The director of admissions has gone on record to say that this years deferring/gap kids will not impact the numbers admitted in next admissions cycle.
Apologies for my late reply! History, but with a specific track based on various internships and research projects conducted during high school.
@Neuropower Yes, my kid is applying SCEA.
Yale (and other Ivies) admissions advisory team here. As a general rule of thumb, we suggest to not worry about gap year statistics and how that will affect overall admissions rates. Many admissions departments, according to their indications, plan to keep rates around the same – they understand the college-related stresses and and tribulations of current high school seniors. There are many things up in the air, but this shouldn’t cause you to, as a result, doubt where you apply – if you think you have a good shot, send it in!
Make sure your essays are strong + unique and your overall student profile demonstrates someone who is intellectually curious, unique, personable, and will contribute to Yale’s community – regardless of whether it’s virtual or in-person! This seems obvious, but many students, on reflection, realize they could have provided more clarity and effort into elaborating into these values. Feel free to reach back out with any further questions/clarifications!
Good luck,
Ethan (AimIvy)
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Can someone clarify this for me… I know with SCEA you can only apply to one of the SCEA schools (HYS). But Can you also apply to another EA private that’s not single choice, like Tulane? Tulane says yes, but Yale is vague. I know u can apply to both Yale and public schools early, I’m asking specifically about a school like Tulane, which offers both ED and EA.
No, you can only apply EA to public universities and international schools. You can’t apply EA to American private universities if you apply SCEA.
The SCEA application deadline is looming – Nov. 1st. How is everyone doing?
We’ve completed the FAFSA, but we’re scrambling to finish up the CSS by Nov. 1st so IF (fingers, toes, and everything else crossed) child is accepted, they’ll receive a financial aid award letter at the same time.
Good luck to you! I submitted mine.
What major are you applying for?
Has anyone got an interview yet?
@Lucky168 Nope, and I’m stressing out. Anybody else?
I haven’t either and it’s killing me. I’ve heard Yale is notorious for late interviews though, so fingers crossed.
If it helps, my son applied RD last year and had his interview about 3 weeks before Ivy Day. He got in.
Woah that’s insane! This has just been eating me up for days 
do you know if they do an initial screening before giving out interviews? Like to see if you meet the academic threshold etc.? Or do they just give a list of names to an alumnus?
@cadburydonut Hi there! I’m not sure if you’ve seen this, but the Yale page talks a bit about how this year interviews are going to be different:
“During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, all interviews will be conducted virtually. Because of limited virtual interviewing capacity, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will prioritize interviews for students for whom the Admissions Committee needs more information. Interviews will remain optional, and students who do not receive an interview will not be disadvantaged.”
(Link: https://admissions.yale.edu/interviews)
From what I understand (but I could be wrong), interviews mostly get organized by a different office, and while people who don’t pass an initial pass perhaps of people with good enough applicant caliber don’t move on to having the possibility of getting an interview, most people still do. I know that, at least from anecdote, there are still tons of people who get in because the admissions officers had a strong enough idea of who the applicant was without an interview write-up on them. I think this is going to be emphasized this year, as the statement they put out suggests, and perhaps receiving an interview request is a sign that your application wasn’t strong enough to be in the strongest category of applicant, but I don’t want to read TOO much into it haha. Another factor is alumni availability, and if there aren’t alumni in your area available for a lot of interviews, they aren’t given them.
Good luck with your application!
As an interviewer, we were given the same message over a month ago. My take is that there will be 3 piles. One pile are the strongest candidates where there are no real questions about the candidate. They have stellar academic credentials and their essays, LoR’s and EC’s/accomplishments already tell a consistent and compelling story. The second pile are of applicants who just don’t stand out academically or otherwise. I wouldn’t count on this being a small pile. The last pile are the large group of academically qualified, but some clarification or color on the application based on an interview may be helpful. I wouldn’t be surprised that there may be interviews scheduled later in the process than prior years as the applicant pool gets smaller based on full first and second reads and questions then arising.
As to why interviews may be delayed, as opposed to prior years, because there is a screening process, it may be taking the AO longer to sort through and assign applicants to the interview pile. I have not had an request to do 1 interview yet. I typically do 3-4 interviews per cycle (1-2 SCEA). Could be applications are down, could be candidates are getting screened out or could be the process is just taking longer.
It will be interesting to see the SCEA admissions results, particularly if the number/percentage of rejected students goes up. Historically it has been 30%±.
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Heard about a Yale interview yesterday. Scheduled for Monday! @BKSquared, since the interview is maybe used to “clarify” some aspects of our application, any specific advice on how to do this? Also, approximately what percentage of those you have interviewed for Yale SCEA typically have gotten accepted? Thank you! 
Go to the thread on Yale interviews that I have pinned on what the AO asks us to evaluate. The best interviews are conversations and not monologues. Anecdotes/stories that demonstrate the qualities you want to get across are more effective than just saying you are XYZ. Very low acceptance rate, probably no different than RD applicants. When you talk about individual interviewer experiences, I don’t think you can draw any conclusions from that.
Thank you.
@BKSquared I applied to Yale REA and I have a few questions about interviews this year. On the website it says that for this year, interviews will be given if the Admissions Office has any questions about the applicant. Is it good/bad if I still have not received an interview request? Thank you
I couldn’t begin to speculate on your situation, and neither should you. Presumably you gave it your best shot, and it is out of your control now. At this point, focus on doing the best you can this semester and finishing up your next tier of applications. I had my kids calendar out a schedule of to do’s with their next 3-5 top choices targeted to be ready to go out with a push of the send button by December 15, leaving a couple of weeks to finalize the remainder. They both already had gotten into our state flagship, so they were only targeting reaches. If this is not the case for you, make sure you do have have some low matches and safeties on your list.