<p>Yale is my absolute dream school, so I really want to apply early. My only qualm is that my high school requires me to apply by October 14 if the deadline is November 1, and I haven't really started any of my essays. Stats are:</p>
<p>Ranked 2/295, GPA is a high 3.9 unweighted
2200 SAT and 33 ACT, retook SAT in October and retaking ACT in two weeks</p>
<p>ECs are all right, captain of Science Olympiad, Chemistry Olympics, and Academic Team, VP of JSA, and most likely swim team captain. I also lifeguard and teach swim lessons in the summer, and play and teach piano. I've volunteered 200 hours at a local hospital as well. I'm a white female from NJ, so not much diversity there.</p>
<p>Do I even stand a chance at Yale? Would it be better to apply SCEA and have a less-polished essay, or apply RD?</p>
<p>Your chances increase significantly if you show enough interest in the school to apply early. You have a decent shot, I cant find a glaring weakness, I would definitely apply early.</p>
<p>Not sure why your college requires you to submit early? Can’t you just request they submit their part and you do that actual submission closer to the deadline?</p>
<p>“Your chances increase significantly if you show enough interest in the school to apply early”</p>
<p>Skitt: you might want to recall your thanks to Raichu. His/Her information is completely incorrect. Yale has stated time and time again that SCEA does not increase one’s chances. People who are admitted SCEA are clear admits if they had applied during RD. Frankly Raichu’s info is quite poor.</p>
<p>That being said, you seem to be a viable candidate regardless. I’d only apply SCEA if my essay was completely polished. In your shoes, I’d apply RD. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>T26E4: Thanks to you too. I didn’t think it was a significant increase, but I was pretty glad someone actually tried to answer my question haha. If SCEA doesn’t increase chances at all, wouldn’t it be better to apply in December and have a more polished application?</p>
<p>Ah, I guess I misread your post the first time and thought you’d said to apply SCEA anyway. I’ve been looking at the numbers though, and SCEA has ~15% acceptance rate, compared to RD’s ~5%. So I really don’t know what to do. If I can get until November 1 instead of October 14, should I go for SCEA?</p>
<p>Disregard the 14% admit rate SCEA vs. 5% admit rate RD. The SCEA pool has always been stronger and fully 50% of the SCEA applicants who are not slam dunk admits are deferred to the RD round. If you will have a stronger application on December 31 vs. November 1, whether that is better grades/test scores/application essays, you should apply RD.</p>
<p>OP – this time last year, my daughter’s GC said the same thing – all ED and EA apps had to be in 2 weeks BEFORE the college’s deadline. She didn’t end up doing that, and it was fine. I mean, the outcome wasn’t fine, but she was able to submit her ED app to her target school even though she hadn’t given it to the GC by their deadline. I don’t know why they set that early deadline (it’s not like senior year isn’t stressful enough). </p>
<p>Is this a 3 day weekend for you? Work on your essay now. See if you can get it in good shape. </p>
<p>Reread that link I posted. Those 15% accepted in the EA round would have been accepted in ANY pool of applicants, they are stand out candidates who will likely be accepted by other of the most selective colleges if they choose to apply to additional schools in the RD round. Y wants to accept them early in order to have more time to convince them to matriculate. </p>
<p>Do you think that you are this level of candidate? If not, and if your application will be weaker EA than RD, then you should wait for RD.</p>
<p>While I agree with Entomom and t26e4, my son applied early to get an advantage in our eyes. He was a solid student with all the bells but you never know. We didn’t want to get to the end of RD and not get selected because they already had enough of his type of student (special skill/race/location/Etc). It work for us since he was selected during EA.</p>
I didn’t think it was a significant increase, but I was pretty glad someone actually tried to answer my question haha. If SCEA doesn’t increase chances at all, wouldn’t it be better to apply in December and have a more polished application?</p>