Applying Early. Advice needed.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am an international student who is considering applying for early decision/action (yes, I know the difference) and is looking for Yale-related advice.</p>

<p>As background information, this is my second time trying to get in college in US. I was accepted at Cornell last year, but could not enrol due to lack of financial aid. I was also waitlisted at Amherst and the purpose for writing about the acceptance and waitlist is so the reader can get a general idea of my qualifications.</p>

<p>Brown is a school I did not apply to last year and so, I think I have a "clean-slate". What I want to get out of this post is advice on what strategy to take for applying early.</p>

<p>Do I:
a) apply to Brown because I haven't been rejected from it.
b) apply to Yale (rejected last year) SCEA AND Swarthmore (rejected last year) ED 2, so I can be applying to more places.</p>

<p>If this message seems scarce in detail, please tell my how so I can add apropos information which will help you, help me!</p>

<p>Responses will be greatly appreciated</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Although colleges say they do not have quotas, internationals students usually make up about 10% to 15% of each accepted class – that’s true at Yale Swarthmore and Cornell. If you come from a country like China, Korea or India, which has many outstanding students, the competition is even more fierce for a coveted spot. </p>

<p>So, first off, you should be very proud of your acceptance at Cornell, as 85% to 90% of accepted students are US citizens, Citizens of Puerto Rico or US foreign nationals living abroad. </p>

<p>That being said, as you were rejected outright from Yale and Swarthmore, neither of them thought you were a competitive applicant in last year’s applicant pool. </p>

<p>In Yale’s case, that might be because the acceptance rate is absurdly low (6.82%). </p>

<p>Acceptance rates for Swarthmore (14.10%) and Cornell (16.19%) were similar. So, what did Cornell see that Swarthmore did not? Was it just the two point difference in acceptance rates that kept you out of Swarthmore, or was it something else? That seems to be a ‘key’ in understanding why you were accepted at one, but rejected at the other.</p>

<p>You could certainly re-apply to Yale, but everyone’s chances are minuscule, so I would look upon Yale as a far reach. As Cornell did not offer you enough money, you should concentrate on schools that have similar acceptance rates to Cornell, but offer financial aid to international students. To get an idea of which colleges have high acceptance rates, see this list from the NY Times: <a href=“https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArlRBr9Qvz0mdEdLNzNsRnBKT3Z1dDZ5QTFCQVV1NkE&output=html[/url]”>2012 Admission Decisions - Google Drive;