Background: Currently a high school junior, just thinking ahead/procrastinating on work
I like Yale better than Stanford, from what I briefly know about each school. Yale seems to be more humanities based, which is more the type of career I want to pursue. Yale is also on the East Coast, which is both a change from where I live and good position for more opportunities in Wall Street and NY in general. The campus also looks gorgeous.
Which is not to say Stanford is an inferior school. It’s just not really the type of campus I prefer, kinda close to home, and in a sorta ho-hum every day suburban town. It is amazing academically but one of its biggest draws is Stanford’s closeness to Silicon Valley and tech industry, but I don’t think I’m going anywhere down that route so I’m not excited about that aspect.
The only think that has made me lean towards applying the Stanford EA is that I have sibling legacy (not parent, just sibling). Based on examples of people I know, sibling legacy is a somewhat important factor in admissions. So theoretically, I would have a better chance of getting into Stanford EA compared to Yale EA. But then I would be sacrificing the slight boost in acceptance rate of applying to Yale EA rather than RD–and Yale is my top choice. (I’m not sure how large this boost is.) I feel that I have the grades/ECs/scores to get into Yale on my own merit potentially, but we all know how tricky the game of college acceptance is. Like everyone else, my odds are low. What would you advise me to do? Anyone who has been in the same position?
I don’t think its up to us to make a decision for you. Not to be a bubble buster here but I also think its important to not become emotionally attached to either because a rejection will hurt A LOT.
Visit both schools. Do more research. Look at your prospective major. You need to know more than “briefly” about them if you want to make an informed decision.
Apply to both. You have good reasoning for both and it’s not going to hurt you to apply twice, since a lot of the requirements will overlap. When and if you get in, then you have a decision to make. Just make sure, like cosmeux said, to not get attached, because it’s more than likely you will be rejected from both.
@cosmeux Don’t worry lol, I know perfectly well how cutthroat competitive admissions are. Still, I’m trying to position myself to have the best chance, even if that benefit is only a 0.0005% boost in my odds. Thanks for the input though!
Thank you for the advice! Would visit them in a heartbeat but unfortunately I’m stuck reading a textbook in a rainy suburban town at the moment Hoping to make a trip this summer though @anxiousenior1
Thanks @whitespace , and hey I recognized your profile pic from the PSAT thread! Thanks for checking in on the Class of 2017 NMSF confusion and speculation lol. I hope your senior year is going well!
Anyways, more on topic, I think I’ll probably end up applying to both unless I do change my mind (which has proven to be rather fickle), I guess I’ll just have to find out which to apply to early.
@cheescake You’re welcome. I know this time last year I was a mess, so anything I can do to help. Although I’m not sure I’m much less of a mess now, but…
Both Stanford and Yale have “restrictive” or “single-choice” early action, meaning that you could choose one to apply early to. I would make that your top choice, unless Stanford doesn’t consider legacy in the RD round. (Somewhere I think I read this is what Yale? Dartmouth? does??) Pick whichever you think EA will give you an advantage in if you truly don’t have a preference.
As for visiting, don’t worry about going in the summer. I did last year, and I got a good feel for the campuses and student body. Plus, it’s nice to be able to walk around and explore a little bit more without worrying about getting in students’ way.
Sibling legacy isn’t technically a legacy, and legacy itself doesn’t count for a huge amount at Stanford. What it does is to get your file an automatic 2nd read, and I think that’s the case for the RD as well as the REA round. I certainly wouldn’t make a decision about where to apply REA/SCEA based on that single factor. You have plenty of time, but if Yale continues to be the school that you strongly prefer, then you should probably target it SCEA, assuming you are qualified.
@renaissancedad Thanks for your insight! I’ve seen a lot of speculation about how much sibling legacy actually matters. I’ve never been sure either. However, I do personally know three sibling pairs in which the younger sibling was admitted REA to the same elite uni as their older sibling, and at the same time was not admitted to any other elite uni. Stanford was one of the cases. Of course it could be a strange coincidence but I’ve pretty much concluded that sibling legacy is a relavent factor. I don’t have any experience with legacy applications RD. If you don’t mind my asking, what makes you think that legacy is considered in RD as well? Anecdote, personal experience, or logical inference? I’m not overly skeptical, it’s just that I haven’t found much discussion on the subject and I’m hoping to get more insight on it. Thanks again
@cheesecake, there are some schools that are very explicit about considering legacy only in the EA/ED round. Penn is one example. Stanford has never explicitly stated anything to this effect, and in discussions of legacy they have never limited to early applications.
The following article may be instructive. It emphasizes that every legacy application is guaranteed to get 2 reads, unlike non-legacy applications; but the legacy admit rate is still only around 3x the regular admit rate, still fairly low (probably around 15%, though the number isn’t officially given out):
The accept rate for Stanford REA admissions is around 9%, vs. 17% for Yale; 80% of those who apply early are rejected outright at Stanford, whereas over 50% are deferred at Yale (which may be viewed as good or bad; the RD accept rate for those deferred is about the same as for the RD applicants). For an unhooked applicant to apply early to any of these schools he/she should probably be a very strong applicant to begin with - in the top 3% of their class, with standardized test scores at or above the 75th percentile, and with strong ECs, and put together a really strong application (strong essays and recommendations, and a coherent overall narrative). And even then it’s probably a crapshoot.
@renaissancedad Hmm. I know that Stanford has the lowest acceptance rate of any school, but I still find the difference between Stanford REA admission rate and Yale REA admission rate quite stark. Yale accepts nearly double the percentage that Stanford does? Is Yale really that much “easier” to get into? The quotation marks representing that both are insanely difficult to get into. Yale’s difference between REA and RD rates drop off much more rapidly…I don’t know what to make of that exactly. My biggest fear about applying REA to Yale is that most of the accepted in the 17% are legacy or hooked in some way (URM, etc), and that the % actually accepted unhooked may be even lower than the RD percentage. Then I would have wasted my early application and actually given myself a drawback by going Yale instead of a potential leg-up at Stanford. (thanks for the article btw! super interesting)
I do have currently all of those qualities you listed for a qualified applicant (though I haven’t yet taken the SATs), besides the one regarding a coherent overall narrative–unless you can draw up a way to link general biology and writing together(creative, nonfiction narrative, journalistic)? Lol those are two of my strongest aspects. I guess I was going for the “well-rounded” point for that one.
^ Most of the 9% REA admits at Stanford are hooked, too.
Double majors are possible at Yale, but very easy and fairly common at Stanford. I majored in Comparative Literature and Applied Math, and got a masters in Linguistics.
Hoping to make a trip this summer though 
I know this time last year I was a mess, so anything I can do to help. Although I’m not sure I’m much less of a mess now, but…