<p>Realistically, I know Yale is a long shot. I've heard that acceptance rates for ED are better and you show commitment to the school, but I feel like it would hurt me because I'd be compared to "cream of the crop" athletes, perfect scores, etc.</p>
<p>Plan #1: Apply early to UMich, UChicago, Michigan State, Hillsdale (all either EA non-binding or rolling)
Pros: I'm confident I could get accepted to at least two of these schools and that would really decrease my stress getting that early response, have visited 3 out of 4 of the campuses, all good choices academically and financially.
Cons: None are my #1 pick and it would be a lot of work filling out all those applications/supplements in the fall.</p>
<p>Plan #2: Apply ED to Yale
Pros: It /is/ my dream school, #1 choice, etc. and I could focus on making that app the best that it could be. Seems like acceptance rates are better.
Cons: I am not a genius or D1 athlete. Also, less time to get together teacher recommendations and such.</p>
<p>Well, I wouldn’t consider this topic “closed,” because entomom only addressed one aspect of your post, and there are other factors in your decision that you mentioned.</p>
<p>Regarding the acceptance rates for SCEA and RD, while the Early Action acceptance rate IS higher, Yale has been very forthcoming in saying that they only admit students in the EA timeline whom they are sure they would admit in the RD round as well. In other words, the standards for admission in are not lowered by any means for EA applicants. It is just as difficult to be admitted in either pool. (and, as you can guess, EA is the stronger pool)</p>
<p>I have another comment regarding the “cons” you mention in your Plan #1. You say that it would be a lot of work, and that is true. But did you expect college application season to be anything else? I am a recent high school graduate (and soon-to-be Yale freshman), and my personal experience was that applications are grueling and extremely time-consuming. Because of that, I would recommend that you distribute the work more for yourself by applying early to the schools you list in Plan #1, which would force you to produce some high-quality essays two months before you have to worry about the rest of your regular decision applications. You will likely reuse and retool many of the essays you would write for your early apps in your regular apps. I applied early to Yale, was deferred, and then had to worry about submitting 14 more applications (and writing many new essays in a relatively short period of time) all on the same date two weeks after hearing my decision from Yale. It was terrible.</p>
<p>ALSO, in my opinion, the quality of my application and my essays improved significantly between the end of October and the end of December, simply because it was an additional two months I had to ponder and revise (I even ended up writing a totally new essay on December 30th and sending it out to ALL of my schools the next day after scrapping one I had submitted to Yale - not recommended though). I felt that I had a much stronger application going into the RD round than I had going into EA.</p>