<p>So we’re not going to accept Princeton’s statement that it gives no advantage to SCEA applicants but we are going to accept its claim that it gives “important” to “very important” weight to ECs? So I can go through something and pick out the points I like and use those and just ignore the rest? Great way to write a paper or a thesis, by the way. </p>
<p>Actually, only 355 applications to Princeton were surveyed, with 70 of those being Early Action. Again, the data is over a decade old, when Princeton’s overall admit rate was 10.8% and Harvard’s was 11.3%. I do not claim that I have greater insight into the admissions process - I am simply saying that I have empirical evidence gathered from something that is more than just statistics. Viewing students by their numbers is the most repugnant form of dehumanization in college admissions. I can humanize those numbers that the study crunched and, from what I have seen so far, there is no reason to suggest that SCEA gives any significant advantage to students - if they got in SCEA, they were going to get in RD anyway. </p>
<p>I frankly do not care which source sounds more reliable to you. To me, a set of numbers on a sheet of paper is magnitudes less powerful than a series of faces, each with a story to tell. I can also spot when statistics simply no longer hold or are just purely incorrect. I see no reason to believe that the study you cite holds any longer, based upon pure observation. Now, that study is the only one of its kind to report those findings and none in recent years have confirmed it. If I cited data from over a decade ago in my field of research, I would be laughed out of the room. College admissions is a rapidly changing arena and it is much harder to get into college now than thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. These changes reflect paradigm shifts that may make data from even a decade ago obsolete. </p>
<p>How applicable do you think your method is to Princeton applicants? If it does not apply to Princeton, then why mention it in a discussion about Princeton SCEA? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way)</p>