<p>I would consider myself as a moderately competent applicant to Yale.. my school's a very intense prep school (high school), and I would guess that I'm in the upper quarter (I hope). A bit sad now that I think of it--I used to be the top student back in my old school. So, now I'm not exactly the top-notch material, but Yale is my first choice.</p>
<p>I heard from a summer school teacher that Yale SCEA will "be harder to get into" than RD.. especially because Harvard and Princeton don't have early admissions, and whatnot (I'm sure all of you have heard of it) ... but the way the teacher said it, it sounds almost true, which is why I'm a bit nervous. All of these wayy qualified students would probably do Yale SCEA, even if their first choice is harvard or somewhere else.. and so the more qualified students may get chosen over someone like, say, me.. and being in this overly-qualified SCEA pool, I would be rejected (not even deferred). .. and if I had applied RD, I might have been accepted. is that possible?</p>
<p>so, what I'm asking is--could it be harder to get into Yale through SCEA than RD? or is that just BS?
and also I suppose I'm also asking whether there's any difference between Yale SCEA applicants and RD applicants..</p>
<p>There is absolutely no way that applying SCEA can hurt your chances of admission to Yale. Yale outright rejects a fairly small percentage of SCEA apps, meaning anyone with a realistic shot of admission (but who isn’t amazing enough to get in early) is deferred, and considered along with the RD pool - the same pool with which they would have been compared had they simply applied RD.</p>
<p>^ I haven’t seen anyone claim that applying SCEA hurts one’s chances during RD. However, it is irrefutable that admission is more difficult during the early action period.</p>
<p>So I would say the claim that applying SCEA hurts one’s overall chances of admission has been made. And, as the rest of you agree, that claim is false.</p>
<p>I misinterpreted that part of the OP’s question. Upon rereading, the logic doesn’t really resonate for me, however. Why would Yale presume that those applying in a restrictive early action program have a lesser desire to attend than those who apply only during RD?</p>
<p>This is very true indeed. I have a friend who was deferred SCEA and accepted RD. Yale will bump you a little in their RD pool if you show commitment to the school by applying SCEA. So even if it’s a harder, more selective pool in SCEA itself, the advantage of SCEA materializes in the RD pool for those marginal (with respect to Yale’s tough, tough standards) applicants.</p>
<p>Because Harvard and Princeton do not have early action/decision applications, many students who have H or P as their first choice would apply to Y early because of its name/rank. If you are in the Yale SCEA pool, you’re also in the pool of students who think they are good enough for H and P. However, Yale also knows this. They question a student’s purpose for applying and will usually defer some students who have competitive scores and unique activities and the works in the early round who they believe would apply to H/P in the regular round, get accepted and ultimately choose H/P over their Yale Early admittance. (I heard this through the grapevine and it makes sense, but I don not know if admission officers at Y practice it even if they do not admit it to the public.)</p>
<p>But applying early can also mean Yale is the school you have your heart and mind set on for a while. So it is imperative to show your passion for Yale in your SCEA application. For this reason, in the Yale SCEA application, I THINK the essays are taken more into account, specifically the Why Yale essay and supplement moreso than in the regular round where the applicants are, statistically, less competitive and there are much more of them. In a larger applicant pool, transcript and scores are weighted more heavily than the essays. So it depends on what type of person/applicant you are. Better at essays? Apply early. Better at standardized tests? Apply regular. </p>
<p>^ Take what I say with a grain of salt. I’ve looked at the Yale '13 SCEA and RD Decision Reports Threads and it’s an assumption I made.</p>
<p>Something I heard from my GC, absolutely no corroboration except common sense: if you are NOT applying to Harvard, Princeton, or Georgetown, don’t take more than 2 SAT IIs. (Or take the 3rd test in December after Yale has made its decision.)</p>