Chance for Yale SCEA: Will chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, I feel like my stats are fairly solid, so I'm just curious. I'm currently working on my applications and the beginning of senior year. (THERE IS A TLDR at the end, but reading all is prefered!) </p>

<p>My first choice is Yale, planning to apply SCEA. Other schools include :
Princeton
Tufts
Bowdoin
Amherst
Williams
Stanford
Washington University in St. Louis
Oberlin
U Chigaco
Northwestern
UVA
Duke</p>

<p>Working on safties, but that's the list as of now. </p>

<p>Background info:
Gender: Male
Ethnicity White
Income: Not sure, no need based aid though
Location: PA, USA
School: Small competitive private
Hooks: Legacy to Yale (Mom) Dad went to Wharton grad </p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I: 2160 first try, 2330 (800 CR, 750 M, 780 W) second try
SAT II: 800 Bio M, 750 Chem, 750 Literature
ACT: N/A
PSAT: 221, National Merit Semi-Finalist so far
Unweighted GPA: 3.9 (Nothing lower than A-, A- are 3.7 As are 4.0 A+s are 4.3)
Weighted GPA: 4.73
Note: School DOES NOT report GPA on transcript.
Rank: School does not rank, but Cum Laude Junior year (top 10 in class). If I had to guess I'd say probably 3 or 4 in class </p>

<p>School DOES NOT OFFER AP or IB courses, but I have taken most rigorous (all honors when available) course load including 3 honors frosh year which is technically not possible, but due to transfer from another school I was able. </p>

<p>Senior course load:
Honors English
Honors European Dictators (Fall)
Honors Stats (took Calc Junior year)
Honors Physics
Honors Latin V (Poetry/Prose)
Astronomy (not honors, but honors not offered and astronomy is a passion of mine. It's also taught by my favorite teacher)
Honors Econ (Micro) (Spring)
Independent study (Spring): Biblical Greek or Cosmology</p>

<p>Awards thus far:
Freshman year:
Physics Award
Hattersley award (awarded to varsity team with highest combined GPA)
Magna cum Laude National Latin Exam</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
Both Spanish and Latin National Honors societies. One of 3 to get both awards.
Maxima cum Laude National Latin Exam </p>

<p>Junior year:
Cum Laude society induction
U Chicago Book Award (Basically diverse/successful student/athlete/community member)
Cross Country Coaches Award
Won a "Gold Medal" in World Poetry Movement for an original poem</p>

<p>Sports:
Varsity Letters in Cross Country and Track all 4 years, Squash Junior/Senior years (10 total)
Captain of all 3 Senior year, Leadership on XC junior year due to lack of seniors </p>

<p>Won numerous awards for Track, member of school record holding 4X800 team</p>

<p>Numerous placings in individual Squash Tournaments</p>

<p>"Iron man" award projected, for 3 sports all 4 years of high school. </p>

<p>Subjective:
Leader of "Musicopia" organization (on student board, one of two reps from my school) all years, President of board next year. Music charity organization which donates musical instruments/lessons to underprivileged kids in the area. A very big leadership/community service position.</p>

<p>Piano 13 years. Played numerous benefit concerts/fundraising events for charities. Will be submitting music supplement.</p>

<p>Trumpet 9 years. Play in my local youth orchestra (selective, audition based), the PYAO, both Junior and Senior years. PYAO is a very competitive orchestra, rehearsing 3 hours every Sunday. </p>

<p>School Jazz band all 4 years, captain next year. </p>

<p>Attended a camp for 8 years, counselor this year. Very important/passionate thing for me and it is something I love doing, not something for college credit in any way. </p>

<p>Recommendations will come from a Junior English teacher/squash coach who is the nicest person on the face of the planet/loves me, and my freshman physics teacher, who also taught my senior elective electronics class junior year and who will also teaches my astronomy class this year. A great teacher, mentor and friend.</p>

<p>Counselor rec will be solid. Counseling office is very professional and knows me personally, my counselor is very friendly/admiring of me. </p>

<p>Common App essay is in progress, about an event called "Flag-trip" which is a 3 day, full tackle game of capture the flag in the woods at my camp. I wrote about how it taught me about manhood. Unique because nobody else that I know of does this. Working with an essay counselor on this, so will be solid. </p>

<p>Supplement essay on Music, uses good images, will be solid as well. </p>

<p>TLDR: 2330 SAT
800/750/750 SAT II
National Merit Semi (So Far): 221
Legacy to Yale
All A- and above grades
ECs focused on Music, Music Community service, proficient in 2 instruments, submitting music supplement.
Recs will be amazing.
Essays are very polished, common app is unique, supplement good imagery. </p>

<p>Long winded, but I wanted to be comprehensive. </p>

<p>Will chance back.</p>

2

<p>209 views no thoughts? I know these schools are hard for everyone, but evaluating my profile in comparison to other potential applicants would be great!</p>

3

<p>From what I’ve heard, Yale likes legacy students a lot, and your grades seem solid. You’ve probably got a pretty good chance.</p>

4

<p>Agree with unreal, you seem quite solid, and the list of schools you have is excellent! Obviously your qualified, I would recommend doing an admissions interview, to explain a lot of these awards and their meaning. I wish you good luck!
BTW, can you chance me on my post now? lol</p>

5

<p>Thanks you two. Oh btw, I did interview at Yale, it went well. I will be explaining the awards in the “additional information” section of the common app as well.</p>

6

<p>Bestillandknow0, I just posted a new thread in chances… Can you let me know your thoughts?</p>

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<p>Wow, with your stats and the legacy i can say that you are pretty much in. Even though i’ve heard that admission at the ivies is kind of random i think you have a serious chance to get into Yale. Good luck man.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1390369-where-should-i-apply-peruvian-student.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1390369-where-should-i-apply-peruvian-student.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Bump Before Bed</p>

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<p>Judging by these stats I’d say your in. The legacy will probably help seal the deal.</p>

10

<p>I hate to be the pessimist here, but, in my opinion, those who are saying, “You’re definitely in” do not know what they are talking about.</p>

<p>You can never be “definitely in” at a top Ivy League school (or Stanford). That’s just the way it is.</p>

<p>I mean, you have as good of shot as anybody. Heck, you have a much, much, better shot than most people. The legacy will help, and your test scores/academic credentials are great. Extracurriculars are nearly impossible to weigh, but they appear solid (there’s nothing absolutely amazing in your ECs, in my opinion, but your extracurriculars do show passion and commitment – and, once again, they are almost worthless trying to judge when I have no idea of the context of your situation or the opportunities you have had).</p>

<p>I suggest that you look at the official Yale regular decision results thread for the class of 2016. They will give you more information about your chances than any student (including myself) can. (at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1304717-official-yale-class-2016-rd-results-thread.html?highlight=official+results[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1304717-official-yale-class-2016-rd-results-thread.html?highlight=official+results&lt;/a&gt; )</p>

<p>Best of luck. My final verdict is that you are competitive in the process, but nothing is definite when it comes to admissions at top schools until the decisions are mailed out, but once again, don’t count my opinion for too much. I wish you the best!</p>

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<p>Bump please!</p>

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<p>I think you’re an excellent candidate for Yale and Princeton. I don’t know enough about the others to say. Your academics and ECs look great; you’re a real competitor for these schools, though I wouldn’t say you’re a shoe in.</p>

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<p>To the top!</p>

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<p>Any more thoughts?</p>

15

<p>Good chances!!</p>

16

<p>Wait, so your high school doesn’t report GPA, doesn’t rank, and doesn’t offer AP courses. Weird school…</p>

<p>You have a great chance at Yale. I think that you are one of the best candidates. You definitely deserve to get in, and I assume you will unless the admissions officer has a bad day. Who knows. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Ha Wil I’ve gotten that before. I like to think of it as “forward thinking”. It is a private school, and we dropped the AP curriculum a while back because teaching to a test is not as valuable as teaching how teachers think is most valuable for college and life.</p>

<p>It does rank, just not officially. We get “Cum Laude” Junior and Senior year. If you get it Junior year as I did, you are top 10% of your class. Senior year the next 10% get it. In classes of ~100 kids rank isn’t as important as all kids are relatively competent. </p>

<p>The school doesn’t report GPA officially on the transcript to make colleges do more actual looking at our transcripts. GPA is only used by admissions folk as a shortcut to avoid looking at the whole transcript. Half the time GPA is calculated differently everywhere anyway so at one school the valedictorian might have a 3.5 while another school’s valedictorian might have a 6.0. </p>

<p>Hope that clears things up a bit. Thanks for the response :).</p>

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<p>Your chances seem pretty solid at all of those schools (one can never be sure when it comes to Ivies, but legacy status helps out). Great ECs as well.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1393221-chance-me-these-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1393221-chance-me-these-schools.html&lt;/a&gt; You can chance me here if you would like.</p>

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<p>I apologize – I chanced you earlier on this thread but forgot to leave a link to my own one. Would you mind chancing me if/when you have time? :smiley: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1394691-chances-selective-universities-thanks.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1394691-chances-selective-universities-thanks.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, I think I should clarify my previous post. You can never, ever be “definitely in” at Yale, but I think you stand as good of a shot as possible. You are more than simply competitive in the process; I think you have the possibility of standing out in the process. Best of luck!</p>

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<p>Like a lot of people have mentioned, it’s basically impossible to be 100% sure that you’re definitely getting in. But you have some really impressive stats and I think you have a much better shot at getting into Yale than other candidates would, especially since you’re a legacy.</p>