I’m a current junior trying to decide where I should EA. I’m not dead-set on any one school (hence the EA, not ED) and I think I could be happy at a variety of schools. I have the stats to get in (theoretically, though the whole process is so random so who knows). Each Yale, Stanford, and Princeton have their pros and cons for me. I loved everything about Princeton when I toured, except the place felt a bit quiet and dead to me. I visited when school was in session and stayed for a few days just to get a real feel but it didn’t seem like people had a lot of fun. I know this is secondary to academics but it’s still a factor to consider as I’d be living there for 4 years. I don’t like certain things about Yale, namely their discouragement of studying abroad and the location, but my dad went there and had a good experience. People also tell me that’s where they most see me, but I’m not sure if that’s true. Stanford is the only school I haven’t toured yet (I live in CA so I’m going to go soon), but I love the weather, the location (not too close to home), and the general atmosphere of the student body. I personally like a kind of secluded nature in a school. For that reason, I also loved Williams and Pomona but both of those are ED, so I will apply RD. All three of these schools have amazing Classics departments, but I’m not sure which one I will pick for early. I will likely apply to the other two RD. Does anyone have suggestions?
Neither Yale, Stanford or Princeton recruit by major. All student’s apply as Liberal Arts Majors, and choose a major during their sophomore year. So, whatever students select as their “intended major” on the Common Application has absolutely no bearing on their chances.
The reason for that is that more than 60% of US college students switch majors during their 4 years of school, so it’s impossible for an Admissions Office to use an applicant’s “intended major” as a recruiting tool, as most students will graduate with a major that is different from the one they wrote down on the Common Application.
Colleges ask about your “intended major” to see how committed you are to your interests – the idea being that your commitment, energy and drive is a transferrable skill. So whatever you write down as your “intended major” make sure you have documented evidence in the rest of your application of your commitment to that major. As such, apply to the school (and program) you like best in the EA round, and the others RD. Best of luck to you.
One reason students like Yale (and Harvard for that matter) is because of the residential college system and their “star” professors and programs. As such, those schools don’t heavily promote studying abroad as you’d be spending less time on their campus.
As you mentioned, all three have very strong classics departments. They’re strong across the board, for that matter; academically you can’t wrong with any of these options.
You may want to think more about your interests and what each has to offer. Yale is unique among the three in having very strong programs in related areas of ancient studies (e.g. Egyptology and Assyriology). Both Princeton and Yale have significant papyri collections as well as superb campus art museums with sizable collections of ancient art. Stanford has recruited excellent faculty for its classics department, but it is a newcomer in classics and consequently lags behind the other two (and nearby Berkeley) in such resources. On the other hand, Stanford is doing very innovative things in digital humanities, and it has a very distinguished history in archaeology with notable scholars like Ian Hodder and Ian Morris.
Check out Haverford (and/or Bryn Mawr, if you’re female) since you’re interested in liberal arts colleges as well.
Since OP is just strategizing which school to EA I put forth my 2 cents here: go with Yale SCEA as OP would be a legacy there. Stanford SCEA is notoriously brutal—if you don’t have a hook there you are likely to be rejected outright in EA round. The only silver lining in Stanford is that it tends to heavily favor applicants with humanities and art profiles. Having a quick rejection in the middle of applications will be psychologically devastating and distracting. Both Y and P defer quite a bit of EA applicants. Given legacy status OP’s best chance is probably at Yale anyway.
Have to disagree with post #1 in this thread with respect to one of your listed schools. Let your interests, demonstrated interest & qualifications (for example, study of Greek & Latin) be known in conjunction with your intent to be a classics major. Classics is not a popular major & they need students.
Since OP does not have a strong feelings for the other two, I’d vote Yale too.
Trying to develop strong feelings toward one school among YPS is neither necessary nor healthy at this point. Too much emotion invested in one school, especially among the ultra-selective ones, can later lead to regret and ungratefulness if only admitted at the other two. Its better to think its a lottery and pick your best chance for winning it. If accepted at multiple OP would have a happy problem to deal with.
You might want to consider IPEDS data with respect to the indicated number of classics majors for schools of potential interest. From your group, Princeton appears to have recently graduated 11 “first majors” in classics, for example. The same source indicates 6 for Williams, a high number for a smaller college.
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Princeton&s=all&id=186131#programs
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Williams&s=all&id=168342#programs
@philologia - You sound like the kind of student that any school with a terrific Classics program would love to accept. As a Yale sophomore who loves everything about the school and its location, I just want to correct your assertion that Yale discourages study abroad by connecting you to this webpage: https://admissions.yale.edu/international-experiences, which provides data about just how many (so many!) Yale students study abroad. Financial support for international study is extremely generous (i’ve received two fellowships for summer study abroad) and is available to Yale students not only during their undergraduate years, but even after they graduate. Best of luck!
Thank you for all of your quick replies! I know I have a few months to figure everything out but I’m the kind of person who likes to plan everything in advance. I think Classics shines through prominently in my extracurriculars; I’ve been president of Latin Club for 3 years, involved in Certamen, started the ancient Greek language program at my school, have gotten perfect score or gold on every NLE for 6 yrs, and recently won a national essay contest to study Latin in Rome this summer. I’m not planning on getting super attached to a school because I know the odds just aren’t in anyone’s favor but I appreciate all of the feedback. I really loved Yale’s rare books library and I’m definitely going to research all of their programs more.
You can apply to all of your schools EA as long as they all have an EA option. Schools a step below the most selective colleges may take an RD application as a sign that you consider their school a back up option. I’ve seen lots of high stats students get waitlisted or rejected from their second tier choices this year.
Adding a second for Bryn Mawr/Haverford.
@ultimom The three schools that the OP mentioned all have restrictive early action, so he/she can only apply to one of them early.
If you are applying to all 3 anyway, the decision is strctly strategic… which offers the best EA bump. Stanford very little. They favor humanities, though. They outright reject most, defer very few. Yale defers a lot more.
True. As the OP’s father attended Yale (from the OP’s initial post: “my dad went there and had a good experience”), the OP will be applying to Yale with legacy status and will receive a significant bump by applying to Yale in the EA round.
FWIW: The OP will also receive a legacy bump in the RD round, However Admissions will wonder why a legacy didn’t apply to Yale in the early round and might question whether Yale is the OP’s first choice school – not something you want an Admissions department to start thinking about. So, IMHO the legacy bump will not be as powerful in the RD round.
@philologia, my daughter had just applied to colleges as a Classics major. We were very impressed with Yale, but she really liked Columbia’s core curriculum program; she will be attending the latter in the fall. From my limited experience, Stanford is incredibly hard to get into. Our daughter didn’t apply, but we know lots of other students who did. Our daughter didn’t like Princeton; this was totally a gut feeling about the town and the “vibe.” If you can visit again before applying, I think it could be helpful. Also, try to deeply research each of the college’s Classics departments. This research helped my daughter realize that Swarthmore’s program was in line with her interests. Good luck with your choice!
Spend more time picking your safety school.
If enough students from your HS apply apply to those schools to create enough data so that you can discern any difference in EA results at that school, Naviance can provide a useful guide.
For example, my son’s HS averaged about 18 early apps each year to H and Y. The early apps to Harvard had a 50% success rate compared to 25% at Yale. RD was reversed, with much greater success at Yale. Made it kind of easy to decide which to SCEA and which to RD if planning to apply to both.