<p>Actually, a lot of people just apply early as a strategy move, especially since Harvard and Princeton got rid of their early programs. That’s why there’s been such a huge increase in SCEA in the past couple years. It’s not that more people are extremely interested in Yale, it’s that more people see it as a good backup in case Harvard and Princeton RD don’t work out. A lot of the people on here, for example, are still very much into other schools- very few SCEA admits are going to Yale for sure in the fall. So it’s more plausible than one would think that a short letter not only showing additional achievements, but also indicating a strong continued intrest in Yale would boost a borderline (as many deferred applicants are) application, along with other things, into the admit pile. Yale has an extremely high yield, but it almost always loses out to Harvard in the end, and they are probably extremely aware of the cross-admit rate and things like that. They need to protect their yield just like any other school does, and it doesn’t hurt to admit people who they know really want to attend.
It’s at least worth a try.</p>