<p>Hey, I'm from Mass (white male) and I have 4 schools that I could potentially apply EA for. Those schools are Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Yale. I want to do EA and not ED since I dont want it to be binding and financial aid is key. They are all reaches for me and I want to give myself the best chances. besides, none of my match schools have EA so it had to be these ones. The only ones i've visited were Havard and MIT, and i liked them both, maybe Harvard a bit more. How should I decide which one to apply EA too? WHere is my best chance? Any suggestions on the best way to find out what school would be the best to apply EA to? I've gone to student reviews, and I can browse through the sites. I know some people I could ask about harvard and yale, but im sure it will just be all good things. it almost just seems like a toss up to me. Also, I want to major in physics.</p>
<p>Also I need the november test date to get my 3rd sat II. I dont know if that eliminates any. I know that harvard and stanford say that november is the last testing date that they will take for EA so thsoe are fine.</p>
<p>If you like Harvard, go for it. As far as EA rates:
Harvard- 14% (significantly higher than the RD rate)
Stanford- 19%
Yale- ~21-23%
MIT- 15% </p>
<p>Harvard, Stanford, and MIT have physics programs of similar quality, so if you like it better, go for Harvard.</p>
<p>I would go for Stanford, simply because I know the figures of how many vales applied ED at Harvard, that pool is more competitive than RD anywhere.</p>
<p>bumppppppp</p>
<p>I would apply to Yale. The odds are better. Of the four schools, it has the best atmosphere.</p>
<p>I have no idea where Warbler gets these numbers, because they don't at all reflect those published in the Common Data Set put out by these schools. Here are the EA/ED rates for 2006 (there are several websites with these numbers available).</p>
<p>Harvard: EA rate 21%, Overall (NOT RD) 9% (think about how low the RD rate must be to make the overall acceptance rate 9%)
MIT: EA 13%, Overall 14%
Yale: EA 17.9%, Overall 9.7%
Stanford: EA 20%, Overall 12%
Cornell ED 41.9%, Overall 24.3%
Columbia ED 27%, Overall 10.4%
Princeton ED 29%, Overall 10%</p>
<p>My numbers are last year's (class of 2008)- that's probably why. </p>
<p>Harvard- <a href="http://admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/stats/%5B/url%5D">http://admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/stats/</a>
Yale- <a href="http://www.yale.edu/asc/newsletter/winter_2003.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/asc/newsletter/winter_2003.pdf</a> (however, keep in mind that 249 of the deferred were admitted)
Stanford- <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/applying/1_8_faqs.html#scea%5B/url%5D">http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/applying/1_8_faqs.html#scea</a></p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I think I'm going to try for stanford. Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>Going for Stanford from out-of-state is very difficult. It is not a state university, but they have to take a certain percentage (not well publicized) because the Stanford family wanted it that way. Half of the student population is from California.</p>
<p>If early action isn't binding, then why can't you apply early action to all of those schools?</p>
<p>Harvard, Stanford, and Yale are single-choice early action, meaning you can apply EA to only their school.</p>
<p>When considering EA admit numbers one may want to include students who applied EA, were deferred to RD, and later admitted. When those students are added to the mix, the % of EA applicants admitted goes up significantly and the "true" RD admit rate, accordingly, goes down.</p>
<p>how can I figure that out?</p>
<p>Ares, it seems to me that you should not apply EA anywhere.</p>
<p>SCEA to top colleges is only because you would go there over any of your other admissions. Admissions committee members can see if you are doing it for raise your chances or if you have a true desire to attend the university. If you can honestly say that you would go to that SCEA school over any of your other possible acceptances, then go for it. Otherwise, apply RD and test things out there. </p>
<p>Do not play statistics because they do not actually represent anything tangible such as a unique aspect of a single person's application that might have "lower than normal" stats than the websites show.</p>
<p>Apply SCEA ONLY if you are truly willing to go a certain school and no just doing it for a statistical advantage.</p>
<p>I was going to create a new thread for my question, but I guess it fits well here.</p>
<p>I know that I want to go to Stanford, but I am not sure if I should apply SCEA. It is definitely a major reach for me (my stats are at <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=74990%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=74990</a>).</p>
<p>On one hand, I am thinking that it would help me because I am demonstrating that the odds of me attending if accepted are high--something that I would try to show in my application. However, on the other hand, I am thinking that my stats will seem worse because those who apply early generally have higher stats, and this would hurt my chances.</p>
<p>I am also hesitant because I know that Stanford does not just defer all of it's SCEA applicants that are not accepted; it flat-out rejects them. In light of this, applying early seems like a significant risk.</p>
<p>What do you think? Will it improve my chances of being accepted if I apply early even though Stanford is definitely a big reach for me?</p>
<p>Thanks. I am terribly confused about all of this.</p>
<p>Whether or not I can say that I will go to a school over any other school, I still don't think that should stop me from applying EA. I have that option to apply EA to somewhere and there is no point wasting it just because I haven't been able to visit all the places I would have liked to. Since Stanford doesn't have an interview I find it hard to believe they can see through anything, and I doubt i'll get in EA anyways but my chances certainly aren't worse applying EA and they can only be the same or possibly better, and I tend to think its at least a little better than just applying RD to everywhere. For the sake of possible finding out in December and saving me some application fees, I think ill submit and application that I already have finished anyways.</p>
<p>In response to going the distance. If you know stanford is your number 1 choice you should apply early. If you were going to get flat out rejected in the early applicant pool, you'd be flat out rejected in the RD pool too, so wat's the difference, might as well know ahead of time. The only thing that would make me maybe not apply EA to that school would be if I had another school that wasnt as much of a reach that I could apply EA too, and that would help my chances get in there which is much more reasonable.</p>