Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton do REA.
The pool is extremely competitive full of hooked applicants (legacy, athlete, donors, URM) as well ad the very best applicants seeking admission to the most elite schools.
So, Is it harder to stand out in REA? According to the MCS Stanford AO AMA, it is, but what do you think?
You are welcome to solicit opinions: here’s mine. MCS should not be considered the font of all knowledge. He was an AO for a year over a decade ago, during which time the admissions landscape changed dramatically. His opinions (and they were only opinions) were extremely divisive.
For Harvard, applying RD is definitely more difficult. The data have already been analyzed as part of the Harvard lawsuit. There is a definite advantage to EA application to Harvard. Not sure about the other schools, but most likely they follow a similar pattern.
“Standing out” is irrelevant. There are all sorts of ways to stand out that don’t result in admissions.
Spend your time… gosh, doing ANYTHING else besides parsing the difference between a tiny chance of admissions and a miniscule chance of admissions. It doesn’t matter! If you are trying to game your chances at getting in somewhere- spend that time falling in love with a school which is statistically easier to get admitted to. That’s got a bigger payoff then reading the tea leaves!
The reason to apply REA is the school is one of your top choices and you feel good about your essays and the package you will be submitting early (e.g., not waiting for some award, publication, better test scores, lift in GPA/rank). If you get in, you are pretty much done, no stress and maybe just a couple of more apps for schools and possibly scholarships to prepare. If you are rejected and not deferred REA (with the possible exception of Stanford), you likely have shot too high and/or you might want to revisit your essays. If you are deferred, you are probably in the ballpark, but still have to have appropriate matches and safeties lined up. Optimally, you should along with the REA app, apply to one or more EA/rolling state schools so you have other data points/resolution before the RD deadlines.