Yale or Williams for Early?

screwitlah · 09-10-2007, 09:25 AM

hey guys. I'm an international student applying with request for financial aid, so I'm applying to the six need-blind ones - HYP MIT, Williams and Middlebury. for Early, i'm having a very tough time deciding between Yale and Williams. Yale is of course my dream school, but with the stuff I read about LACs like Williams favouring high SAT scores, I'm not sure whether I should be pragmatic about it. I'm not v confident of making it into Yale, and I figure that perhaps my SATs would help me get into Williams.

What should I choose for early - my dream school or a more pragmatic one? Does Williams really favor the SATs? Also, since all potential HYP applicants are prob gonna apply early for Yale, since H and P have discontinued theirs, would the supposed early action advantage for Yale be moot?

OneMom · 09-10-2007, 11:44 AM

Go pragmatic. I'm not sure that need-blind means that they will give aid to internationals. You should check on this. It only means that they will offer you admissions without considering your finances. It does not mean that they commit to help you to afford admission, unless I am mistaken.

tetrisfan · 09-10-2007, 12:18 PM

They will meet all your need if you're admitted, and they won't even consider the fact that you may need aid while deciding.

catherine · 09-10-2007, 12:35 PM

I think Yale will be close to impossible now that they are the only HYP school with early action.

tetrisfan · 09-11-2007, 06:29 AM

But it all boils down to your stats/Ec's. What are they?

warblersrule86 · 09-11-2007, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Also, since all potential HYP applicants are prob gonna apply early for Yale, since H and P have discontinued theirs, would the supposed early action advantage for Yale be moot?

Oh, I wouldn't say that. Remember that Stanford still has SCEA too. Stanford received 4644 SCEA applicants for 2011...more than Harvard (4008), Princeton (2276), and Yale (3594).

Stanford and Yale will obviously have spiked levels of SCEA applications, but the admit rates would likely be higher than RD admit rates even so. For the class of 2011, the SCEA and RD admit rates at Yale were 19.7% and 6.42%, respectively. Even if the SCEA pool at Yale doubled, the SCEA admit rate would probably be higher than the RD admit rate.

That said, the ED admit rate at Williams last year was 40.7%. Much more favorable odds. SAT scores are "very important" at Williams, as are your transcript/GPA, recommendation(s), and essay.