Chance an English Major for SCEA to Yale

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

To give context to this, I’m currently unsure about my college standings because I have high-level extracurriculars/spikes, but my GPA is quite low due to extenuating circumstances. My dream school is Yale, specifically for their English and Drama programs, but I have no idea if it’s a possibility. If you could chance me for admission into Yale or point me in the direction of any better matches, that would be great!
Demographics:

White Male

Small Town, Kentucky

Middle-Low Income (Under 60,000 dollars for a family a four + a hefty amount of hospital bills.)

First Gen College Student

LGBT+

High High High Functioning Autistic (Possibly Will Not Disclose)

Applying SCEA to Yale

Applying Through Questbridge; Not Doing National College Match

Intended Major: English with a Drama Minor

Academics

3.45 UW/3.8 W (pre-senior year)

(Note: I understand that these are quite low, however my father has been close to terminally ill for the past 2 years, and when I’m not at school or involved in some extracurriculars, I’m acting as an in-home caretaker for him, which caused my GPA to decline quite a bit. His condition is steadily improving, so my senior GPA is on track to be a 4.0. I plan on addressing this in an additional essay and explaining how the lessons I’ve learned from juggling academics + illness will allow me to thrive in an intense college environment.)

ACT Score - 33

E - 35

M - 29

S - 32

R -36

AP Scores + Other Tests

5 - AP Lang

5 - APUSH

5 - AP Psych

5 - AP Human

3 - AP Chem

Silver - National German Exam

Taking AP World, AP Stats, and AP Lit

Honors

National Student Poets Program - This is the program that is making me brave enough to apply to Yale. It’s America’s most prestigious poetry award, with 5 poets chosen from a pool of 20,000 applicants to represent Scholastic Art and Writing and formulate community service projects around the country. For reference, each class of NSP’s typically have about 2 of 5 go to Yale every year and even more who get accepted.

Publication In Scholastic Best Teen Writing - Out of about 30,000 submissions, I was one of 10 memoirs to be published in Scholastic’s annual anthology. I also won a Silver Medal for Memoir and a Gold Medal/American Voices Medal for Poetry.

Speech and Debate - I am currently ranked 3rd in the state for Speech and Debate as well as being the top-ranked in Congressional Debate.

NCFL Debate Semifinalist - I was a semifinalist at the NCFL national debate tournament, which was top 60 out of about 300+ national competitors who all qualified out of a pool of 3,000+ state-wide competitors. I was the only student from Kentucky to make national semifinals

Acceptance Into Governor’s School For The Arts in Writing and Drama - GSA is Kentucky’s most prestigious arts conservatory programs. Out of about 300 applicants in each, 34 were accepted in both Writing and Drama. I was one of only 250 to be accepted into the program as a whole and was one of ten out of 1,500+ applicants to be accepted into the program for multiple art-forms.

National German Exam Silver Medalist - Basically, I was named as one of the top 20% of German students nationwide after taking a test. This may fit better with exams.

Extracurriculars

National Student Poets - As part of the program, I am designing and completing a service project revolving around work with non-neurotypical teens, as well as delivering about 25+ hours of workshops to classes within the Kentucky area and traveling throughout the Southeast during National Poetry Month to make appearances and lead more workshops. I am also participating at panels at the Austin Texas Book Festival, the AWP Festival, and Scholastic Awards, as well as delivering work at Carnegie Hall for the Scholastic Awards.

Speech and Debate - I am the founder and assistant coach of my school’s debate team and the captain of our speech team. I spend about 75+ hours per year competing and about 50+ hours coaching novice debaters on our team. I have made ranked well nationally while being totally self-coached.

Literary Magazine - I am the co-founder and head editor of The Amethyst, an arts and literary magazine at my school. I run everything from the social media to the printing to the editorial process with next to no faculty support.

Community Theater - I’ve participated in about 10 community theater productions throughout high school and had a leading role in about half of the productions I’ve participated in.

A Capella - I was accepted into my school’s top A Capella choir program.

PALS Volunteer - I spent about 75 hours volunteering weekly at my church’s special needs ministry, helping lead lessons with a class of about 5 students who ranged from having mild anxiety issues to being totally non-verbal

Purple Poets Society - I am the president of a poetry writing/appreciation club at my school

Other

LOR 1 - 8/10 - I’m one of two students at my school who’s taken 4 years of german, and as such, I’ve developed a fairly close relationship with my German teacher, who is not only a Yale alum, but a former professor of German at Yale. I’ve done very well but not career markingly stellar in her class, but she’s also very enthusiastic about me going to Yale.

LOR 2 - 6.5/10 - My AP Lit teacher is known for writing great essays and I know that I’m making a lasting impact in his class, but I’ve also only had him for a few months, so I’m not sure he knows me well enough to write an amazing letter of recommendation

Supp. LOR - 8/10 - The lead advisor and coordinator of National Student Poets has worked very closely with me in creating my service projects and during my appointment ceremony in Washington D.C., and thus could give extra insight as to what National Student Poets is

Questbridge and Supp. Essays - 9/10 - I know this is a high score, but I’ve spent years developing my skills as a memoirist so I feel like my essay writing is solid.

Supp. Art - I’m planning on sending a submission of the writing that earned me a slot as a National Student Poet as well as my Best Teen Writing Memoir.

Thank you so much for reading all of this! In short, my basic question is how much my EC’s can compensate for my low GPA smh. Out of EC’s, GPA, and my father’s illness, Academics ended up getting the shaft in favor of my EC’s, and I hope I can still succeed in spite of that.

2

I understand being nervous about this because of Yale’s acceptance rate, but you should understand that to an outsider, your application looks amazing. Being a National Student Poet really makes you stand out from the pack, and especially because you’re applying Early Action, I don’t see any reason why Yale wouldn’t admit you. You’re clearly incredibly smart and driven, and the fact that you will probably have a 4.0 for senior year will definitely help show that your previous GPA was a product of your dad’s illness and not you slacking off or anything. If I were you, I wouldn’t stress at all. From what I can see, you’re a really impressive candidate and Yale would be lucky to have you. I would be shocked if you didn’t get in.

3

I don’t want to discourage you from applying anywhere. You obviously have some really strong, unique qualities that will stand out in your application, and I assume that your essays will confirm that you deserve all the recognition you have received. You could get accepted anywhere, and I have no doubt you will be accepted at a great college.

That said, I would not be shocked if you were not accepted SCEA at Yale, or for that matter if you were rejected from some of the colleges to which you apply. I don’t mean to be discouraging, just realistic:

– Your grades remain a significant weakness SCEA. It doesn’t mean anything to say, in the middle of September, that you are on track for a 4.0 senior year. At the SCEA stage no one will know whether you can sustain that for even a semester. (That doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t apply SCEA. But I would be surprised if you weren’t deferred at that stage, so that your grades from the first half of the year could be considered.)

– Colleges usually discourage recommendations from foreign language teachers, unless your classes have gone far enough to involve literary interpretation, significant cultural study, and critical thinking. I don’t know what your German classes have been like, so I don’t know how convincing your teacher is going to be in those areas. I also don’t know what you mean by saying you have not been “career markingly stellar” in German. I hope that is false modesty. Given your literary/writing ability, if a literature teacher doesn’t say you are stellar, that will weaken your application.

– You essentially plan on having recommendations from two literature teachers (assuming the German teacher even counts). You have superb, unique literature credentials; having a lit teacher rave about you is confirmatory, but doesn’t add all that much. A second one adds almost nothing. It would be great if a teacher in some other discipline – maybe even someone in whose class your grade suffered because of your other roles – said what a fine, inspiring student you really were.

– Your math ACT and Chem AP would probably put you in the bottom 10-15% of a Yale class in those dimensions, down with the helmet-sport athletic recruits and development admits. That doesn’t doom your application – you are sort of the equivalent of an All-American athletic recruit anyway – but it is going to give people pause. Math is the critical bedrock for a lot of important activities in the world, and I think hyperselective colleges like their students to be highly capable in math even if the main function of their life is literature.

Apart from doing what you can to address those issues, I think you should plan on applying to a bunch of different colleges, including some where your application stands out even more. All of the National Student Poets may be applying to Yale and Brown, but are they also applying to Dartmouth or Johns Hopkins (two top universities with great literature and writing programs)? Sarah Lawrence (a LAC just outside NYC, alma mater of many writers and actors, where your math ACT would not be a weakness, and which might dig deep into its financial aid budget to get you)?

4

I think you have a better chance as your background and the extracurriculars trump your GPA. But don’t get discouraged if you get a negative response and there is always a better university waiting. Please make sure you write about the reason for the low GPA in your essay. Great to see young kids like you. Yale should be fortunate to have you there.

5

The point of a tippy top isn’t just ECs. It’s grounded on academic readiness. Once there, there’s a high bar in classes, among highly prepared peers with 4.0 records, strengths across the board. When the academics are weaker, they wonder about readiness and focus.

And if you tell them classes suffered due to a personal situation, you risk them wondering what happens in college if there’s a crisis. At the Yale level, a lot of kids are triumphing despite other challenges.

The silver, btw, is 80-89th percentile. Gold is 90th+. That’s among kids who took the test.

So learn all you can about your targets, what all they look for. Throw your hat in the ring, but understand the difficulty.

6

Here is an old article that gives a small glimpse into the Yale committee process: https://newrepublic.com/article/118747/ivy-league-schools-are-overrated-send-your-kids-elsewhere

I have read that Yale rates applicants on a scale of 1-4. Your extracurriculars would be a 1, and that is no small feat - it’s pretty rare. Yale has to save those 1 ratings for the truly exceptional stand out students. Your academic rating would be lower. In the article, the author notes that 3s and 4s only get in with a special condition - and National Student Poet could very well be the special boost. I think it will come down to your recommendations, and whether Yale can see you contributing to the community and bringing something special to your class. You can convey this understanding and match through your essays and supplements, and hopefully your recommenders can capture your special qualities. And, by the way, my kid had a LOR from her Spanish teacher. Her GC was pretty savvy and never told her to avoid foreign language teacher recs. I think it depends on the teacher and the quality of rec they can provide.

Best of luck to you. I attended a Yale poetry event last year and was able to hear a former National Student Poet speak (current student) and it was unforgettable.

Please post back and let us know how it goes throughout the application process. Definitely rooting for you!

7

What other schools are you considering? You can always do ED2 elsewhere if Yale doesn’t work out.

I wish you nothing but the best of luck.

8

Hi,

I usually lurk, as my children have not gone through the process yet, but as DD is also a writer I’ve looked through a number of results threads of creative writers, and I have to reluctantly agree with JHS. The most selective schools as far as I can see do not give significant breaks on GPA or test scores.

The other thing here is you have selected a school nationally renown for its strength in the humanities, including English. That means you will be competing against the strongest humanities candidates in the country, including others who have also received top recognition in national writing programs. I don’t have a ton of data here, so I should be careful, but the ones I have seen suggest to me that Yale is a considerably more difficult admit for someone with a writing spike.

That said, there are many other wonderful, extremely desirable colleges with very strong writing programs out there, a couple of which have already been mentioned. If Yale is your dream of course apply, but realize there may be other dream schools out there as well.

9

curious did you make it in?? i love yale too and have a lot of similar ec’s to you (poetry, youngarts, scholastic, etc) and was deferred lol. was curious if you made it in though, since you are like mega talented!!!