SCEA vs. RD?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>Hey everyone. I'm considering applying to Stanford SCEA. I like everything about it so far, and I'm going to visit soon.</p>

<p>I have read numerous times on CC that Stanford SCEA is very difficult - maybe even harder than RD. Meaning that many people get rejected off the bat since there are so many amazing applicants in the EA round. I am a competitive college applicant, but I am still at the low end of the CC Stanford application pool (current SAT I math score: 630, trying to improve to 700+. Everything else in my app is good). I am not URM, legacy, or athlete. By the way, there are no other schools that I would apply SCEA to.</p>

<p>I'm wondering what you all think about this situation as well as any helpful stats/CC links. Thank you :)</p>

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<p>I just found this post, <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/531757-how-much-does-applying-scea-stanford-affect-chances-reach-applicant-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/531757-how-much-does-applying-scea-stanford-affect-chances-reach-applicant-2.html&lt;/a&gt; which was helpful. But I’d still like more advice if you have any :)</p>

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<p>Well one thing I’ve heard is that if you are not accepted/deferred EA, you wouldn’t have been accepted/waitlisted RD. I have to imagine this is true, although maybe there’s a few exceptions (what is the chance you will be one of these, though?)</p>

<p>That said, it seems that the consensus is that Stanford’s early program does not give the applicant an advantage in terms of gaining acceptance, but rather reducing admissions stress (at least for accepted students). I think other early programs offer a significant advantage and lower their admissions standards. So a disadvantage to applying EA to Stanford is the opportunity cost of not being able to do so at other schools, as Stanford’s is restrictive.</p>

<p>On a tangent: One thing I’ve always wondered is that if one is deferred, is the fact that they had to send in the application earlier taken into account? Because when compared with the RD pool, deferred applicants had less time to work on essays and would be unable to get a senior-year recommendation. The deferral-update form does not address these matters (how could it?).</p>

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<p>Ooooh that’s an interesting point…which I don’t know the answer to. Haha. I somehow feel like they wouldn’t care at all.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply! I agree with what you said. I just don’t know if the smaller applicant pool could make up for having all those amazing applicants to compete with. Somehow, I don’t think EA would help me and most other people in this sense.</p>