Is Princeton less selective for early action applicants or not? If my stats aren’t good enough by November 1, is it better to improve them a bit by January (though they might still not be optimal by then), and apply RD, or will the admission officers be much more forgiving during the EA round?
My main concerns are standardized tests and volunteer hours.
For example, is it better to apply:
EA with a score of 31 (ACT) & ~100 volunteer hours
OR
RD with a score of 32 (ACT) & ~200 volunteer hours
The SCEA applicant pool is more self-selective, meaning MORE students with tippy-top scores will be applying. That means it will be MORE difficult for a student with lower test scores to gain acceptance.
My recommendation is to apply in the RD round, as an ACT of 31 or 32 is at or below Princeton’s 25th percentile – meaning that 75% of admitted students had a 33 ACT or better. If you apply in the SCEA round your application might be overshadowed by the ‘polly perfects’ of this world, so there’s a good chance Admissions will defer you to the RD round to compare you with a broader range of applicants.
See: C9 data points in Princeton’s Common Data Set: https://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/CDS2015-16.pdf
FWIW: Twenty years ago, volunteerism mattered more to selective colleges. However, today many high schools now have graduation requirements that include 50 to100 to 200 hours of community service and most Admissions offices tend to discount the number of hours a student volunteers. Full disclosure: My son was admitted to Princeton in the RD round with absolutely no hours of volunteering on his resume – zero, zilch, none. It didn’t seem to matter to Admissions in the least that he hadn’t done any volunteering whatsoever.