<p>The deadline for REA is November 1, yet many people obviously have their completed applications in much earlier. Do you think that the Admissions Committee begins reading applications as soon as they come in, or do they wait until a specific date? It seems that the ethical thing to do would be to wait...but who knows?</p>
<p>I just called the admit office to ask them about a supplementary rec that I am sending. I told them that the rest of my app is in, and I asked how I can be assured that the supp rec will be read. The woman simply just told me to send it, giving little assurance. I asked her if there was a chance that they would read my app before the supp rec was received, and she said "No," so I asked when the adcom first convenes. She responded: "I cannot disclose that information."</p>
<p>This answer sounded awfully suspicious to me. Any insights??</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure they don't start reading until well after the deadline. After all, they won't read incomplete apps, and so the first few weeks after the deadline are reserved for filing everything appropriately. The adcoms won't begin evaluating until late November or early December.</p>
<p>Well they already know which legacys, athletes, etc. to admit. Also, with a basic rundown of GPA, ECs, and SAT they can see which URMs would fit. They can also easily throw out apps with very weak essays or weak stats. I think that once your application is completed, they start to review it (but hold off on RD applications till SCEA is done) and should have all the completed applications sent in weeks ahead of time done by the second week of November. Then all the information for applicaitons sent in closer to the deadline will have been filed and they can review those. By December they should have the names of the top applicants and go to committee and choose the 500 or however many applicants they want to accept EA. They make final decisions by December 14 and send results December 15 (i think thats the day the announce SCEA results).</p>
<p>I heard from a Yale student who worked in Admissions last year that all materials received for one's application are put into a file and really none of them are looked at before Nov. 1. There's no 'early' early admissions (well other than athletes of course but that's another story).</p>
<p>The last sentence of the story reads, "Back at Yale on Thursday, officers began the next stage of the admissions process - reading applications."</p>
<p>I don't think that the Yale Daily News would have misinformation...</p>
<p>Anyway, I find it awful that they start reading apps before the deadline. As if they couldn't give more advantages to wealthy prep school kids who send in their things in early September. The guidance office at my high school wouldn't even accept applications until recently.</p>
<p>It's weird to think that some people---maybe even people on this board---already have their fate sealed at Yale. This just adds to my overwhelming cynicism about the application process.</p>
<p>^What in the world are you talking about?? There are probably only a handful of applications in the Yale admissions office as we speak since a majority of SCEA applicants wait until its closer to the Nov. 1st deadline to submit their apps. There's no way even "clear admit" and "clear reject" applications are decided upon this early in the game until the extent of the competition for the 2006 Yale SCEA pool becomes apparent to the admissions committee. Stop worrying about the nuances of a process you have no control over.;)</p>
<p>I'm sorry, Evil Asian Dictator, but you are wrong. I attended a Yale information session in early September, and the admissions officer said that there were already between "400-600" COMPLETED applications already in, and "thousands" of partial applications. And this was the SECOND WEEK of September.</p>
<p>I know they've sent out e-mails concerning alumni interviews as a part of the application process, and they'd probably need the assurance that the person interviewed actually plans on applying, so I get the idea that they have some wheels turning already.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the local alumni interview coordinators don't get information about an applicant from Yale until the applicant's file is complete. Therefore, only applicants with completed files have been contacted about alumni interviews. Processing a name to the interview coordinator does not mean an application has been read yet, it just means that it has been marked completed.</p>
<p>Yeah, my friend was contacted about her interview two days after she submitted her entire app, which was a couple weeks ago. I doubt her recs and transcript and scores were all in at the time, though.</p>
<p>I think onetimequestion was venting over how his school waited to send his stuff in, and assumed that prep schools would be much more prompt since they prolly take college apps more seriously.</p>
<p>The "wealthy prep schools" aren't necessarily sending out their apps in early September. I go to a Catholic college prep school -- wouldn't necessarily define it as wealthy, but it is in Marin County (northern CA) -- and our whole apps process didn't even start until last month. Our counselors help, of course, but many of my peers and I (those of us applying to the Ivies, etc.) have taken outside prep courses; as it is, I didn't send Yale (my first app) until October 23.</p>
<p>Also, I don't see a problem with reading the apps that come in early. Think of the volume of applications Yale receives each admissions season! If I worked on the adcom, I'd want the "head start" to get some read at least once, to be reviewed again later. Now, if they were "sealing people's fates" as was speculated above, well, that'd be a different story.</p>