<p>is it true that when most of the athletes,legacies,URMs...etc are accepted in the early round that there are not many spaces left for students without these hooks. I am sure that they set a certain number to accept for SCEA round. So does a student without any of these hooks have a better chance during RD?</p>
<p>Define "better." <g> Is a 5.9% chance in the RD pool better than the leftovers of the 20% chance in the EA pool after you account for the recruited athletes and other early admit hooks? (Actually, I would think that someone, somewhere would have the actual #s for available athletic admits or "protects" of whatever they're called.) And this year in particular, who knows. Another interesting question is whether kids who are deferred from EA have a higher or lower rate of acceptance in the RD round than kids who go straight RD...and what their comparative stats are.</g></p>
<p>If a kid really, really wants to go to Yale, the way I see it they might as well apply EA, because it can only help their chances. To be balanced against that is the fact that they are using their trump card on a school where it may only boost their chance of admittance into the very low double digits, instead of using it at a school where it might improve their chances to something in the 30-40% range.</p>
<p>I don't know the statistics about legacies and SCEA but I am not sure I'd assume that legacy is a strong hook for SCEA. My daughter was a very strong legacy--an extremely strong student and a strong legacy in that multiple generations of family had attended Yale. She was deferred EA and accepted RD. My sense was that the admissions office didn't want to "waste" an EA acceptance on a kid who was likely given family history to attend Yale anyway. Certainly the admit statistics are higher for legacies, but I'm not sure it helps that much during EA.</p>
<p>I do agree that doing SCEA shows interest in the school, well hopefully it does. Although I read lots of threads here from students who think it will boost their chances of being accepted to an Ivy, rather than stemming from a strong interest in Yale. And I think I read in my daughter's deferred letter that the statistics of being accepted RD after being deferred SCEA are a little higher, stress on the word "little."</p>
<p>Last year, a kid I knew from a nearby school had double-legacy to Yale. 2400 SAT. Ranked in the top 10 in the nation in his Speech/Debate event. Perfect 4.0 GPA, school valedictorian, etc etc</p>
<p>Deferred EA. Rejected RD.</p>
<p>I don't know if this gives you any helpful info, but I have had three good friends be recruited by Yale for athletics. One was quite smart; the others were very, very smart. The "smarter" two athletes weren't supported til the RD round even though Yale was their first choice. The still smart but more average-academically athlete got supported early.</p>
<p>After speaking to all of them about this strange deal, I sort of concluded that not all athletes dominate the early round.</p>
<p>Food for thought!</p>
<p>Question about athletes--I was under the impression that athletes recruited by Yale early were required to make a binding commitment to the school and their team, i.e. they weren't put into the non-binding SCEA pile with everyone else anyway. Isn't this the case? This was the case with one of my friends this year, who would have had a definite spot on a Yale team but wanted her decision to be non-binding like every other early applicant's...but that was a problem for Yale. After she made that known, they stopped considering her and she applied somewhere else early (her real first choice, thankfully) with the understanding that she had a spot on the team.</p>
<p>So don't recruited athletes get considered separately since it is understood that their decision is binding?</p>
<p>A friend of my daughter's was told two years ago to apply SCEA to be considered for an athletic team. He was a strong student but not the strongest. I think Yale and other similar schools use EA to try to lock in athletes. In fact when my daughter mentioned to her college counselor that she was planning to apply SCEA, her counselor predicted that she would be deferred. She said and I quote, "You're not an athlete." Her prediction was accurate however one other student at the same school also applied SCEA, got in and she wasn't an athlete either.</p>
<p>thanks all for your imput. Gosh, now I do not know what to think.
SO does being a non-legacy, non-athletic...etc just a bright student with passion have a better chanace of being accepted in a early round than in RD? thanks</p>
<p>I think Yale's admit statistics for EA and RD are so low that you can't predict what will happen. For every situation, there is probably a counter that might suggest the opposite. If your student is sincerely interested in Yale and wants to apply there, my advice would be to do SCEA. It shows strong interest in Yale. The only downside would be not being able to apply to any other EA program, but if Yale is their first choice, go for it. Can't hurt. I also found that applying EA got my daughter started on her applications and essays early and that once the first app was done, it moved along pretty smoothly after that. The first one seems to be difficult and having an early deadline gets them moving earlier.</p>
<p>thanks cornell for your comments</p>