For people who were accepted to Yale: do I have a good chance of getting in?

Question

I am really interested in the school. It makes me mad to know that there are tons of people who apply to Harvard and Yale just because of their big reputations who are accepted to both and choose Harvar because it is more widely known. I am not even applying to Harvard (I hear that may make a difference in admissions-is that true?). I am planning to apply Single Choice Early Action. My GPA is 4.03 weighted and my SAT scores are 800 Math (Math is my strongsuit, and I have great grades in the subject so far; I think that if I make my application Math-centric it might improve my chances, since it shows direction or whatever. is this a misled belief?) 750 Critical Reading and 720 Writing. I am President of my NHS chapter and an Editor for my school newspaper, but those are my only two leadership positions in school. I don't participate in sports but I play the piano. I am also involved in a lot of community service like through church and Red Cross Blood Drives. I know essays and .....

interviews are important too, but I haven't gone through those yet. Assuming they both go okay, do I have a good chance with the other application parts? (I forgot to mention my rank is 7/103, i have a small school. but this is not final. also i took 2 aps last year and four this upcoming year)

I forgot to mention Im a white male, that might go against me.

Answer 1

With a 4.03, 750/800/720 SAT, and two AP classes, you certainly have the scores to get in. But Yale (and every other Ivy League college) is looking for something that sets YOU apart from everyone else that has such lofty scores.

I got into Yale, my SAT scores and GPA were approximately the same as yours, I was 2/267. That is NOT what got me in. Everybody (almost) that applies to Yale, Harvard, etc. has these scores. What makes you unique? What will you bring to the class that others will not? I think your extracurricular activities are excellent. Editor of the school paper is a very nice feather in your cap; emphasize that. Piano playing shows your breadth of interests. If Math is your strong point, and you are an editor and a pianist, you are exactly the well-rounded individual they are looking for.

Further, you show a human side by your community service. In your essay, tell Yale what YOU will bring to the Yale community, and I think you will be very happy with the results. Do not forget to interview not only with the admissions staff, but with any professors (if you can arrange it) in departments you are interested in as a major.

Applying to Harvard makes NO difference in whether you get into Yale or not. You could not apply to Harvard and do Single Choice/Early Action anyway, so it is irrelevant.

Go to their website, www.yale.edu, and look into their programs to see what interests you.

If you do not make the EA cut, and go through regular admissions and make the wait list instead of outright admission, visit the admissions people again (IN PERSON). Show them that you are interested in attending; put a face to the mound of papers that they have to deal with every day. That visit alone may get you in.

All that said, after I was accepted at the colleges I was given admission to, I went back and visited them AGAIN. I sat in on classes. I wanted to make sure that the next four years would be at the university that was actually best for me, not the one I had pined for since I was 12 (which was Harvard, btw). I picked Princeton over Harvard (and Yale), and the decision was one of the best that I ever made. I'm not saying you should pick some other college over Yale; if you really have your heart set on Yale, and you get in, then by all means, you should go there. But make SURE it is the college for you. If Yale is your dream school, and you are sure of that, GO THERE. You will never regret it.

Good luck, you certainly have the qualifications to go anywhere you want!

Answer 2

I didn't go to Yale. But I know something about this. I have degrees from Duke and Berkeley and have taught at MIT and Penn.

You certainly have a shot at Yale, and will definately get into a great school (so congratulations there). I agree with the previous poster who said that you need to stand out. Some of your extracurricular activities will help her -- but your essay is critical. Once you write it, get someone you trust (perhaps a Yale grad) to look at it and make comments.

It is nice that you are excited about the place. But have you been there? New Haven isn't exactly a garden spot.

There are other things to consider. I've met lots of Ivy League grads. While I don't like to make generalizations, if there is one that I would make it is about Yale graduates. The positive thing about Yale grads is that they are universally brilliant (well -- there is Bush -- so perhaps it is not really universal). The biggest negative that I've seen is that they have a sense of entitlement. Most Yale grads that I have met seem to think that because they are brilliant, they only need to show up to work & be there -- because the world owes them.

I haven't seen this with the graduates of any other Ivy League school. Cornell grads and Penn grads, in particular, seem just the opposite. They seem to believe that they need to work harder to show that they can achieve more.

As I said -- this is a generalization, and all generalizations are wrong -- but . . . .keep it in mind when you talk to people there.

If you don't get in there -- or if you want to widen your net, I suspect that you can get into another Ivy League school. But there are other choices. Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Cal Tech and MIT are all as good as the Ivy League schools. For math (your strong suit), MIT and Cal Tech are better (and you can throw Berkeley into that mix).

Good luck

Answer 3

In part, getting into some schools is an admissions game. Some schools are now offering admission to those students who wouldn't have gotten in years past to increase their "yield" e.g. the # of students who actually attend because kids with numbers even better than yours are applying to many so-called upper echelon schools, so these schools want to be sure they get students and they know that by offering admission to a kid who thinks they don't stand a chance of getting admitted, the kid will be so flattered by this offer that of course they will accept. This ups the # of students who will actually attend. I know this is somewhat complicated, but the bottom line is that for many prestigious schools admission is nothing more than a numbers game that they hope will raise their ranking in U.S. News and World Report. SO, if Yale is where you want to go, by all means, apply. Your chances may be better than you think.