Unweighted HS GPA: 4.05/4.00 (I think A+'s have a benefit)
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.65/4.00 (AP’s and DE’s are NOT adjusted; they are both given an extra point, while honors are half)
College GPA (for transfers): N/A
Class Rank: N/A (but in top 10%)
ACT/SAT Scores: 1560/1600 (SAT)
Coursework
I took the toughest curriculum at my school with extra DE classes in psychology and calculus (I and II).
Awards (copied from common app; some details removed for doxxing)
USABO Top 75 in first year of competing (11)
Highly ranked in NJ Science League for Bio in freshman year; did not receive personal award due to COVID (9)
Top 8 Science Bowl Team in state; joined team in freshman year (9)
4x Best Delegate, 1x Outstanding, Delegate’s Choice in regional/state/international MUN conferences (9, 10, 11)
Spanish Honors Society, Gold on National Spanish Exam, Seal of Biliteracy (11)
Extracurriculars (major ones)
Paid Research Assistant at major state cancer institute: 1st author on manuscript in prep. (sent STEM research supplement) with over 600+ hours → involved cancer prev. research at the national level (e.g., cancer prev. campaign; multi-level national study on tanning policy, etc.); certified epidemiological researcher; presented at symposia
Community Organizer: developed cancer science curricula implemented in NJ title I schools; plan in-school cancer prev outreach with “insert institute” and NIH grant $$
Founder of a US critical social theory collective with a readership and community in all 6 (well, not Antartica) continents (8K+ users)
STEM educator during the height of COVID and developed 100+ hours of content taught to kids with destabilized education internationally
Debate coach + curriculum developer for major NGO in Libya to train students to start first Libyan Model UN conference (started in senior year)
Student Body VP; Student Director/Prez of first performing arts group at school; Student Advisor/Organizer for school’s affinity groups (lead food drive for Latino migrants/asylum seekers in the area)
Short (2 hr/wk; 8 wks) senior-year internship at “insert pharm company” with VP and Chief Medical Officer to developed educational tools as enrichment for healthcare professionals
Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: 9/10 (won’t give myself 10/10, but my personal essay was reviewed multiple times and received support and supplementals reviewed by yale students and said it was great!)
LORs: Guidance (7-8/10), T1 (10/10), T2 (9/10) → addressed any extra EC’s; Research Mentor (10/10)
Cost Constraints / Budget
Could pay up to approximately $15K per year
Schools
Have other safeties and targets, but Yale REA is one of the reaches
If y’all want more information for contextualization and whatever, ask away!
You have done very well in school – congratulations!
Your measurables are competitive.
Keep in mind, the REA/SCEA acceptance rate is probably going to be around 10% – you will likely get a bump for URM status, but even if that doubles your chances, it’s still a reach.
Have you run the Net Price Calculator to see if Yale would likely be affordable?
Very impressive. I think you have as good a shot as most kids along with the URM bump. However, please apply to a few matches and safeties as well. As admissionsmom on A2C says…fall in love with your matches and safeties!
I am rooting for you!
You are looking very, very good for Yale REA, in my opinion. Congrats on all of your accomplishments. I think all of your hard work is going to pay off.
Very impressive: I think you are likely to get in. You never know–but assuming your recs are great and the interview goes well, I think you will have good news. Still have targets and get some done now so you do not face a large amount of work over break if you get deferred.
Just want to throw a word of caution out because everyone is rightfully celebrating OP’s accomplishments. They seem to fit a school like Yale very well… HOWEVER, Yale is a reach for everyone, including people as accomplished as OP. I just don’t want the OP to feel like something went wrong if they don’t get in… it’s possible they don’t get accepted and it won’t be because they aren’t qualified or anything like that, it’s just the way the admission’s ball bounces sometimes.
But if OP keeps up their hard work and continues on they’re going to have an amazing college career and beyond wherever they end up.
Thank you for the reasonable advice and reminder that admissions is a crapshoot at times. I’m hopeful for December but realistic about the chances, of course.
Awesome… perfect mindset to have. Also consider shooting for some full ride places. You can get a great education at most of them, and then save that $15K per year for something else (grad school, house down payment, business start-up… or just let the magic of compound interest do it’s thing and have a couple of million dollars by the time your 60).
Thanks! I was planning to go onto grad school anyway, so ultimately my priority is the financials. Yale is a great school, but it’s what you make of it that counts (which means I can succeed anywhere as long as I put my mind to it).
To help you find other schools worthy of your efforts – schools that fit you – what are some of your preferences?
What do you think you might want to major in? (academic interests?)
Would you prefer a city, suburban/small city, or rural environment – or does setting not matter? Same for weather and location on the map.
Do you have strong feelings about Greek life (fraternities/sororities), sports, politics? In other words – school culture.
These are just a few questions to help you find additional schools that would likely suit you. Any other preferences you have should also be considered.
And for every school that fits you, run the NPC to reasonably assure affordability – no sense in applying if a school is unlikely to be affordable.
Woops, I forgot to include the major. I applied with the Cognitive Science, ERM, and History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health majors at Yale. So, I really favor interdisciplinary programs that feature both science and humanities.
Favor more a suburban to urban environment, anything not rural sorry. I applied to schools in the Northeast and like some in the Midwest. I want to be close enough to my family as my parents are older, but far enough for me to feel some sense of independence.
I care that it’s collaborative. Greek life is interesting, but not at all necessary for me. I would like to be on an intramural sports team (preferably, tennis). I like ideological diversity (which is important for any community), but due to my background, liberal schools are more accepting which I’m in favor of.
