<p>The “Single Choice” part is why Yale offers EA. It gives Yale several months of exclusive lead time to “bond” with those applicants whom Yale most wants to yield…particularly the extraordinary applicants who may not be dead set on choosing Yale. By the time every one of the other colleges those most-coveted applicants are considering first express their interest in those students, Yale has been showing them the love long time.</p>
<p>SCEA is for those people. It’s not simply for people who would get into Yale anyway. That better describes the deferral list – or part of it. SCEA admits are the people who Yale intentionally decided it wants to make sure it yields to the detriment of its peer institutions. Presently, there are a mere 750 (less athletes) applicants for whom Yale wants to have this competitive edge over its peer institutions. Single Choice is the vehicle by which Yale claims that edge…meaning Single Choice is not so much a vehicle for keeping the EA applicant pool to a manageable size (although that’s a nice ancillary benefit for busy Yale AdComs).</p>