A Chinaman's Chance at Yale

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Hi, everyone. Thanks a lot for reading my post.
I came to the States 3 years ago from Shanghai, China, and I frequently g back for volunteering and visits.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: took it 3 times, most recent one: 1560, 760 V 800 M
SAT IIs: Math IIC 800, Physics 800, Chemistry 790, World History 800, US History 760, Writing 740
APs: calc bc 5, chemstry5, physics c mech. 5, physics c e&m 5, world history 5, us history 5(projected score; they lost my free-response section!!!), english language and comp. 5 </p>

<p>GPA: 4.36 weighted, 4.0 unweighted, ranked 2nd in class,
College courses: have taken/am taking/will take 6 math courses at Pomona, Harvey Mudd colleges. Engineering Physics at Citrus College
Use all resources available to me at my public high school, courseload difficult.</p>

<p>ECs:
Math Club co-president, science club president, JETS Varsity captain (1st in S. CA, multiple choice score best in history; free-response sucked though--15th nat'l), currently organizing Science Olympiad, Physics Bowl/Olympiad teams at my school(not many ppl interested...) Bio research at Keck Graduate Institute (now)
Speech and Debate team treasurer; won many awards in congress, policy debate, thmatic interpretation, duo interpretation, etc.; represented team and the USA in a trip to Azerbaijan in 4/2004.
School tutoring for four years
Full-time volunteering last summer: China Shanghai International Arts Festival, shanghai int'l piano competition, and Shanghai Business Daily; worked as a translator, interpreter, organizer, and editor.</p>

<p>Essays for MIT: discussed my experiences being a Communist Young Pioneer(controversial, but decided to take the risk) and how that shaped my life.
my experience in Azerbaijan (a basketball game, in which I discovered another side of my debate coach, an admirable man). creation: taking a shopping cart as my evidence box carrier at a USC debate tournament...conciese, neat short answers...don't have the time to list them all.</p>

<p>Thx a lot everyone. What are my chances?</p>

2

<p>uh, if ur sending ur MIT essays to YALE...i'd say ur chances are not good.</p>

3

<p>I am applying MIT EA, but recycling my essays for Common app and for Yale</p>

4

<p>I have seen your posts everywhere. As I am sure your counselor has told you, you are an excellent prospect for any school. However, when you are dealing with the type of accept rates that these schools have, you are not a shoo in. You are looking very good, and I would wager that you will get into some of your choices. For those schools that are not need blind for internationals, if you are considered an international student, and need financial aid, your chances do go down as that pool is very small at some schools. But HPY and MIT are need blind to internationals.</p>

5

<p>Sorry about jumping everywhere, jamimom. But the whole college thing is getting on my nerves; I simply can't be sure after all. Thx for reassuring me, and I will not post any more long passages anywhere else on this website. Thx!
And I am not an international student because I have a green card.</p>

6

<p>Not critisizing you, Shanghaiwes. Just making an observation. This process is truly cruel and unusual punishment. No one can really be sure. But you certainly will have no problem getting through the academic assessments at any of the schools. And you write well, and your ECs and essays indicate a strong case. You present yourself as well as anyone in your CC blurbs. So I think you will be a strong candidate. I hope that you have a school that is a safety as well. Everyone should have a safety school, and I don' t mean one that is still pretty selective and needs lots of demonstrated interest. You aren't going to have much time for that, given the type of schools you have on your list.</p>

7

<p>Thanks jamimom, this is the most helpful post I've read today.
I understand noone can be sure to get in; those schools reject so many 1600s everyyear. I do have one safety school, Harvey Mudd College, I believe. Because I am taking courses there now and the professor is writing me letter of recommendation. It's a very good school (one of the best in engineering) but I believe I have a great chance of getting in.
Could you think of any other safety schools I should have on my list?
Thx alot!</p>

8

<p>Your state school would probably make a good safety if you get that app in quickly. My brother's best friend from highschool was rejected from U of Florida, though he ended up at MIT after being deferred there. He did not get his FL app in until he was deferred from MIT and decided he had better have a safety. He was shocked to get turned down but with state schools once their quota for a specific major (his was engineering) is filled, even Einstein would not be able to get in. It is a running joke that my B was rejected from MIT but accepted at FL and his friend was rejected from FL but got into MIT, but it was not funny back then. It was a looooong time until April when he finally got his acceptances. If you are an engineering type major, look at some of the tech schools that accept the bulk of their applicants such as Rochester, Case Westeren, Renassaeler, Drexel. These are schools that are pretty certain to take you even if things go a bit haywire during the year, which I doubt very much will happen, but that is why you have a safety. Such schools offer good content in their courses even though their admissions may not be selective. Which is something a student of your calibre would want in a safety school.</p>

9

<p>If I were an admissions officer, I'd definitely let you in.
But Yale rejects 1600's?? There are only about 936 people who get 1600's on the SAT, kinda shocking to beleive even they can get kicked out. But on the AP exams... wow... 8 5's? That's amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! That should make up for anything. Any tips, books you used, etc. ?
But I think you've got a good chance of being let in.</p>

10

<p>thx guys for posting.
Books I've used: AP Phyiscs C: Barrons is the best
AP US: REA
AP Chem: Barrons
AP World: Barrons (then it was the only one out there)
AP Calc BC: the practice tests book (forgot the name) there're like 5 or 6 tests
AP Lang.: Cliff's
I am thinking about applying to UCs, which are my state schools. UC Berkeley is definitely challenging. UCLA, too. But other UCs are cool as well.</p>