Yale Early Admissions

Ivy Coach is featured in today’s “Yale Daily News.”

Yale Early Action Numbers for the Class of 2021

Ivy Coach was featured in today’s “Yale Daily News,” the newspaper of Yale University. The piece, by Luke Ciancarelli, is entitled “Early applications increase across Ivy League” and it focuses — naturally — on the rise in Early Action applications across the Ivy League for the Class of 2021. At Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, and Brown, new all-time benchmarks were set for the number of Early applications received.

Ok, we get it. Applications are up. ZZZzzz. What else is new?

Early Applicants Do Better

But let’s add some color commentary to spice up these numbers. After all, Al Michaels doesn’t do football broadcasts all by himself — that’d be boring. As Ciancarelli writes in his piece:

“This surge in early numbers across the Ivy League is not unprecedented, according to Brian Taylor, managing director of the New York-based college consulting firm Ivy Coach. Taylor said both early and regular application numbers tend to rise at every Ivy League college each year with only a few notable exceptions. With admissions rates falling at those institutions, Taylor speculated that more students are beginning to realize the advantages of applying early to the Ancient Eight. ‘When you apply early, your odds of getting in are significantly stronger,’ Taylor wrote in an email to the News. ‘Any argument otherwise is simply a misconception. Half of the incoming class is filled in some early pools — even over half like at the University of Pennsylvania. As more and more students and parents realize this reality, more and more will apply early.'”

Yes, Deadlines Affect College Admissions Decisions

Now, not everybody agrees with us. And we get that. There are plenty of folks touting misconceptions out there in the universe. Ciancarelli goes on to write:

“However, according to the Yale admissions website, applying early does not increase one’s chance of being admitted to Yale. The rate of early admission has been higher than regular admission rate historically because many of the strongest applicants apply early, the website says.”

Of course the Yale admissions office is going to write that there is no advantage in applying Early Action as compared to Regular Decision. The early pool is historically more affluent than the Regular Decision pool at every highly selective college, so it isn’t in the interest of admissions offices to tout the advantages of applying Early.

Think about it. Why would the Early pool be comprised of the ‘strongest applicants’ — just because Yale is their first choice? The argument isn’t sound. Is there an advantage to applying Early? You bet there is. A greater percentage of students who apply Early, who show their love for their first choice school, get in than do their Regular Decision counterparts. Plain and simple.

No wonder the numbers are up.