<p>I just visited Stanford and Yale recently, and I really like both of them (for different reasons each) equally. My college counselor would like for us to "sign-up" ahead of time if we are going to apply early to any schools so she can plan ahead in terms of organization or whatever. I'm really stuck on whether to choose Stanford or Yale so I figured that for now, I'd pick the one that would have a "easier" admissions process.</p>
<p>I know both of them are intensely competitive schools, but my counselor told me that Yale EA next year is going to be impossible since they are getting flooded by Harvard and Princeton kids...</p>
<p>Not only Yale would get flooded, but Stanford as well since Stanford is a peer school to Princeton and Harvard, but I agree Yale SCEA will probably get the bulk of it and be more difficult next year (Since Yale is in the East Coast). Plus the class of 2008 is very strong.</p>
<p>Considering the small size of sci/eng at Yale, would it be slightly easier for a sci/eng applicant to get in compared to a humanities person?</p>
<p>Also, Stanford likes to defer only small amounts of people as compared to other places. I don't know how this factoid should factor in when deciding stanford vs yale.</p>
<p>Both are on common app. I'll bet that Stanford's supplement will have a quirky essay question. So Yale's would be easier (500 words any topic). But Yale has a Why Yale? question. But Stanford doesn't do interviews. So Stanford might be easier. AHH. I need to make this decision too (Stanford vs Yale SCEA)</p>
<p>Go with Stanford. Yale will get flooded by the Harvard/Princeton type, and getting accepted outright will be extremely tough. I was planning on applying to Yale SCEA myself, but I'm considering applying to a variety of other schools early action.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Considering the small size of sci/eng at Yale, would it be slightly easier for a sci/eng applicant to get in compared to a humanities person?
[/quote]
No.
Three people applied SCEA to Yale this year from my school. The two that were more sci/eng-based were deferred for the one that was polisci/international relations-based.</p>
<p>I don't think you can predict which school will be harder to get into. IMO, Yale and Stanford are both equally difficult in terms of admission. All this talk about Harvard/Princeton applicants flooding Yale's SCEA is speculation. It seems you're more of an engineering/science person so I'd go with Stanford. Stanford's engineering/science programs are top notch although Yale's are great too. Oh one more thing, you don't get an advantage applying to top schools with a certain interest field. Ex. Applying with an interest in Russian literature doesn't necessarily make you stand out over an applicant with an interest in Biology.</p>
<p>"Oh one more thing, you don't get an advantage applying to top schools with a certain interest field. Ex. Applying with an interest in Russian literature doesn't necessarily make you stand out over an applicant with an interest in Biology."</p>
<p>Even top schools will like to fill the incoming freshman group in such a way so that all the departments are utilized optimally. So in order to achieve that balance there will be differing probabilities for students with different academic strengths.</p>
<p>Consider the three cases below:</p>
<p>A: SAT I 2300/3.9uw/>750 SATIIs have deep political Science courses intend to do major in Pol Science
B: SAT I 2300/3.9uw/>750 SATIIs have deep Science/Engineering Courses intend to do major in mechanical engineering
C: SAT I 2300/3.9uw/>750 SATIIs have deep language courses with stress on Russian and other languages intend to major in Russian language.</p>
<p>There is definitely difference in probability of getting into YALE for the three cases with
P(A) < P(B) < P(C)</p>
<p>Well Yale is definitely my first choice but I'm having doubts as to whether EA will give me any advantage next year or not. I might as well apply EA somewhere else if my chances will be the same in EA or RD with Yale.</p>
<p>Spiffy, I'm concerned about that, too. I might just end up applying to University of Chicago early-action, instead. I'm in the range of the candidate they accept and applying early might give me an advantage.</p>
<p>Yes, schools would like to make their classes as diverse as possible but just writing an obscure or less popular interest on college applications without high school involvement in that interest will appear shallow and fake to admission committees at Yale or Stanford. So in the end, just be honest with what you really like.</p>