<p>I’m having a dilemma on where I’m going to apply for early action this fall. My number 1 choice is definitely Stanford and my number 2 choice is definitely MIT. Even though it seems clear that I should EA to Stanford, I still have my reasons to early to MIT because it seems a lot easier to get in compared to Stanford. I’m not going to list my whole stats, but I can say that my older sibling went to MIT, one of my parents currently works there as a professor, and I qualified for the USAMO multiple times and the USNCO once which, if I’m not mistaken, is regarded by MIT (due to their app asking for AIME/AMC scores). Also, 5 people got accepted to Stanford from my school in the past 4 years while at least 25 got accepted to MIT in the same timespan. I also live in MA, quite close to MIT. Do you guys think it’s worth earlying to Stanford? Should I just early to MIT and apply to Stanford for RD, potentially getting rid of the need to fill out a ton of college apps if I do get accepted to MIT early?</p>
<p>Go early to MIT. You will get a boost because your dad is a professor. At Stanford, the SCEA is more selective than RD, so you will not be disadvantaged.</p>
<p>I’d suggest applying early to Stanford. You don’t want to be in your parent’s (and sibling’s) shadow, do you?</p>
<p>It seems obvious to be that should apply Early to Stanford. It would increase your chances there (which is good, because it’s your top choice). Applying early to MIT seems redundant. You already seem like a shoe in there.</p>
<p>Make sure you mention your parent is a professor at MIT if you apply early to Stanford.</p>
<p>To be frank, you should have your parent speak to admissions about your relative chances of admission. If you truly have metrics & accomplishments typical of MIT admits, being the child of faculty is a HUGE boost in your chances. </p>
<p>Faculty children admits are one of the biggest INS anyone can have.</p>
<p>If so and you have a good idea that you’ll be admitted to MIT, then it might be worth it to apply SCEA to Stanford and see what happens. I would then also apply to MIT later.</p>
<p>Apply early to Stanford if it’s your first choice. I don’t think you should apply early anywhere that you wouldn’t go to if you got acceptances across the board.</p>
<p>The benefit of your father being on the faculty probably doesn’t go away in the regular pool.
But how many people applied to each? Probably a lot more to MIT.</p>
<p>Would that really help (to texaspg)? It seems to be kind of counter intuitive to mention that my dad works at MIT somewhere on the Stanford app. Anyways, thanks for all the help! I’ll still think about it, but I’m leaning slightly more towards earlying Stanford now. (BTW, the admittance rate to Stanford for our school is 4%, while for MIT it is 21%)</p>
<p>I seriously advise you to early MIT. The Stanford early acceptance rate is very comparable to its regular acceptance rate, and is even boosted a little by the legacy applications. Stanford defers many competitive applications in its early round and you won’t be gaining a noticeable advantage if you apply early.</p>
<p>As T26E4 said, you might already be in at MIT. They can’t reject you unless your resume is below par. If Stanford believes that you can get into MIT because your parent is professor and your sibling is at MIT, they will want you too just because they know you have a unique perspective based on being around MIT all your life. </p>
<p>It is a risk if they reject you in SCEA but it does make sense if your dad can confirm whether you can in MIT early or regular before you make this decision.</p>