When to apply Early Action

<p>I read the Stanford undergrad website on their Single choice Early action thing-- they somewhat sounded like they were discouraging applying early action.
But I really like stanford; what would I need to increase my chances of not being rejected from the SCEA thing...? How would they look at the application-- I know, it's early on in the senior year when EAs are sent out so I wouldn't have a chance to really build my resume any further..
I have heard that Stanford does extremely few deferrals... (as in its' either accept or reject, that's that.)</p>

<p>would it be better to SCEA or just RD it?</p>

<p>I'd like to know too..</p>

<p>If you need to either 1) get more/better test scores, 2) expect some really impressive honor that could make the difference that will happen between november 1st and early january or so or 3) need to pull up your GPA then you should consider not applying EA. #3 is really the big one. If your GPA has been steadily rising you may want to show that you can maintain a good GPA 1st semester of senior year. Possibly if you want a rec from a 1st semester senior year teacher.... otherwise apply EA if it's your first choice.</p>

<p>marlgirl is right on. Stanford has no hesitancy to reject people EA unlike other schools (for example, Harvard accepts or defers I believe 95% of their EA applicants). If you need to work on any of the things marlgirl talked about, avoid EA because you're chance to get in may be gone before you are able to send them your improvements.</p>

<p>GPA and test grades aren't a problem for me, as in I've been consistent and they're pretty good-- but awards-- when are things such as Intel and Siemens, etc announced? What other types of awards are announced between November 1 and January?</p>

<p>i want to apply EA in the fall. But i will be doing siemens, which is mainly during november (regionals) and december (national), so is it better to wait until results come out and apply regular or still go early? i understand that even getting into siemens regionals is extremely hard, so i'm not sure if i should apply regular just to maybe up my stats. (btw, i don't have any major awards currently).</p>

<p>also, if i do early action, is it still possible to update my stats before december 15? (if so, is it by phone or some document?) will i have to provide some proof (i.e. print out the results from siemens website)?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>I just called the undergraduate admission office.</p>

<p>I asked if subject tests taken in November would be considered for EA.</p>

<p>The guy said he can't guarantee that Stanford'll review anything after the October test date.</p>

<p>It basically means Stanford isn't really willing to look at additional information if it's past the deadline for EA.</p>

<p>I'm guessing it'll be tough to update your information around December.</p>

<p>This sucks.</p>

<p>I'm wondering if the financial aid is any different for those accepted SCEA and regular. I know everyone says don't apply ED anywhere if you need fin. aid, but SCEA is different. Should it still be avoided if $$ is a big concern?
Stanford is first choice and grades, etc are as good as they're gonna get, but there's no way to attend without fin. aid. What do you think?</p>

<p>Applying SCEA should not affect fin aid. And the acceptance is not binding, so you can compare offers from different schools and see what you can or can not afford.</p>

<p>Thanks nngm, but others say that if you apply SCEA they might give you more loans and self-help and less "gift" aid. On the web site, college board, and the common data set, the gift / non-gift isn't separated out by whether the acceptance was early.
It just seems to me that Stanford, in general in their admission process, are a little bit better in being transparent than many schools. It looked to me like SCEA wouldn't be too big a risk with regard to financial aid. But I wondered if anyone has personal experience.
thanks for your input.</p>

<p>So don't apply early unless you have ... like... perfect SATs, GPA (3.9+), strong ECs, some significant awards, and teacher recommendations?
There's pretty much nothing to "wait" for, then, other than siemens and intel, but like right I'm ever going to be smart enough to win that..</p>

<p>I know that some schools go all crazy over (ie, loves to admit) legacy SCEA or EA admits--does anybody know if Stanford is one of those schools?</p>

<p>This is, of course, assuming the legacies are qualified and all that.</p>

<p>I think if Stanford is your first choice, apply SCEA</p>

<p>APPLY SCEA.</p>

<p>SCEA acceptance rates are in the high teens and RD acceptances are around 7%. </p>

<p>Which one is larger? Want to maximize your chances of admission?</p>

<p>APPLY SCEA</p>

<p>no... i thought that RD admission rates were around 13% and EA was only slightly higher. the reason why, though, is because usually the most qualified applicants apply EA.</p>

<p>

No sorry pal but that's not the reason. The reason is because the SCEA have a higher enrollement chance than RD and so they are more likely to enroll at Stanford.</p>

<p>thepapercrane, EA admits at about a 20% rate (give or take a percentage). While overall admit rates may be like 13%, RD admits at a 7% rate if you factor in the EA admission rate. If that makes any sense at all...</p>

<p>oh... okay, i get it. sort of. Stanford IS my first choice, so .... I'll probably apply SCEA there.
But don't they hardly ever do the deferral thing? (as in, it's only accept/reject)?</p>

<p>They do defer some people and anyways think about it this way: if you got rejected SCEA chances have it that you would have in RD...</p>

<p>
[quote]
think about it this way: if you got rejected SCEA chances have it that you would have in RD...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I never thought about it like that, so thanks superwizard for the insight. :] I guess the only down point of applying SCEA to Stanford and not getting in is that you could have possibly used that EA/ED option for another school that you could have gotten into EA/ED, but would not have had the same results if you had applied only RD.</p>

<p>That's why you should make sure that Stanford is definitely your first choice by quite a bit. That way, there are no regrets, you know?</p>

<p>Oh, and btw, are you really only a freshman, thepapercrane?</p>