Chance me?

<p>Indian (South Asian) American female
Low financial need
Large-ish school with about 700 kids in my year. Somewhat competitive and recognized as a great public school in my area</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.85 (projected) W GPA: 4.9
Freshman:
AP World History: B/A (4 on the AP exam)
Spanish 2: A/A (no honors offered)
Honors Algebra 2: B/A
Critical Thinking (Gifted Program): A/A
Accelerated Biology: A/A
Honors English: A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Accelerated Chemistry: A/A
Spanish 3: A/A (no honors offered)
AP US History: A/A (5 on AP and 780 on SAT II)
Honors Trig/Calc A: A/B
Journalism: A (no honors offered)
Multicultural Perspectives: A (no honors offered)
Honors English: A/A</p>

<p>Junior year courses:
AP Language and Composition A
AP Gov/ AP Econ A
Women's’ Studies/World Affairs (no honors offered) A
AP Calc BC B
Spanish 4 (no honors offered) A
AP Physics B</p>

<p>Calc BC and Physics B are giving me a lot of trouble… I’ll probably get a B in at least one of them next semester too</p>

<p>I got a 224 on the PSAT, so I think I’ll be a Semi-Finalist in my state</p>

<p>I took the practice ACT administered through my school without studying and got a 32 composite. E:31 M:31 R:34 S:33</p>

<p>Official ACT 32 composite E:34 M:31 R:34 S:28
I will take it again aiming for 34+</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (“*” denotes a leadership position)
*Model UN: A few awards, some international, and the club I am most passionate about.
*Community Service Club: largest club and I’m a group leader
*Congress Debate: a few awards and I’m communications chair for the whole debate team
*Tae Kwon Do: Have my 1st degree black belt and I lead classes for adults
*Student Council: Senate member, not the exec board, but a higher position
Class Executive Board: No leadership positions available, but it’s a decision-making board
Freshman Mentor: Will have been a mentor for three years 1st semester during half of my lunch period
School Newspaper: Staff Writer for the News Department
Relay for Life: Started a successful team for the American Cancer Society
Singing/Guitar: I have a YouTube channel where I upload covers and I also write my own music.
NHS: yeah I know, no big deal</p>

<p>Work experience: I work several hours a week at my tae kwon do dojo at the front desk and also lead kids’ classes</p>

<p>Summer activities:
I took some required courses over the summer before and after freshmen year and didn’t do much else. This past summer I had an internship requiring 40+ hours per week campaigning for a congressman running for reelection in my area. 280 hours total. I also continued campaigning throughout the fall.</p>

<p>I’m interested in majoring in Political Science and Global Studies. My main question is whether or not I should apply SCEA. Yale is definitely my first choice but I'd rather not "waste" my early application on Yale if I don't have a chance of being accepted. I would also appreciate any advice about strengthening my application. Thanks!</p>

<p>@enigmaticmind, I’m reposting a response from the past. </p>

<p>You’re relatively new here, so possibly you haven’t seen this thread: <a href=“Reminder: No one, not even me, can give you an accurate chance at MIT! - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/939227-reminder-no-one-not-even-me-can-give-you-an-accurate-chance-at-mit-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;. It’s about MIT, but holds true as well for Yale.</p>

<p>You sound like a wonderful candidate, as will the vast majority of students who are rejected. Recommendations and essays will probably determine the outcome, and we are not the people reading those.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you!</p>

<p>mediocre GPA (you can redeem yourself if your class rank is high [i.e. first decile]),
Excellent job on your ACT,
Nothing outstanding in your extra cur. activities,
No awards,
Not many AP exams (some people apply with 10+ AP exams).</p>

<p>Do apply SCEA. You never know, you might get accepted. Make sure your recommendation letter and you essays are outstanding, as those can and will be the deciding factors in your application.</p>

<p>Hope I helped.</p>