I know, I can still apply EA to public schools and ED2 though.
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Based on the Harvard litigation data, there does seem to be a statistical advantage to applying REA to Harvard vs RD, at least historically. This has not been established for Yale. Also Yale’s legacy advantage applies to both SCEA and RD. If Harvard is preferable to you over Yale, I’d apply to Harvard REA and Yale (plus others) RD. Definitely apply to any state (including honors colleges) EA or rolling early. With your accomplishments, I would not apply ED anywhere unless it were your clear first choice.
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Yale legacy will not count if I apply RD.
I am a long time Yale interviewer. I do not believe Yale has changed its policy on this. What is your source? The stated legacy advantage for Yale is that every legacy applicant will be granted an automatic second reader and maybe a “feather” in your favor. Legacies have only made up about 12% of each class for many years, and they are among the strongest applicant pools that Yale considers. In one sense, legacies are being compared to similarly privileged high achieving students.
While many, probably most, legacies apply SCEA, it is usually because that is their first choice school. U Penn explicitly publicizes that legacy will be considered only if you apply ED. I am not aware of any such stated policy by Yale.
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There is no such stated policy, but as a general policy regarding all T20 schools, legacy is significantly more helpful if you apply early to a school. Although I can’t find you an online resource to confirm this, my friend’s private counselor said this to him.
Ok, you can believe what you want if you don’t want to believe a Yale alum who has interviewed for over 25 years, has had direct conversations with senior AO’s routinely and that has put his kids through the process within the past 6 years with a 50% success rate, the other one graduating from a top LAC.
Many top 20 schools only have ED, with ED being most likely a stronger plus. Further many of the Top 20’s may have demonstrated interest as a factor. Yale does not. You could be getting incomplete or misinformed opinions.
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Sure, thank you so much for your advice. I’ll ask around and tell you what I find.
Another data point here. I used to interview for Duke as an alumni. During a lecture a few years back by Dean of Admissions, here are the acceptance rates for legacy candidates:
ED admit rate (overall): 23%
ED admit rate (legacy): 35%
RD admit rate (overall): 10%
RD admit rate (legacy): 16%
Harvard also follows a similar trend (higher rates during EA vs RD). I’d be very surprised if Yale is any different. But only the admissions office knows for sure.
Ok I believe both you and @BKSquared. I still think though that applying to Yale SCEA as a math major maximizes my chances of being able to study math at a top school.
@sgopal2 is correct, the only reliable source is an AO. The AO may or may not take a call from your Yale parent since this is your admission year. If they have been regular donors, someone from the Development office can ask that question of the AO. An opinion from anyone else is only an opinion. Then you need to consider the source of the opinion.
Applying SCEA to Yale is great if it is one of your top picks, whether or not the legacy advantage only comes in there or not. But if your assumption is wrong, you could have made a suboptimal decision on where to best ED/EA, REA. Your decision. We are only trying to help, not debate with you.
I just visited Yale 2 days ago and I think it’s an amazing school, and I’d be thrilled to go. I would probably SCEA to Yale even without legacy.
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The only thing that might cause me not to apply SCEA is because I’m close with a [T15 School] faculty member, and he’s hinted at giving me a recommendation if I applied ED. I might try and talk to him more about this and see if he’d consider doing the same for RD (but i doubt it).
A recommendation from a Penn faculty member will carry the same amount of weight at Penn or Yale or any other college. The impact is what the rec says about you, not who the letter writer is.
I’m fortunate enough where they’re willing to pay full tuition wherever I go. However, if I’m choosing between a few relatively close schools, price will definitely be something we consider.
Not in this case. He suggested the recommendation would just be straight to the admissions office.
He could hand walk it over to College Hall and place it directly in Whitney Soule’s hands. But it will still not be an admissions bump, and it it certainly not a reason to choose an ED/REA school.
I’ll try to look further into it
Thanks for your help, I do really like the school as well though.
If the Penn faculty member is willing to support you because he believes in you as potential asset for Penn, I would think he would support you ED or RD. It is not like you are an athletic recruit where the coach has only a limited number of supported slots where the quid pro quo for support is an ED app. The reason to apply ED to Penn is that ED provides a real admissions bump and you would be happy to forego other opportunities if you got in. Agree with @skieurope that the LoR should not be the reason.
Yeah. I just have trouble applying ED because I’m always hoping I get into like MIT RD (which I know is very unrealistic but….).