Chance an African-American Yale deferree (thank you AA and SES diversity)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi! I am a very very nervous senior applying to ivies (like half of the ppl on this board lol) and many other colleges as a result of my recent Yale deferral. I sincerely thought that Yale was gonna love me as much as i love(d) it, but i guess not...)</p>

<p>Schools I applied to:</p>

<p>--Yale
--Harvard
--Princeton
--Columbia
--Emory
--Duke
--U of Chicago
--Dartmouth
--Johns Hopkins
--Wesleyan</p>

<p>Anyways, here are my stats</p>

<p>Ethnicity: African American
Income: less than 50 k/family of 6
GPA: 3.89UW4.728 weighted
Rank: 2 out of 400</p>

<p>SAT’s: Superscore: 2110 (660 M/720Cr/730Wr)
ACT: will take in February; hoping for a 33+</p>

<p>SAT II's: 760 Spanish with listening; 720 USH </p>

<p>Course schedule: IB Diploma Candidate/most likely recipient (her courses include IB Math Methods SL, IB Philo HL, IB Chem SL, IB History of Europe HL, and AP Bio)</p>

<p>AP’s:
AP World History: 5
AP US History: 5
AP English Language: 5
AP Spanish Language: 4
AP Comparative Govt: 4</p>

<p>IB Spanish B SL 7 out of 7 </p>

<p>Some subjective stuff:</p>

<p>I dont know too much abt my recs, but i assume that they're good. esp. my counselor rec.</p>

<p>Essay:
my main common app essay was abt my experiences as a 7th grader discovering what it means to be a leader. if i could grade it, i would give it a 90% (ok...actually, my teacher gave it that, but w/e). it has solid writing, but doesnt really expose aspects of my upbringing, culture, etc.</p>

<p>Another essay that i sent to columbia, harvard, yale was abt my experiences growing up as a child w/ limited opportunities. </p>

<p>Supplemental essay for yale, harvard, and princeton: It was entitled "The Shoes I seldom see" and i used a metaphor to describe my father and the relationship i had w/ him. it reveals a lot abt my situation, socioeconomics, and gives just a tiny taste of what motivates me. It was really good.</p>

<p>The "Why do u want to go to X college" essays
All in all, they were pretty good! For the colleges that I applied to, I had solid reasons for why I wanted to go there. And hopefully, the "why essays" will compensate for my lackluster common app essay.</p>

<p>EC's, Awards, etc.-- relatively strong, but only “OK” as compared with other CC’ers:
1. President of Key/Service Club 12th; Activities Officer; 11th; active member (9-12 grades); I ran/organized lots of activities for the school
2. VP of Spanish Club (11th-12); Service Officer 10th
3. Forensics/Speech; Last year’s State Qualifyer runner-up
4. Humanitarian/world Club (10-12)
5. Lots of hours (300+) of volunteer work
6. Field Hockey--- plans to join the club/intramural team
7. Various leadership awards
8. National Achievement Semi-finalist
9. AP Scholar w/ Distinction
10. County Student of the Year Award
11. Admitted to Governor’s school program last summer</p>

<p>Given the above info, if anyone can give me any form of chances (even just the simple reach/match/safety, i will be very grateful) thanks!</p>

2

<p>You are African American. As long as you score in the middle 50% of any school you apply to, there is a relatively good chance you will be accepted. You will get into at least one of your schools even if you don't get that 33.</p>

3

<p>hmm, I'm shocked you weren't accepted...</p>

<p>but anyway, all I can really say is that you have a good chance at all those schools...good luck!</p>

4

<p>I'm not shocked, somehow kids think URMs get into these schools easily. That said, you are an excellent candidate and should get into several schools on your list.</p>

5

<p>I'll say it, I am shocked......You will definately gain admission to an Ivy league without a doubt. You will have an automatic admit at Duke (trust me), Wesleyan, Emory, and University of Chicago (they will recruit you heavily). The Ivy scene, Princeton (you're in), Darthmouth (in) without a question, you should have applied to Brown...a mecca for black scholars, I would say you have a strong shot at Harvard, you're ideal to what they're looking for. Columbia...most likely. Yale will admit you during the regular cycle....Go to PRINCETON!!!!!</p>

6

<p>Damn, you got deferred? You're actually an URM that is actually really good and not just lucky because of your ethnicity. The only real constraint on your profile is that you really don't have "real EC's" unless you been doing debate for 3-4 years or whether or not your team has a hockey team and whether or not you've been doing that for 4 years. Honestly, you'll be accepted into the majority of your schools.</p>

7

<p>If I may be blunt, I think the reason you haven't been accepted to Yale yet is because of two reasons:</p>

<p>(1) You applied to too many top schools and Yale doesn't really know if you consider them the "special" one for you, and
(2) Your SAT scores (and SAT II scores--of which you left one off, since 3 are required for Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and you only listed 2) are not all that "hot" relative to some other places.</p>

<p>Obviously, the way to improve your chances is to work on these two problems.</p>

<p>First, I'd decide which of the top three schools you really don't care about (or think you have the least likely chance at) and drop it. In your case, I'd say Harvard.</p>

<p>Then I'd drop either Dartmouth or Columbia (keep your app to one, but drop the other). I'd drop Columbia since Yale may think you just want to live in New York City--and that's why you are applying to Columbia. </p>

<p>Then you need to make Yale aware that you have dropped these two schools from your list, so that they will see that you are keeping Yale high (#1) on your lists--and it will now show that you have only 3 out of the top 5 Ivies on your list--not all 5.</p>

<p>Also, I'd add Brown (scguy is right--they are the Ivy that admits the most African Americans), and besides, I like Brown (was accepted there myself, although I couldn't afford to attend). Then I'd drop Emory unless you currently live in the south (they admit almost half of their students only from southern locations that therefore makes the admittee likely to attend). Also, by adding Brown, you are adding in an "easier" Ivy that will still pay your way (after your EFC) if you don't get into the top Ivies you apply to.</p>

<p>I'd review the "Why I want to attend Yale" essay and modify it to really make it stand out from all of the others--including adding in stuff concerning your expertise in speech/forensics, your major, and how Yale fits into your long-term plans and how you came to believe it was the best school for you. I'd also re-write the common app essay if it is only so-so.</p>

<p>Lastly, what about that third SAT II score? Is it low? Can you retake it (or retake the SAT test to improve the 660 Math score?). 2110 is nice, but most people at Yale will be 2200+, so you should really shoot for at least a 2150+.</p>

8

<p>Calcruzer, what evidence do you have that dropping any school will make a difference at Yale?</p>

9

<p>@calcruzer</p>

<p>Yale only requires 2 SAT II's. Also, they most likely did not know what other schools she was applying to (unless OP specifically told them his/herself).</p>

10

<p>shocked at non acceptance since URM and great stats. I think ull get into pretty much all of them.
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