<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford all have a single-choice early action option available when applying. This means one cannot apply to other schools early (with a few exceptions, depending on the school) alongside applying to one of HYPS early.</p>
<p>I have heard debate amongst varying sources over whether it is actually beneficial to apply to one of these schools single-choice early action--whether one would actually have a higher chance of getting in.</p>
<p>When does it increase one's chances to apply SCEA? When you're an athlete? When you're a legacy? When you have high test scores? When you're an average applicant?</p>
<p>Does it only help for certain schools? I've heard Stanford is relatively tougher (in terms of admission percentage) early action than, say, Princeton.</p>
<p>“When does it increase one’s chances to apply SCEA? When you’re an athlete? When you’re a legacy? When you have high test scores? When you’re an average applicant?”</p>
<p>For these schools, rarely.
No, only recruited ones
Legacy a big maybe
Everyone has high test scores - No
Obviously not.</p>
<p>For HYPS, I have become convinced that there is no statistical advantage to applying SCEA. The only reason to apply SCEA is to have a decision early and allow you to have more information early in the process.</p>
<p>Some schools do have higher admit percentages for ED/EA, but these are typically institutions that are gaming the system to improve yield by reaching somewhat on students who might be marginally less qualified in the early process. HYPS would likely not move the needle at all if they admitted a higher percentage (and correspondingly lower quality students) during SCEA.</p>
<p>I see no advantage at all in applying SCEA. Last year two kids I know applied SCEA and got deferred and then got in during the regular cycle (just leading to lots of stress between December and April when they had no admissions under their belts even though they were top students). Throw all your chances in during the regular cycle for these elite SCEA schools. However, apply EA to all those schools that allow it that you are interested in (especially safeties).</p>
<p>The candidates that are accepted SCEA are exceptional applicants who would be chosen out of ANY applicant pool, and are likely to be admitted to other highly selective schools in the RD round if they choose to apply.</p>
<p>HYPS are competing against each other to have a few more months to convince these outstanding candidates to matriculate.</p>
<p>You need to think about this from the college’s POV. There is no advantage to taking competitive but not spectacular candidates SCEA. </p>
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<p>Read the S website, they prefer to give an admit or deny decision, they defer very few applicants SCEA. The deferral rates are much higher for HYP, for instance, Y has been almost 50% in recent years. So you don’t get a ‘second chance’ as often with S.</p>
<p>Okay… I hate to complicate this discussion, but I can’t help but think that unhooked, top applicants might be at a slight advantage. I’ve heard a Harvard admissions officer say that they could kill off the freshman class, admit all the waitlists, and do that two more times, and the class would still look the same (in terms of how impressive the students are). Essentially, the class could be filled with amazing people four times over.</p>
<p>When this is the case, wouldn’t you think that one of those amazing students, although they be rejected regular decision (when the university can only fill 1 class worth full of amazing students), they might have a better chance being accepted early action, when the class is still being built early on? (Does this make sense?) </p>
<p>If the student is strong enough to be in that group of students that could fill the class four times over, would that student be at an advantage applying early action, when they aren’t face to face with the entire group of people applying regular decision?</p>
<p>I know that Yale’s website might say no, but I can’t help but imagine a slight advantage… Correct me if I am wrong. I don’t mean to sound adversarial… I’m just trying to get a grasp.</p>
<p>The advantage of EA (whether SC or not) is that an acceptance with sufficient financial aid turns the college into a safety, resulting in being able to not bother applying to any less desirable colleges.</p>
<p>But if you have several other schools to which you can apply EA that are not in the exception categories of the SCEA schools, then you may want to consider whether it is advantageous to apply EA to those schools and perhaps have a better chance of acquiring a safety through an EA acceptance with sufficient financial aid.</p>
<p>I’ve become convinced that SCEA is of little or no benefit to the average applicant. Yes, the admission rate is higher. On the other hand, a lot of recruited athletes, legacies, and students who for some reason are a perfect fit apply SCEA, so those are the geniuses you’re being compared to.</p>