Chances at Yale?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Alrighty... I'll be a senior this fall at a giant monolithic public school in good ol' Indiana, and Yale is my first choice (so I'll be applying early action). Are these stats good enough?</p>

<p>The typical Ivy-Leaguer-wanna-be repertoire:
SAT: 2340 (800 CR, 740 M, 800 W)
SAT II: World History 800, Literature 800, (taking Math IIC this fall)
GPA: 5.1 weighted, 3.9 unweighted
Class rank: 2/650
Extracurriculars: Yearbook editor-in-chief, Key Club (committee member, treasurer, VP), Young Democrats (co-prez), Students for a Free Tibet (founder, president), Habitat for Humanity, Speech and Debate team, Spanish tutor, Peers Educating Peers, NHS, choir
IB Diploma Candidate
AP scholar
Work experience: administrative assistant at a clinic</p>

<p>The interesting stuff:
I just returned from a year abroad in India, where I got to do such interesting things as participating in a seminar on Tibetan culture at the Sera Je Monastery, assisting with tsunami relief, hiking and whitewater rafting in the foothills of the Himalayas, and going to formal with a Bhutanese prince! Also, I formed a partnership with my school in Indy which ended up raising $1200 to support a local orphanage.</p>

<p>In ninth and tenth grade I spent 11 months working on Howard Dean's presidential campaign. I was a Dialing for Dean precinct captain and the Youth Coordinator for my region.</p>

<p>I was suspended for participating in a walk-out against the invasion of Iraq. So um....will this help me or hurt me?</p>

<p>I am totally serious about cooking. I love to cook. My crepes suzette are earth-shatteringly magnificent, if I do say so myself. By the way, are there kitchens in the residential colleges at Yale?</p>

<p>I'm taking AP physics C through the EPGY program at Stanford.</p>

<p>One of my essays is about tsunami relief in India (if you'd like to see it, just let me know....it could use a little critique). I'm not sure about the other one, but of course I'll write one explaining the whole suspension thing as well. </p>

<p>So....um, what are my chances? (Just for the record, I'm a white female and not actually communist despite my username).</p>

2

<p>You have an excellent chance. Your scores, your activities, your suspension... You have solid interests and dedication and you sound like a very interesting person.</p>

<p>I'd say your suspension will hurt you because you chose to demonstrate your opinion at the expense of education. It might make an adcom wonder... What would you do at Yale?</p>

3

<p>Hehehehehe....actually, the walk-out was only during homeroom and lunch (yes, we have homeroom before lunch....our schedule is really weird). Technically, the suspension was for insubordination, not truancy. And when it comes to insubordination, I have to admit I'm pretty much guilty as charged.</p>

4

<p>Erm.....any other opinions?</p>

5

<p>C'mon, give me something to work with here!</p>

6

<p>Yale is incredibly hard to get into for anyone, no matter how awesome their resume, just because it's Yale. But I think you have a solid chance because your political involvement and leadership positions are impressive (to me at least). I'm no expert, though, so don't take me too seriously. Haha.</p>

<p>P.S. I want your SAT score because it's the last four digits of my phone number. I was so close too...</p>

7

<p>I'm just glad I didn't get the last 4 digits of my phone number. I wouldn't even have scored a 900!</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
I spent 11 months working on Howard Dean's presidential campaign.

[/quote]

Wow I don't know if you want to list that. J/k its a good EC if nothing else. You definitely have a good shot at Yale, but as other people have said, Yale kinda has alot of people who want to go, and well...not everyone can.</p>

9

<p>Why wouldn't I want to list it? Howard Dean was a Yale man!</p>

10

<p>Well he hasn't had the most stellar of reputations as of late.</p>

11

<p>Haha. True that.
However, it was a valuable learning experience (to use a rather trite cliche), and I learned a lot about politics and campaigning - including what not to do.
And besides, if you can't crazy radical idealist when you're 15, you may never get another shot. :)</p>

12

<p>Does anyone have suggestions as to what I should do to increase my chances?</p>

13

<p>I truly think you have done as much as could be done for myself. And don't worry about things you can't control, like how would Adcom sees you. At first I was going to council you don't mention Howard Dean by name, just major party candidate for president. Because what if adcom doesn't like his politics? But given most adcom have liberal arts (read Deomocrat) backgrounds, you stand a better than even chance that Dean plays well for you than the other way around. Like I said you have done as well as it canbe done, and dont worry about things you can't control. Have a nice summer.</p>

14

<p>Gorbachev_sez,</p>

<p>You are at the top of your class. Your testing is ridiculously high. You have amazing life experiences. Honestly how much more can be expected of a 17 year old? </p>

<p>So write the best essay you can and I think your chances are as good as anyone's. If you don't get into Yale for whatever reason it will be through no fault of your own. And there's no doubt you'll end up at an equally fine school.</p>

15

<p>"Returned from a year abroad in India"
"Seminar Tibetan culture at the Sera Je Monastery"
"spent 11 months working on Howard Dean's presidential campaign"</p>

<p>How did you get all those opportunities? </p>

<p>You have a great chance by the way.</p>

16

<p>I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about children who, conincidentally, were going abroad on these extravagant trips. The adcoms' responses were interesting: often they saw that the applicant was using these forays abroad to hide significant weaknesses in the application. Some responses by angry readers, including CEOs and professors at elite schools read as follows:</p>

<p>"Your page-one article on the outlandish resumes of highschool students is laughable. The thought that a 15-year-old needs to shell out $7000 to go to a remote village in India to paint a church just to get into a good college is absolutely absurd."</p>

<p>"What nonsense. The only people laughing harder are the con men and women who have created these programs and convinced American parents and teens that they actually matter."</p>

<p>"A summer spent as a caddy, mover, or fry cook may not provide material for a college essay on the usurpation of rainforests or aborigine boat-making in New Guinea, but it would educate aplenty for an essay titled "How I Learned That Nothing in Life is Free" or "How I Learned That I Want to Work Hard in School to Get a Good Job Afterward.""</p>

<p>The Wall Street Journal speaks for itself. I would be careful with promoting your year abroad in India. The Ivies see that stuff all the time. They don't always see genuine, hard-working, blue-collar kids.</p>

17

<p>sup - It's not really that I got the opportunity to do those things. No one came along and said "Hey, how'd you like to join the Dean campaign" or "How about a year in India?" I joined Dean's campaign because I'm interested in politics and he was my favorite candidate. It's open to anyone. Same thing with India. I found the program online, applied, and got in. The Tibet thing was run through my school in India, but I still had to apply, have an interview, etc. It's not "getting" the opportunity, it's "making" the opportunity.</p>

<p>bill_smear - I think that's a little unfair. You've already categorized me as a wealthy elitist. I didn't go to India because I thought it would help me get into college. I went because I'm really interested in the culture, I love to travel, and I just needed an adventure. Back at home, I'm a normal kid. I go to a massive public school, I hold down a menial job that pays practically nothing, and I do a sizeable chunk of the household chores. My family is middle class and really thrifty....the only reason I got to go to India was because (a) my parents aren't up to their ears in debt and (b) everyone in my family is possessed by a completely irrational and insatiable wanderlust. And although you seem to think it trite, my experience in India has profoundly changed my entire perspective of the world, and I wouldn't trade it for anything....even admission to Yale.</p>

18

<p>Gorbachev_sez, in no way am I criticizing you, nor am I doubting your passion for India. All I am saying is that the Ivy Leagues get, too often, applications and essays highlightings activities like the one that you took. If I were you, I would focus on your incredible acdemic record, which is nothing short of that. </p>

<p>I completely understand your passion for India and Tibet and the Democrats, but make sure you truly show in your essay that you went on this trip because you were truly interested. Like it or not, more and more children are taking these trips just for the sake of admissions, and the top colleges have finally become aware of this. (Thanks to a massive Wall Street Journal front page article.)</p>

<p>In short, your chances are very good at any school you apply to though.</p>

19

<p>Okie dokie.
Just out of curiosity, how many people study abroad in high school (for a semester or more)? I thought most people just went for a few weeks over the summer.</p>

20

<p>hey, i know this is a little late, but i would love to see your essay on your relief work! i was going to go to Thailand this summer to help out but we had a family emergency. please email me (<a href="mailto:peta_hypocrites@yahoo.com">peta_hypocrites@yahoo.com</a>)</p>