<p>I'm plan to apply early action next year to either Stanford or Yale. Although the admit rates at both of these schools EA are about twice what they are RD, they are both still really low and I think I'm realistic about the fact that I may very well not get into either.</p>
<p>I've been told that Stanford is better known for its graduate schools, while Yale is well known for its excellent undergrad education. If this is accurate, it would obviously be a big reason to want to go to Yale; do any of you have personal experience? Stanford's Grad/Undergrad student ratio is slightly higher than Yale's, but they're pretty similar, far away from the extremes of Harvard on one end or Dartmouth on the other. Also, a general question to any student at a university: do you feel like your education is enriched by having a graduate school there? Or do your grad student TAs just make you wish you had gone to a LAC?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure I'll be a humanities major, and I'm quite impressed that 45% of Yalies are humanities/art majors, plus 35% are social science majors. Although I've heard nothing but positive things about humanities at Stanford, it does seem better known for its science programs. (I've tried looking for the Stanford major distribution stats, but no luck so far. Any help, please?) I've also heard people knock Stanford for being pre-professional, is this true? Even if it is, I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing. I have some classmates who are very driven and want to become doctors; these people who I admire, respect and like very much, some of my best friends, but that career path is just not for me personally. I very much want to avoid competitive classes, which I've heard Stanford classes can be. This doesn't mean I don't want to work hard, but rather that I'd much rather work with my classmates than against them.</p>
<p>Also, I love biking and hiking, so weather is by no means a trivial consideration to me. For this, Stanford wins, hands down.</p>
<p>(I posted identically on the Stanford boards, I figured I'd try and get responses from a variety of people :)</p>
<p>^eating food, you know they’re both SCEA, though. Can’t apply to both early.</p>
<p>I don’t really know what to tell you. I don’t think you can “game” any of the schools into accepting you by applying one round or the other. I think it really needs to come down to which school you think you have a better shot at (which will be EXTREMELY difficult to figure out) and which school you like best.</p>
<p>Because of Stanford’s immense popularity/receiving more applications this year, I think maybe applying to Yale might be a bit better (?). Plus, Yale > Stanford anyways, but I’m biased.</p>
<p>What I meant was, since both of them are early action, you can apply to both (one early, one regular) and then decide based on two things: 1) where you ultimately get in; 2) the various other things listed in your post.</p>
<p>All of the subtle differences in academics and atmosphere (and they ARE subtle) are completely swamped by the enormous, obvious differences: Northern California vs. Southern New England, urban vs. suburban, old New York-oriented Establishment vs. Silicon Valley, residential college system vs. dorm grabbag, very high arts interest/participation vs. not so much, Ivy League vs. Pac-10, fake Gothic vs. mall Mission. You don’t need an electron microscope to analyze those, and when you are finished with that, if you still don’t have a clear order of preference, it means you are an inherently indecisive person and looking at the relative competitiveness of classes, the degree or preprofessionalism, or the balance of humanities vs. science majors isn’t going to help you much.</p>
<p>As for the uni-vs.-LAC question, that gets debated ad nauseam on CC. People who choose places like Yale or Stanford tend to like having grad students around; people who choose to go to LACs don’t. And since neither group actually experiences what the other does, they don’t know that 90% of both would be perfectly happy with the arrangements if they switched places. </p>
<p>I’m a uni guy myself, at least at the Yale/Stanford market level (which, compared to Ohio State or Penn State, has some of the best aspects of LACs). But whether you are at one of them or at Amherst or Pomona, the trick is to find the teachers who are exciting and doing interesting things and to learn what they have to teach you, whether or not it’s what you thought you wanted to learn going in. At a uni, you’ll have more choices, but you can still only take x courses. And the top LACs got that way by doing an amazing job of undergraduate education and community-building. So it’s really a personal choice, not a right-or-wrong one.</p>
<p>Guys. From what I can tell from his post, hajikami has already decided that he’s APPLYING to both schools. I think he’s trying to decide where to apply EARLY.</p>
<ol>
<li>Flip a coin. If it comes up tails and that means Stanford but you feel like flipping again, then it means you actually want to apply early to Yale. (Same the other way.)</li>
<li>Think about which is actually your first choice. You can then flip a coin if you want.</li>
<li>Stop worrying about minor, mostly inaccurate reporting about silly stuff like whether Stanford is too pre-professional and focus on larger issues like JHS lists. You can then flip a coin. </li>
</ol>
<p>In other words, you could flip a coin because you’re splitting hairs between two great schools and the choice of where to apply early is wholly personal - or maybe chance.</p>
<p>See if you can find out the percent rejected during the SCEA round of each school. Stanford has a reputation for rejecting more students than other schools. Also consider which school would regard you to be a more unique applicant.</p>
<p>Dude i faced the same deal. I applied early to stanford( got into both). Stanford is 95% likely to give u a yes/no, whereas theres a decent chance Yale will defer u anyway. I would say go SCEA to Stanford.</p>
<p>^Woah, Stanford defers only 5% of their early applicants?</p>
<p>I’m having this dilemma as well. Basically Yale and Stanford are my top choices, and I really would like to get a definite answer if I apply early. Having said all that, rationally it would make sense for me to apply to Stanford early, but should I apply to Yale if its my absolute top choice (with Stanford as a very close second) or should I go with Stanford for a definite answer? What would you guys do?</p>
<p>I chose Yale early and Stanford RD because my school had a far stronger relationship w/ Stanford so I thought it would show more “commitment” from my end to apply to Yale early. Lo and behold, Yale accepted 1 early and none regular whereas Stanford took many RD (including me).</p>
<p>As for deciding between them, apply and then see where you get in. (I personally thought Yale was way better fit, but it depends on person to some extent and it will be a good decision to be able to make)</p>
<p>Supereagle10, did you end up going to Stanford? I couldn’t quite tell by your post.</p>
<p>Does anybody have any idea why Yale and Stanford would be so different in that Yale defers over 40% of there apps where as Stanford defers only 5%? Yale’s explanation, that they need to see many applications in the context of the candidate pool for that year in order to make a decision, makes sense to me, and I can’t see why Stanford wouldn’t feel the same way… though it makes things easier for them, I’m sure, by not having to look at the vast majority of EA apps after December. I’m just speculating, though. I personally would prefer to know one way or the other. Does anyone know if there are stats of what % of deferred applicants are accepted?</p>
<p>Lookbeyond, I know what you’re saying, and I know my original post sounded like I was actually deciding about which school to go to, but these are my two dream schools and I think my best chance of getting in is to apply SCEA. I am definitely keeping my safeties in mind (and my mid-range not-sure-thing-but-not-long-shot schools, also).</p>
<p>Also, to the future Yalies who posted above, what made up your mind about going to Yale?</p>
<p>And school relationship isn’t really an issue for me at either Yale or Stanford. I go to a mid-sized public school in ruralish downstate Illinois, and only a handful of kids each year go to really competitive colleges. I have a classmate going to Brown this year, but besides him I can’t think of anyone in the past 5 years form my school who’s gone to the Ivy League (or Stanford).</p>
<p>^ You can search a lot of those answers around in this forum. As to not beat a beat a dead horse, I will just quickly outline why I knew Yale was for me. (BTW, just so you know context, I applied to Yale early, got in, and applied no where else so I didn’t really have to make the decision between more than one school.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yale has amazing academics/reputation, which Stanford/HPM and the other Ivies do. This is just what sort of catches your attention at first.</p></li>
<li><p>I love the concept of the residential colleges, the Yale way. (I prefer the random Yale housing to Harvard’s “House” system.)</p></li>
<li><p>Stanford was actually my dream school pre-sophomore year. However, I decided that I really wanted to stay closer to home and New Haven isn’t that far from NYC.</p></li>
<li><p>Being from NYC, I am an urban person. However, I’m not sure if I like NYC-magnitude urban and I think New Haven is small, yet provides enough of a city-feel for me. Plus, urban areas usually provide more volunteer opportunities and I really want to get involved with community service. New Haven also has a small Latino community, which I deemed important when researching schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Main reason, though, is that Yale just felt right to me. When I first learned about the school via its website, I just felt an automatic connection to it, one which I didn’t really find researching Stanford and others. When I walked on to Yale’s campus for the first time, and perhaps this will sound corny but it’s true, I felt at “home.” I felt as if I was already a student there and felt so comfortable. Ever since that first time, I’ve been to Yale three other times (4 in total, including BDD). I have yet to visit Yale on a “good day.” Basically, the 4 times I visited (although the first time might be an exception) it was raining/cold/windy/disgusting. And yet, my love for the school has never wavered.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I never visited Stanford (although I was going to apply). But, I assumed that my love for Yale was such that no school would ever make me change my mind. It was why I withdrew my application to the one other school I did apply to. I just knew I had to go to Yale.</p>
<p>The Stanford EA admissions were really weird the last couple years… it seemed like those rejected were more qualified than those deferred. Check the Stanford Slaughter EA '13 thread. Yale’s were by no means cogent and clear-cut, but it seemed like there was some kind of meritocracy going on, so I’d go with Yale if you feel you are very qualified. This might sound ridiculous but I’ve never understood Stanford admissions; it’s always seemed rather random from the CC end. I wouldn’t want to throw my SCEA application into that whirlwind.</p>
<p>hajikami, im going to yale, but I actually liked Stanford better. its just that my parents decided “it was too far” at the last second. I live NY btw</p>
</p>