Hi! I applied to Yale University SCEA and was deferred, so now I am waiting for regular decisions to come out. What do you think my chances are of getting in regular decision? Thanks in advance!
Here are some stats:
-Resident of Virginia at a public high school
-4.7 GPA on a 4.0 scale (weighted), 3.9 unweighted
-8/415 class rank
-SAT: 21/24 for the essay, 750 on critical reading and writing and 680 on math, making a combined score of 1430
-IB Diploma program
-Extracurricular:
classical ballet for 12 years, five times a week, 20-25 hours a week, trained in ballet, pointe, and modern, have trained at professional companies for two summers, performance experience, sent an arts supplement for this
President and founder of my school’s Operation Smile Club
Attended a four week summer residential humanities program through VA governors school (had to apply for this)
Secretary of French honor society
Team leader in National Honor Society
Secretary of student government in junior year
Member of Vivace orchestra group (which you must be invited to join)
Volunteer at local children’s hospital twice a month
Acolyte at church (volunteer work) every three weeks
It’s on us club (club where we increase sense of community at my high school and make videos to promote this)
Occasional babysitting
-Member of the national society of high school scholars
-Recommendation from my pastor who knows me well and is a Yale alumni
-Had a yale alumni interview, and my interviewer told me he was going to write me a strong interview letter
Yay for Operation Smile. (a cause near and dear to my heart as my daughter the “Yalie” was born with a cleft)
Your stats look strong and your bigger issue will be relaying what makes you shine compared to all of the other applicants. Read through the scea stat page and honestly compare yourself to the others that were deferred. What makes your application stand out?Although you have a lot of great things going on- which one makes you passionate? What is your favorite part of your application and what drives you to be who you are? As long as you have relayed that much to the AO, you will be in the best position you can possibly be. Good luck!
If 2.3% of Yale deferred students are also admitted in the RD round – and Yale in the past has been known to defer between 1200 and 1400 students – that means about 27 to 45 students who were deferred will be admitted in the RD round. Are you one of them? I have no idea. However, given that 97% of deferred students are ultimately rejected, you should plan for the worse no matter what your stats. Having been through the agony of deferral with my daughter, my suggestion – no matter how difficult it may be – move on and start focusing on the other colleges on your list.
^^ According to @writer80’s post history, s/he is freshman in high school and has not applied to college or even taken the ACT/SAT. Whereas myself, @Memmsmom, and @IxnayBob are all adults who have had children go through the college applications process and our kids are currently attending or have graduated from Yale. So, I would take that into account when considering @writer80’s overly optimistic advice.
Well what you don’t know @gibby is that I am familiar with the IB program, as the OP took part in that program. I was simply telling them that is prestigious in college admissions. Sorry if honest optimism is a bad thing.
^^ @writer80, PLEASE, JUST STOP! I mean no disrespect, but as a 14/15 year old in high school you really don’t yet have a firm grasp on what colleges are actually looking for from an applicant. While you may be familiar with IB programs, you are failing to understand that selective colleges – especially high end colleges such as HYPSM – do NOT value IB programs (prestigious or not) over AP or honors programs. This from the CC College Dean: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/ap-vs-ib/
So, just because the OP has an IB program under their belt does NOT mean they have a better chance over any other student – or in your words GREAT CHANCES – of getting off the deferred list. Or, would you like to provide concrete evidence from any publication that proves overwise?
@writer80 I think what @gibby is trying to say is that although many colleges will see IB as impressive and something that will look good on a transcript, it is what is expected in an application to highly selective schools. It does not set you apart but brings you up to the rest of those that are also applying. I always tell people to read through the stat pages with honest eyes about how they compare. When you see all of those that are president of their various clubs, members/officers of National Honor Society, active in some kind of public service, top of their classes, NM finalists, high SAT,ACT,IB,AP scores etc… there comes a point where you see that everyone applying are pretty much the same. This is when you realize that you have to find some way to show that you are not just another highly qualified application. Its not that you gave false information. It is that many of these kids have been told their whole lives that they are a shoe in, they are the best of their school or class. Many come into this process feeling very special and are horribly disappointed in the end because compared to the thousands of others just like them, they are just another file. It is so sad because no matter how many times kids post chance me threads, it truly is a lottery in the end. Gibby is just trying to give honest and realistic expectations to the OP because the truth is that hope is one thing, reality is probably another.
Great news OP is that with your stats and if you applied to a solid group of schools you will be accepted to a college. Will that be Yale? Odds are not in your favor. Has anything changed since you were deferred?
I agree with @gibby I don’t think that colleges care at all about IB over AP classes. I do think that colleges do care about college classes taken while in HS.
