yield and establish themselves as an "elite" university. </p>
<p>In other words, Stanford really wants to be able to go to Harvard and Yale (and the media) and say "students want to come here just as much as Harvard and Yale." The reality, however, is that the accepted applicant pool has been prescreened so it isn't necessarily analogous to HYP.</p>
<p>Yield was dropped from USNews ranking criteria because colleges were starting to choose students likely to attend as opposed to the best candidates. However, Stanford has been rumored to play into the yield game still more than other schools (arguably for the media attention mentioned above). Applying EA would show to Stanford that you are more likely to increase their yield... and it would probably give you more of a boost in the EA round at Stanford or if you get deferred at Stanford than at Yale...</p>
<p>Sounds like a logical plan, yalie. Of course, I consider myself semi-competitive, so I'll apply RD for sure, but I see what you're saying about EA being a chance for adcoms to say "aha! URM with perfect scores! In."</p>
<p>I wish Stanford had interviews :(</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, everyone! Also, ivyleague_fan, are you a current Yale student or an incoming one? I thought I made it clear when I asked for readers to have those characteristics. It's nothing against you, I just don't feel comfortable sharing my writing with other students who will soon be competing against me.</p>
<p>Lastly, I provided my UW GPA even though I said I wasn't sure if my claculations were right and instead wanted to wait until I asked my GC.</p>
<p>Stanford doesn't have interviews? A student who got into Stanford this past year at my high school scheduled a personal interview with admissions personnel his junior year. His charisma is what supposedly got him into Stanford. Are you sure they don't do interviews?</p>
<p>I'm 100 % sure that Stanford doesn't do interviews. It really is a waste and I think hurts their ability to find the best applicants (i.e. there are certain things that aren't quantifiable and a college should strive to have a class that isn't just made up of kids with high numbers). But for whatever reason they continue to adhere to this ridiculous policy.</p>
<p>That said, I would continue to recommend students apply to Stanford or preferably ED to a school like Dartmouth/Brown/etc if they are uncertain about their application to Yale. The application pool has become so competitive that students have a pretty high probability nowadays of getting in nowhere that they really wanted to go. Applying EA (and to a smaller extent, SCEA to a school like Stanford) will show a less competitive school that you are VERY INTERESTED in them.</p>
<p>Yale is pretty unlikely to accept you because you applied SCEA... other schools are more willing to compromise...</p>
<p>yalie343, your idea that Stanford is less competitive is basically ridiculous. Stanford has a very strong applicant pool that is roughly comparable with Yale's (except it has a higher percentage from the West and lower from the Northeast). I had a friend rejected from Stanford SCEA (ie, not deferred - straight rejected) who was accepted to Yale. Obviously, anecdotes prove nothing, but I don't think Stanford SCEA is an easier path than Yale SCEA. Lots of people get into Stanford, but not Yale and lots get into Yale, but not Stanford (and far more get into neither). </p>
<p>Basically, Stanford is not a less competitive school - East Coast elitists may not get that, but it's true (and I say this as a Yale student).</p>
<p>svalbard....you're not getting the main point of yalie's argument.</p>
<p>He's saying that Yale doesn't care if they're your first choice or not. Stanford does. Therefore, apply to EA to Stanford, not Yale, and you'll have a better shot at happiness.</p>
<p>Q.E.D. thanks for the info, yalie :)</p>
<p>P.S. I also agree that not having interviews is stupid....mostly because I rock at them haha. It's what I'm looking forward to most about application season, b/c I'm confident I can show adcoms just enough charisma to give me an edge.</p>
<p>I agree with sval, you should apply to the one you like the most as there is no way to predict the probability of acceptance between Y & S. And besides, the OP didn't even mention an interest in S. As far as getting yalie's main point, where is this information coming from? I'm reading lots of opinion, but where is the data??</p>
<p>
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That said, I would continue to recommend students apply to Stanford or preferably ED to a school like Dartmouth/Brown/etc if they are uncertain about their application to Yale.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And this bit of advice is totally inappropriate as EA and ED have completely different implications and impacts. To be truthful, everyone with a foot in reality should be uncertain about their application to Yale.</p>
<p>LMAO at that last sentence, entomom. I don't care if you're an URM with a 2400 and an Intel award. It's a pretty stupid thing to be arrogant enough to say "Well...I'm into Yale."</p>
<p>hookem: know that a "good interview" and your charisma won't tip you in -- at least not at Yale. Interviews for the most part mirror what's already in your file. The only instances where interviews were really useful to the adcoms is if your teacher recs were thin or formulaic -- basically uninformative about anything substantial about you. Here is where an interview may shed more light for the adcoms to consider. 85% of my interviewees are very charismatic -- people I'd like to have over to a party. However 90%+ of them are rejected.</p>
<p>I apologize if I insulted Stanford. Stanford is an incredible school and I didn't mean to insult it; the only thing I really don't like about Stanford is the no interview policy. As Hookem properly understood, I was merely suggesting that Stanford cares more about whether or not you want to attend.</p>
<p>Why do I say that? I'm from the Bay Area and I am good friends with a Stanford alum who now works in the Admissions Office. That person told me that Stanford "especially" cares that they are a student's "first choice" college. That person also told me they determine this through a variety of factors, including whether or not the person applied SCEA.</p>
<p>I don't know any staff in the Yale Admissions Office so I don't have perspective on that but from what I gathered as a student they didn't seem to care quite as much about SCEA as Stanford (perhaps because Yale understands that a lot of Yale SCEAers are just kids who can no longer apply to Harvard EA but want to remain on the East Coast). And ED schools are known to really care about that because it "locks" students in and guarantees yield.</p>
<p>Obviously my evidence is anecdotal... I just think there is some truth to it...</p>
<p>:( yeah, I already knew that, but I like to think positively haha. What if two candidates are very very close to each other in every other respect? Will adcoms pull out the interview report?</p>
<p>Interviews with Yale alumni are informational, not evaluative. They're designed to generate interest about Yale, to give the applicant an opportunity to ask an alum about the college, and to bolster the alumni network. I imagine that the only way an interview might become an important component of your admissions file is if you come across as the next Unabomber. An absolutely horrible interview might keep you out. A good interview just isn't going to tip you in. (That doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare for an interview, however.)</p>
<p>And no, Yale does not care about demonstrated interest. When we visited, students were not even asked to sign in. Yale and Harvard were the only schools we visited with no sign in procedures.</p>
<p>Hookem: the interview reports are all read. They form part of the "feeling" that the readers will use to evaluate in conjunction w/the rest of the file -- it's just the smallest piece and most easily discounted.</p>
<p>Like I said, they come into play when other areas may be lacking (contrary to wjb's broad statement). I recruit at a high performing inner city HS (with a good history of sending kids to Ivies & service academies). This last year, three were admitted to Yale (huge!). One was a shoo-in. The other two were seemingly very strong (great personal statements and top metrics). However, both teachers recs were lacking -- formulaic, pithy -- sad given the otherwise top caliber of the school. The alumni interviews' perspectives really came into play in the adcom's eventual decision to offer admittance.</p>
<p>Wow. I am in the presence of a legitimate Yale alumnus/interviewer. . . .
<em>faints</em> lol kidding, but that's really awesome. I know this is an odd question, but what type of dress would you recommend for interviews? Suit? Smart casual?</p>
<p>T26 -- Sorry, my comment was too glib. Kids in my neck of the woods stress unnecessarily about interviews. Can we agree they're seldom make-or-break? Also, I think it's important to emphasize that alumni interviewers are not out to "get" applicants. The vast majority care about the students they meet and are enthusiastic about getting them excited about their alma mater.</p>