<p>I have fallen hopelessly in love with Yale, even though I know that's not healthy :( please can someone give me a realistic estimate of my chances?
I am applying as a biology --> neuroscience major.</p>
<p>Stats:
ORM female, public high school (top 10 school in my state)
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
SAT: 2380 (math 780)
SAT II: Chem 800, US History 800, Bio E 800, Lit 800
Courses: 12 APs and 6 honors courses by the end of high school</p>
<p>ECs:
-Model UN: 2-time elected President of General Assembly, nominated for Premier Delegate Award, executive board of school chapter
-Youth and Government: Assembly Vice Chair '10, elected Lieutenant Governor of my state, winner of Outstanding Statesman award, executive board of school chapter
-Mock Trial Team: regional finalists, co-captain
-People with Pals (penpal program in Spanish to kids in Ecuador): president of school chapter.
-Peer Leaders (school drugs/alcohol awareness team): elected Treasurer, lobbying for teen safety on the legislative level (contacting senators and representatives from my state with ideas)
-NHS: running for Head of Tutoring position
-Violin: private lessons for 14 years, Chamber Orchestra (elite ensemble) since freshman year
-I've had two violin students for the past year.
-Volunteering at local medical center</p>
<p>-Indian music (most important): Performed over 20 concerts in the US, UK, and India, won over 30 awards and competitions, go to India every year to perform in the music festival, and performed with well known/notable artists. Featured in leading Indian newspaper twice in my high school career. I have a recording contract in India. Performed a solo benefit concert in the USA in this music style and raised $8,000 for two charities. Another group benefit concert raised $3,000. Won a community service award for charitable efforts through music.</p>
<p>Summer activities:
-Research internship for the last 2 years at a top 20 university; working with undergrad and grad students to collect and analyze data in a neurobiological research department
-Invited to perform Indian music at an international music festival in London this summer
-Invited as one of 25 delegates from my state Youth&Government program to the Conference on National Affairs in NC this summer</p>
<p>Your stats and EC’s indicate that you are certainly qualified. However, much depends on your teacher recommendations, essays, guidance counselor’s secondary school report and how they stack up against other students who have similar stats. My honest guess is that you are definitely in the ballpark and have about a 7% chance – just like everyone else. Beyond that, no one can truly say. Best of luck to you in the admissions process.</p>
<p>I’ve also noticed that you list your musical accomplishments as your foremost EC. If you can expand on your experiences with this in an excellent essay, you’ll do awesome in admissions :)</p>
<p>Make sure that you get teachers that you know WELL to write you recs… but that’s pretty obvious info.</p>
<p>The fact that you’re applying for SCEA will also help you - it shows that you are really interested in going to Yale.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that you are an ORM, and because you are one, there can never be any guarantees.</p>
<p>Tehnically, 7% is the average chance for any applicant. So doesn’t saying that i am in the “ballpark” directly contradict that? Or did i misunderstand what you said to mean that i am above average as an applicant? Additionally, the SCEA acceptance rate was closer to 18% last December.</p>
<p>Overall, Yale rejects 93 out of 100 applicants and many of them have similar (and sometimes better) stats than you. SCEA numbers are higher, but Yale still rejects 82% of early applicants.</p>
<p>Thanks for the article. I am taking an indefinite hiatus from CC now. I’ve heard diametrically opposite opinions from different people, and I don’t know what to believe. Some tell me that I’m not even above average; others say they’d be shocked if I didn’t get into a particular school. I’m getting a sinking feeling that this site is rife with helpful but misinformed people. I don’t know who is right, so I’ll come back when I know for myself.</p>
<p>^When you come to a site like CC the onus is on you to do your research in order to sort the wheat from the chaff. </p>
<p>For instance, you don’t take all member response equally, you check posting histories and determine as much as possible the level of experience a poster has.</p>
<p>Additionally, you picked IMO the absolute worst question to ask: Chances at a highly selective college. While not a crap shoot as some will say, for the majority of candidates, it is only relevant to say that they are a competitive candidate but that results are unpredictable, much as gibby did in post #3. If you are expecting more, you are uninformed about how college admissions works at places like Y.</p>
<p>A much better subject to discuss would be your college list, to assure that it has a realistic range of admission and financial safety, match & reach schools.</p>
That’s some generous rounding of yours. Yale reported a total of 4,304 applications, a substantial decrease from last year’s 5,257 applications for its SCEA program. The school offered admission to 675 applicants for its Class of 2016. The 15.7 percent early acceptance rate marks an increase from last year’s 14.5 percent early admission rate and the 13.9 percent acceptance rate for the class of 2014.</p>
<p>Why don’t you just read all the responses that people made when you posted a bunch of chance threads indicating you were applying this year? I remembered that there was a kid who had a recording contract in India, and thought that was a different kid–but it wasn’t.</p>
<p>The only people who “know” are the Yale adcoms, and they won’t know it til they’re in the process of evaluating you vs all the other candidates that they find themselves in. Beyond “you’re in the ballpark,” there simply isn’t much more to say. Good luck.</p>
<p>My two cents… You are interested in majoring in neuroscience but have no awards or accomplishments in science or math except for the AP classes and SAT subject tests! The research you did, was it published in any reputed journal? My observation has always been that ORMs tend to have a more strong Math/Science background. Did you win any Math or Science competition? This is Yale you are applying to! I think anyone who says you have an above average resume for Yale is taking you on a joyride. There are lots of people with your GPA, SAT scores who don’t get accepted to HYPS. This is not to discourage you from applying but be realistic. I think you will be a good fit at Cornell or Georgetown.</p>
<p>Also, those Indian music competitions you talk about, are they conducted by reputed music departments? I have heard a lot of rumors that most Indian music competitions are rigged.</p>
<p>I am not trying to belittle the accomplishment. But looking at the results from my school, I am shocked as well that AIME qualifiers have been rejected from Princeton. And it is also a fact that many of these parent run music competitions are rigged. Whether colleges have seen through it or not is another question. It is also not true that all winners are fakes but how will one verify it?</p>
<p>I’m very passionate about music. I’m not sure where you’ve heard about music competitions being rigged (presumably sour grapes/poor losers) but that’s rather offensive to the work I’ve put in and my ability and accomplishment in the field. I’m internationally recognized, and I couldn’t tell you my name on CC but if I did, you could easily verify it.
I probably won’t get into Yale, but your comment reeks of a bitterness that probably has nothing to do with me. I’m sorry about that.</p>
<p>MOST applicants won’t get into Y, that’s just a fact. Bottom line is that you’re a highly qualified candidate, as are many others. </p>
<p>I’m going to repeat what I always say about EA: Y only accepts OUTSTANDING candidates that they would select from ANY pool of candidates. The reason is that this is to their benefit as these applicants will also likely be accepted to other top schools if they apply RD, so it gives Y additional time to convince them to matriculate. All other qualified but not crazy wonderful candidates, they defer to the RD round so that they can compare them in the larger pool. Read what Ys Brenzel says about who they accept EA:</p>
<p>I know of one qualified, but not outstanding, candidate who employed a similar strategy last year:</p>
<p>1) They applied early to a select group of non-restrictive, non-binding colleges – schools such as Georgetown, MIT, UChicago and UMich.
2) They applied regular to YPS.</p>
<p>The student did not apply to a safety school, as they had received multiple acceptances from their early schools by December 15th. They then updated YPS of their early acceptances, stressing they really wanted to attend their school instead, but employed the given strategy due to the unpredictability of college admissions. The student was ultimately accepted to P (where they will attend) and waitlisted at Y and S.</p>
Yale reported a total of 4,304 applications, a substantial decrease from last year’s 5,257 applications for its SCEA program. The school offered admission to 675 applicants for its Class of 2016. The 15.7 percent early acceptance rate marks an increase from last year’s 14.5 percent early admission rate and the 13.9 percent acceptance rate for the class of 2014.</p>