@samc24 I think you are qualified enough to go after your first choices. If Penn is not your first choice and you will really regret not being able to apply to Stanford or Princeton then probably it is best not to apply ED to Penn. Yes your chances at Penn ED will be a bit higher than Stanford or Princeton SCEA so it is a safer option, but if you will be having second thoughts and lamenting the fact that you did not get to try for your absolute first choices then it is probably not worth it. All three schools are excellent and you cannot go wrong but you are qualified enough to take the higher risk of going after your first choice.
Another thing to consider is culture, environment, location etc. Penn is more similar to Stanford in terms of vibe, focus and student body. Both are more social and pre-professional than Princeton and have a more vibrant atmosphere. Princeton has tremendous undergrad focus and its campus is quieter, has a more old-school vibe and it is located in a quiet upscale small town. So I think you need to determine if you prefer a Stanford/Penn type of environment or a Princeton-type setting.
I agree - there are important differences between the elite universities. And I am personally against Early Decision in general. I think universities shouldn’t use it. I think it puts unfair pressure on college students to identify a first choice college a time they shouldn’t have to, just so they can get the extra boost from applying ED. Some schools say ED doesn’t matter, but the much higher acceptance rate can’t all be due to self-selection.
However, I’m of the mind that if you end up at any of these three universities, you won’t be spending a lot of time wondering about the “what-ifs” or regretting your choices.
If you got in ED to UPenn…you’d be at Penn. Maybe you would occasionally idly wonder whether or not you could’ve gotten into Stanford or Princeton, but those three universities are on par with each other and opportunities- and education-wise, not much different. The difference is the vibe and the setting - Princeton has a smaller undergrad population and is more undergrad-focused, Stanford is West Coast, Penn’s bigger and urban.
If you didn’t get in anywhere RD, there’s no way of knowing whether or not you would have if you applied ED, but you’d probably blame that anyway.
There’s no way to be sure that you’ll be happy somewhere before you go there. You can read stuff on the website, on forums (maybe visiting the forums for each school here), on other sites that describe the school or college guides, and they can give you a sense. But going off to college is always a risk.
It seems like the general consensus is that I shouldn’t apply ED unless I am 100% sure Penn is the way to go. Though I am confident that Penn would be a fantastic place to go and somewhere I would fit in, the thought of just at least applying to Stanford to know if I am good enough (most likely not) is kind of leaning me towards REA, along with the fact of making a well-informed decision with a clear mind with open options.
The decision would have been miles easier if I were able to judge if I am a strong candidate for RD Penn, but sadly there’s no way of finding that out from the apparent crapshoot of university acceptances.
RD is a crapshoot at all three schools without a major hook. And even though ED and SCEA give you somewhat better chances, none of the three even approaches a match. If you like them, definitely apply – just make sure you also include a few true matches and at least one safety that you like and can afford. Then you’ll probably be setting yourself up to have some good options from which to choose.