Stanford SCEA vs UNC EA for an OOS

<p>I'm very interested in both, but obviously I believe I have a better shot at UNC (despite my OOS status). My stats are average-below average for Stanford and above average for UNC. </p>

<p>2180 SAT (660 CR, 780 M, 740 W)
3.91 UW GPA and 4 AP's + 3 AP's senior year...</p>

<p>My ec's are w/e.</p>

<p>I really wanna just try out Stanford and see what happens, but I was wondering if it would be in my better interest to do Stanford SCEA and UNC RD, or Stanford RD and UNC EA. I mainly think the latter is better because of SCEA self selecting population and the lack of difference between admit rates of SCEA and RD (16% v 9%?). </p>

<p>So what do you guys think would be the best course of action for me?</p>

<p>I would apply early to UNC. Stanford’s REA applicant pool tends to be stronger, and more difficult to get into. That’s usually when they also accept athletes, minorities, etc- people with a hook. You would stand a better chance RD. </p>

<p>Also, the fact that you say your extracurriculars are “w/e” is a bad sign to me. Stanford cares deeply about involvement and passion, and if you don’t have it, your chances of acceptance are slim.</p>

<p>^^ Yea haha, thats why I know my chances are slim to none, but I’d still like to try.</p>

<p>

According to Stanford admissions, this is a myth. Stanford has expressed many times a desire to accept as many applicants as possible early. When you have a borderline case and they want to judge it in the context of the RD admissions pool, that’s when a deferral happens. According to their logic, anyone rejected early would be rejected regular. And anyone accepted regular would have been accepted or deferred early. I don’t know why this wouldn’t be the case; the last thing Stanford wants to do is end up with a class that is weaker than what they could have gotten from accepting more early applicants. </p>

<p>That said, since in theory you have comparable chances early and regular at Stanford, you may want to EA at a school where your advantage is more profound (getting into UNC early I’m sure would cut down on a lot of worrying and extra applications). So would getting into Stanford early, but the chances of that are much smaller.</p>