Chance me for REA Yale

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: Male, white, Southern California, private school (not a traditional feeder though), upper-middle-class, no hooks.

Intended Major(s): Political Science or IR

ACT/SAT/SAT II: Don’t think I’m breaking 34 on the ACT. If I end up below 33 I’m not submitting.

UW/W GPA and Rank: UW: 3.9 W: 4.5 No class rank at my school.

Coursework: My school has been phasing out AP classes so I haven’t taken any of the tests, but I’ve taken my schools equivalent of:

AP Capstone: Seminar

AP Modern World History

AP English Lang

AP US History

AP Psychology

And for my senior year I’m taking the equivalents of (and will probably make these as “planning to take the test” on the college app):

AP English Lit

AP Spanish

AP Bio

AP US Gov

AP Macro

Awards: Headmaster’s list, honor roll, and then debate related ones (see extracurriculars)

Extracurriculars:

Speech and Debate:

  • Runner up in the 2019 California High School Speech Association’s State Championship (2nd out of hundreds of competitors, in the largest/most competitive tournament in CA.
  • Runner up in the 2020 National Speech and Debate Association’s National Championship (2nd out of thousands of competitors/attempted qualifiers, in the largest/most competitive tournament in the world.
  • Ranked third in the country by the National Symposium for Debate’s international ELO system for the 2020-21 season.

Student Body President of 500+ student high school

LA City Council Internship on homelessness

Political Content Creator on TikTok. 70k+ followers, 5 million+ video views

Speech and Debate Captain (facilitate practices, etc.)

Founder of “Get the Gavel” Debate Tutoring.

Claremont McKenna Summer Debate Camp Instructor

President of “Haiti Club” at my school, which represents a non-profit. Raised thousands, etc.

Leadership role at youth-run civic engagement organization “The Polling Place”

Gardening - donate lbs of fresh produce to community fridges

Essays/LORs/Other: Probably 8/10 for both.

Schools:

Likely (many aren’t traditional safeties but just evaluated w/ college counselor based on naviance):

Boston College

George Washington University

University of California Santa Barbara

University of California San Diego

William and Mary

Possible:

Tufts

UC Berkeley

UCLA

UMich

Wash U St. Louis

Unlikely:

Brown

Duke

Georgetown

Harvard

Northwestern

UNC-Chapel Hill

UVA

Yale (REA)

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Why Yale?

The debate EC is very impressive!

Many top colleges look to have a well rounded overall class with athletes, legacies, musicians, theater kids, etc. I am not sure how many debaters each college will take but if you are a top debater who has solid academics anything is possible.

Do you go to a private school? Given that your school is phasing out AP’s and the size of your HS I presume so. If so, you should talk to your counselor as many private school counselors are useful and have seen where past students from your school have gotten into as well as having contacts at colleges.

Finally, for a place like Yale, there are just so many applicants who can handle the academic rigor and have excellent extracurriculars. Without also having a hook, it is a bit like a lottery to get in. If the admissions committee falls in love with your debate EC’s and your essays are good, it is certainly possible Yale could work out. If Yale doesn’t work, make sure to apply to a lot of Naviance Reach schools RD as there is a good chance some of them will want a top HS debater in their class.

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