Chance me for Yale REA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

Hello everyone! The college app season is coming up soon and I wanted a little more feedback on my chances of getting into Yale REA!

Personal:
-Asian female
-Domestic (OH)
-Super low-income (<20k)
-Suburban public school (super competitive–we have several kids go to Ivies/other top schools every year)
-Prospective major: chemical engineering
-I’m getting recs from my Lang teacher and my Chem teacher from sophomore year, and they’re both well-known for writing super good rec letters

Academic:
-GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.59 W after junior year
-ACT: 36 (36 Reading, 36 Science, 36 English, 34 Math, 11 Writing)
-SAT: None yet
-Subject tests: Chem (790), Math 2 (hasn’t come out yet but I felt at least a 750)
-PSAT: 1480 (most likely National Merit Finalist)
-Rank: School does not rank, but I should be in top 20
-AP:
World History as a freshman (3 rip)
Bio (5), Chem (5), APUSH (4) as a sophomore
Music theory (probably 5), Physics 1 but took Physics C test (probably 4-5), Calc BC (definitely a 5), Gov (probably a 5), Macroeconomics (probably 5), Microeconomics (4-5), Lang (probably 5) as a junior
-Senior year course load:
AP Seminar, AP Physics 2, AP Comp Sci, AP Comp Sci Principles, AP Stats, Calc 3/Diff EQ, Band

Extracurriculars:
-A lot of flute stuff–one youth orchestra since sophomore year, another for my senior year, three different local wind symphonies since middle school, Interlochen (a prestigious summer arts program) in 2017, some other music camps before Interlochen, matinees done through my youth orchestra as volunteer work (basically holding a concert for inner city kids and teaching them about music so that they’ll be pushed towards future musicianship), playing at a local church for religious services, being in band for all of high school (concert band section leader junior and senior year, marching band section leader senior year, squad leader senior year), playing for the school orchestra when there is a flute part, musical pit for Drama Club
-National Honor Society
-Tedx of my high school (marketing director junior year, co-president senior year)
-Future Problem Solving since middle school (placed second in state for individual competition freshman year)
-Mock Trial
-Gay-Straight Alliance
-This summer I’m doing a summer precollege program at Carnegie Mellon based on Artificial Intelligence (it’s the first year the program is being offered so idk much about the prestige, but the cost of attendance is waived for anyone accepted so its probably pretty selective)

Awards:
-Some school awards like being consistently on Honor Roll, Academic Letterman, Band Letterman, teacher-given awards, Exemplary interest in music award (two people per grade)
-AP Scholar with Honor after sophomore year, probably another AP award after this year

Hooks:
-Woman in STEM (this is about it lol)

I’d really appreciate any feedback/advice!

2

You have a better chance than most, but that’s not saying that much.

You say “Not yet” on the SAT; why? Your ACT of 36 is fine.

Good luck! .

3

@IxnayBob I am going to take it once for National Merit but yeah I’m probably only sending in the ACT haha. Thanks for your help!

4

Noticed that your senior year classes were all STEM aside from Band. Also have you had at least 3 years of a foreign language? There are no set of course requirements for Yale, but “balance” does seem to be a factor. https://admissions.yale.edu/advice-selecting-high-school-courses Looking at your AP scores, it does seem that you have taken and done well in non-STEM courses, so maybe my observation is misplaced. If in fact you are super pointy in STEM, I’d say at this point embrace it in the way you present yourself in the app.

5

@BKSquared I have taken three “courses” of Spanish over four years (Spanish 1 is split up over 2 years in middle school in my district) and I am conversationally fluent in Korean (as I speak it at home). I personally do not enjoy the way that foreign languages are taught within my school, which is why I decided to stop after Spanish 3. I do notice that I do lean towards the STEM direction both in interest and ability a lot of the time, but I wouldn’t say I’m “super” pointy. The main reason my senior year schedule looks the way it does is that the course offerings at my school also lean strongly towards STEM rather than the humanities, especially in AP/honors offerings (there are semester courses in foods and human geography and African-American history and such but they’re not honors/AP courses and are commonly considered to be a “joke” in my school, and I wanted to keep challenging myself). Thank you so much for your concerns and advice!

6

FWIW: One of the above posters is an alumni interviewer for Yale, so you really should heed their (and Yale’s) advice: https://admissions.yale.edu/advice-selecting-high-school-courses