<p>@jshain</p>
<p>Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but my class valedictorian had a weird experience with Top 20 schools. She applied early to Stanford, and she got rejected. She then applied to other top universities like Yale, Rice, and Harvard. She got wait listed for Rice (I think for Yale too, I never really heard back about that), but she was accepted to Harvard. I on the other hand, was like 18 ranks below her, but I was accepted to Rice Early Decision. Your admission plan definitely has a factor in admissions and all of that. I would have to say that once you’re applying to any Top 20 University, it’s really hard to say that “this school is easier to get into than that school” because they all take a holistic stance when dealing with admissions. Your interviews and essays hold almost as much weight as your test scores, GPA, and course rigor. None of these schools are “easy” to get into. Heck, in my application pool to Rice they turned down a triple legacy applicant with a 2400 on his SAT I. There are no guarantees in Rice’s process or any other Top 20 school’s process. I’m sorry that I don’t have any concrete numbers for you or anything like that, but I hope you can take my word for it.</p>