<p>There have been small changes in the rules over time. I know when my last kid applied to Yale SCEA, you were allowed to apply to any rolling admission program at any public university. At the time, Harvard may have restricted you to your in-state public. Yale adopted the in-state restriction a few years ago, and I believe had it in place last year, but when Harvard and Princeton reintroduced SCEA last year they didn’t include that limitation.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, what really changed the landscape was that the University of Michigan replaced its rolling admissions program with an early action program. Michigan rolling admissions used to be a meaningful threat to HYPS, because Michigan would accept people starting in late November/early December, and would offer significant merit scholarships to HYPS-quality applicants. And in terms of academic resources and reputation Michigan was really the only rolling admission public that was a true peer to HYPS. Michigan was thus a popular place for Yale SCEA applicants to apply, and many of them were not from Michigan. I believe the in-state restriction was adopted as an anti-Michigan measure, and in all likelihood Michigan’s abandonment of rolling admissions is why the restriction was no longer necessary.</p>