Chance Me: Yale Applied Math

General Info:

Asian Male
Middle-Upper Class Family
Californian
Intended Major - Applied Mathematics
Minor - Computer Science

Statistics:

3.91 UW GPA
4.5 Weighted GPA
No Class Rank Provided by School

Standardized Tests:
SAT: 1580 (800 Math + 780 Reading + Writing)
SAT Subject: Math II - 800, Chemistry - 790
ACT: 35C

AP Courses:

  • AP Calculus BC(5)
  • AP Statistics(5)
  • AP Chemistry(5)
  • AP Physics C: Mechanics(5)
  • AP Biology(5)
  • AP World History(5)
  • AP US History(5)
  • AP Econ/AP Gov(5)
  • AP English Language(5)
  • AP English Literature(5)
  • AP Computer Science(5)
  • Honors Chemistry
  • Multi-Variable Calculus taken at Community College

Extracurriculars:

  • CM Level 5 - honor student for CM Level 4 and Level 5 (piano for 6 years)
  • Karate Black Belt - 1st degree and competed at local tournaments
  • Debate Team -
    -Captain of PF in 11th Grade
    -VP in 12th Grade
    -Qualified to TOC 3 years
    -Qualified to Nationals 3 years
    -Varsity Public Forum for 3.5 years
    -Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking for 3.5 years
  • Lots of awards on National Circuit tournaments
  • California Scholarship Federation - volunteered at misc. events, Secretary in 11th Grade
  • Science Bowl - went to Nationals 2 years, Secretary in 11th Grade
  • Model United Nations - part of club for 3 years, competed in B MUN, SCVMUN, etc.
  • Computer Science Club - VP in 11th Grade, won different hackathons
  • Volleyball Team - 3 years, Team Captain in 11th Grade
  • DECA
  • Qualified to ICDC for 2 years
  • competed at local conferences

Volunteering/Job Experience:

  • Sandia National Laboratories - researched Nuclear Physics for 3 months after 10th grade
  • UC Berkeley - researched under prof. for 3 months after 11th grade
  • Teen Advisory Board - part of board for 3 years, 150 hours
  • Temple - part of board for 3 years, 200 hours

Total Volunteering Hours: 300+ hours

Letters of Recommendation:

  • AP Calc BC teacher
  • Prof. at UC Berkeley

Other:

  • National AP Scholar
  • National Merit Scholar
  • Ranked Top 20 PF Team in California
  • Ranked Top 50 PF Team in California
  • Ranked Top 100 PF Team in California

I am trying to see if I can try to formulate a spike in anyway but I still appreciate any help received. I hope that my grades and EC’s will be able to get me in. Thanks to anybody who helps!

First off, Yale does not recruit by major. All student’s apply to Yale as Liberal Arts Majors, and choose a major during their sophomore year. So, whatever students select as their “intended major” on the Common Application has absolutely no bearing on their chances.

The reason is that more than 60% of US college students switch majors during their 4 years of school, so it’s impossible for an Admissions Office to use an applicant’s “intended major” as a recruiting tool, as most students will graduate with a major that is different from the one they wrote down on the Common Application.

Colleges ask about your “intended major” to see how committed you are to your interests – the idea being that your commitment, energy and drive is a transferrable skill. So whatever student’s write down as their “intended major” they should make sure they have documented evidence in the rest of their application of their commitment to that major.

Secondly, a student doesn’t formulate a spike or create one – a spike just happens because of a student’s intense interest in a specific subject area – and often times that interest is shown outside of school or during the summer.

Looking over your post, my gut says you have a laundry list of EC’s and an Admissions Officer might question how you did all of those activities in your spare time. So, you need to focus your application on your commitment, energy and drive to a specific area. If you’re interested in Applied Math or CS, highlight that in your application by eliminating clutter such as

Yale has no minors so don’t mention your interest in doing that on the application as it shows a lack of research on your part about the academic program. Your objective stats look solid but there will be 10,000 applicants with similar scores and ECs. In most cases a LOR from a university professor will not really help over a high school teacher who knows you much better. Those letters are important and a high school summer researcher is pretty far down the chain from grad students and even undergraduate researchers and is not likely to have meaningful professor contact.

Yale is hardly known for math and CS. Is this just a strategy to get in?