<p>Hi all, Yale is currently tied for my top choice, and I'm really interested in applying early. But I'm sure the Yale SCEA pool is very strong... What is your input. Do I have a chance? </p>
<p>Here's some general info...</p>
<p>SAT I: 2250
SAT II: Chem-750; Math II-720 (eh..); and taking one more this June.
GPA: UW-3.95 (one B+ both semesters in jr year, but I have all As for everything else. I hope this isn't too bad...)
Courses: All AP/Honors except for 1 class. Really rigorous...Next year (sr year) will be even more rigorous.
Extracurriculars: I don't want to go into specifics but I do A LOT of volunteer work, and have leadership roles and awards in my main extracurriculars, music, etc.
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: African American</p>
<p>Should I even apply early, or wait it out for RD? Thanks for any input!</p>
<p>^ less friendly than you might think. I have a hispanic friend who was deferred… but who was ultimately accepted. And this was a girl who got into all of HYPS. They also rejected another hispanic friend of mine and a black friend.</p>
<p>But regardless, I think you should go for SCEA, it looks like you have a great shot.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement everyone!
The only qualms I have about applying early to Yale is that I’ve never been there, or in the East Coast at all. I mean, I’ve done a lot of research about Yale and it seems fantastic, but I don’t know if I should apply regular instead of early. It truly seems to have everything I want in a college…
For those of you who applied early to Yale, did you ever visit the school beforehand? If so, did it make a difference in your decision to apply early?
Thanks for all the help!!</p>
<p>If you’re low-income and you get accepted, you could probably talk Yale into flying you out there on their tab. I know I read about that on the website. That way, you can worry about applying first, and then visiting. That’s the best I can think of, really.</p>
<p>Melody224, when I first applied SCEA to Yale, I didn’t particularly like the school (after visiting). But I felt like I had to apply because of the financial aid program. Getting in would certainly help out my parents a ton. I also knew I wanted to try my hand at an SCEA program, and thought Yale was more “me” than Stanford. </p>
<p>I applied, got a better understanding from my interviewer and alumni, and by the time December 15 rolled around, I felt like I would die if I didn’t get into Yale. SCEA was one of the best decisions of my life, though of course I had no way of knowing the outcome. SCEA also helped later when I needed to negotiate for money, since I’d been in contact with Yale for months, and therefore it kind of felt like I got more “special” treatment.</p>
<p>If your only consideration is whether to apply to Y SCEA or RD, then I would agree that it’s worthwhile to apply SCEA given your stats and URM status. You’re a competitive candidate for EA and it couldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>However, where you apply early really is a strategy that you have to decide upon given all of the schools you are applying to and what their early policies are. For instance, if there are schools that you are interested in which permit multiple EA applications (eg. UChicago, MIT), then you might want to go with several schools rather than just Y. Or, if you have an ED school that is your top choice and which accepts significantly more ED applicants (eg. UPenn), then you might want to do that instead. If you can tell us the other schools you’re interested in, we might be able to give a more comprehensive answer.</p>
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<p>My D applied SCEA to Y before she’d had a chance to visit. She was not going to apply ED anywhere, and Y was her top choice EA choice, so it was a pretty easy decision.</p>
<p>^Thanks for the good advice and personal insight.
For me, my two favorite ‘top-choice’ colleges both have a SCEA choice (Yale and Stanford). At this point, I’m leaning more towards Yale SCEA because of what you all have said about your experiences applying early to Yale. </p>
<p>entomom-I think applying to multiple schools EA (MIT, UChicago) is a great idea, but I’m not particularly interested in those schools. And I don’t think I would ever apply ED somewhere. I’m mainly interested in Yale, Stanford, Princeton, and Duke. And I’ll apply to some safety schools as well. But basically it is between Yale SCEA and Stanford SCEA for me…</p>
<p>I honestly think Yale is more “me” than Stanford is…which is why I’m thinking of applying early to Yale. Any other experiences (both good and bad of applying early) is appreciated! Thanks for all the help!</p>
<p>im gonna tell you what i pretty much tell everyone… if you think you’re gonna get some nice awards, retake SAT/SATII/ACT, etc. after SCEA, don’t do it. if you think you’re not, do it. intel semifinalist was a big thing for me, and that was after SCEA (even after RD), so i didn’t bother to apply early anywhere. make sure you don’t fudge your essays quickly just for the sake of making the deadline for SCEA, TAKE YOUR TIME.</p>