<ol>
<li><p>Penn is notorious for accepting half their entering class early. If you are positive about Penn, apply early because it is a clear advantage. Otherwise, don’t. It’s binding.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, MIT is extremely intense, but if you are a hard-worker and generally well-balanced person you won’t “die”</p></li>
<li><p>Brown and Harvard (my alma matters) are very different from Penn and MIT. I would suggest researching them more thoroughly before committing yourself to a binding ED application.</p></li>
</ol>