<p>this question isn't specifically related to yale, but yale is the most important school to me so I figured I'd ask an admissions related question here.</p>
<p>I'm a US citizen abroad, and in the country i live in there really are little to none academic competitions or contests. My question is if yale would know to take that into consideration, seeing as i am by no means from a lower socioeconomic background with obviously lesser opportunities (something that every college clearly takes into consideration). I'm definitely not underestimating the knowledge of yale admission comssioners, but how could they really now the status of academic competitions or other distinction-awarding contests in every country?</p>
<p>1.) They might not be able to. I recall my niece, when applying to college many years ago, being told “The A you received at your school just doesn’t carry the same weight as an A received at a prestigious public school”. It’s not that the applicant couldn’t get the A at the “better” school…perhaps she could. But the admissions office doesn’t know/can’t guarantee that. So we try to send our kids to the best schools we can. This girl DID get into an Ivy but opted for a “full ride” at a state school instead. Then got from that state school to an Ivy for law school, so…all is not lost.</p>
<p>B.) On the brighter side…what application was it where I saw something to the effect of “We know that not all schools offer the same in terms of academic rigor, ECs, etc. So we want to know what you WOULD do if you COULD do it”…and wanted to then know what activities the applicant would participate in if their school offered it. That was an interesting question.</p>
<p>R124687, that is an interesting question and now it has me thinking, but anyway, especially when it comes to countries - the admission staff is probably more knowledgeable than you think, especially at elite universities such as Yale. With that in mind, the admissions committee will evaluate you on your overall application and the opportunities you capitalized on. If there were few opportunities, it would be best if you had taken advantage of them (not saying you did or did not).</p>
<p>Basically, if you have a strong application, you have as good of a “chance” as anyone.</p>