<p>I'm thinking of SCEA next year to Stanford (Princeton and Stanford are my top choices...more likely Stanford), but this year, quite a few people at my school just got rejected, not even deferred. I THINK my transcript & ECs are stronger, but you never know...</p>
<p>In any case, is it common for Stanford to reject so many people SCEA? Would you recommend Princeton (I both like ED and am a little nervous of it) or Stanford for early?</p>
<p>Stats:
GPA: 4.45 W
SAT: 1590 Old; 2240 New (Yuck...will definately be redoing)
SAT II: 800 Chem, 790 IIC, 790 Physics, 790 US History
Taking AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP History, AP Lang this year (expecting mostly 5s); taking AP Stat, AP Bio, AP Euro, AP Gov, AP Eng, AP Comp Sci next year</p>
<p>EC Leadership: Captain Quiz Bowl, VP for Math Team, Treasurer Math Honor Society, Competitions Coordinator for Forensics Team, student leader for Thailand in NHS Model UN; Tried to create Comp. Sci. team, but Board rejected all new clubs this year due to funding
Honors: A good few math/sci awards; a couple of govt/leadership awards; skipped Honors Physics and taking AP Physics C (solid A and couple of awards); will be taking Physics course at Rutgers next year
Hook: Will volunteer for 6 weeks in India; have volunteered a lot in politcal related things; have volunteered for long time at old age home; co-founding a interschool math competiton at my school (ironically, my math grades suck, but my competition math skills are strong)
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian) male
Location: Central NJ</p>
<p>I expect my teacher recs and counselor rec to be pretty strong.</p>
<p>Doesn't Stanford combine the old and new SATs? Then, you're staring at an excellent score. Regardless, I think you have a good shot (I certainly hope so, especially cuz we're pretty similar in scores/ECs and I'm also probably gonna be applying SCEA). What's your unweighted GPA and class rank?</p>
<p>I think you would be at the top of the applicant pool, but there might be a lot of similar Asian applicants into math/science. I think the best thing to do is to make sure they know what an interesting and unique person you are. I remember in my essays I was just really personal and didn't repeat anything I had already listed on my resume.</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend applying <em>somewhere</em> early. If you get in, you can breath a sigh of relief in December, if not, you still have a second chance. Stanford SCEA usually breaks down as: 50% rejected, 30% deferred, 20% accepted. If you'd like to compare your stats to the stats of last year's CC SCEA applicants check out the cool</a> wiki we did. Good luck.</p>
<p>If Stanford is your first choice school, then definitely apply there early. The early round gives you a significantly better chance at gaining admission.</p>
<p>Thanks guys...I think I will appy SCEA, then. I didn't know if there was an an advantage or not.</p>
<p>And ramsfan, my unweighted GPA is around 3.9 and my class rank is around 4 or 5 out of 750 people (I come from a pretty good school...we had 2 USABO finalists, and 1 USAChO finalist, but luckily none of them are very interested in Stanford :-P)</p>
<p>There is a definite advantage to applying early, whether it is EA, SCEA or ED. As I said earlier, if Stanford is your first choice school, then you must apply early.</p>
<p>i really dont see the advantage of applying early. for a school as tough as stanford, interest is not ever taken into account so basically early action isnt any different from regular. if you are not qualified to get in from regular decision than i dont see how applying early would help you since the strongest applicants apply early.</p>
<p>decided to delete my response ... the value of early applications has been debated many-many times in the past ... I'd suggest searching for old strings on the topic.</p>
<p>stanmaster, the yield amongst applicants admitted under SCEA is far higher than those admitted RD. Therefore, it is in a university's interest to accept a large proportion of its class from the early applicant pool as this will result in a greater yield at the end of the admissions year. </p>
<p>This is why so many elite universities fill just under 50% of their classes from the early applicant pool, with the 50% mark being a kind of psychological barrier since admissions officers believe that filling any more of the class will deter some regular applicants. </p>
<p>It is not compensated for, as many universities, Stanford included, claim, by a stronger applicant pool in the early round which results in a higher acceptance rate. The fact is that you are more likely to get accepted in the early round, regardless of the strength of your application. Also, read "The Early Admissions Game," which has controlled for several factors and still found that applicants are more likely to be accepted in the early round than in the regular round.</p>