<p>In an ideal world, he would apply early to the school he likes better.</p>
<p>But this is not an ideal world.</p>
<p>Two things to consider:</p>
<p>Penn has BINDING early decision; Stanford has single-choice early action. A student who applies early to Penn and is accepted must go to Penn. A student who applies early to Stanford and is accepted can choose to attend a different college instead. If financial aid is an important consideration, it would be advantageous for your son to be able to compare several colleges’ financial aid packages. If that’s his situation, he should apply early to Stanford.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Penn is known for openly saying that it favors its Early Decision applicants over Regular Decision applicants because it wants to have a high proportion of students on campus for whom Penn was their first choice. Stanford claims to have the same standards for Early Action and Regular Decision applicants. So if gaining admission to one of the two schools is your son’s top priority and financial aid is not an issue, it would make sense to apply early to Penn.</p>