<p>I also posted this thread in the Harvard forum, though since I am also very interested in Yale I thought I'd post it here too.</p>
<p>As you can see I am new here, though I've been lurking for a pretty long time. You guys seem to be a knowledgeable group of people so I was hoping maybe you can estimate my chance for admission, to the best of your knowledge.</p>
<p>Stats:
Fee Waiver: Yes</p>
<p> SAT I : 2250
SAT IIs: 740, 790, 800 (Lit, US History, World History)
APs:
US History 5
English Lang 4
European History 5
World History (Self Study) 5
Human Geography (Self Study) 5
Micro/Macro economics (Self Study) 4/5
Psychology (Self Study) 5.
(Only person in my school to self study any AP's, I enjoyed the challenge)</p>
<p> GPA: 10.32/12-w, 3.707/4-u (I think the UW on a 4.0 scale may be 4.295)</p>
<p>Explanation:
I did very bad freshmen year, this was my grades: 83,84,79,80,88,93,83 (last two being electives). However, after some revelations I realized where I was headed and what I love, etc, and basically got straight A's and 1 B in sophomore year, and straight A's in junior/senior. Despite doing bad freshmen year, I was able to fight to get an AP class and I did very well. I did have honors classes all throughout, but there is more advanced courses that most students in the top 20 took since freshmen year. However as a Junior, and as a Senior I took the hardest courses there was available in the school.</p>
<p>So I basically went from a 3.0 to 3.83, 4.0, and 4.0.</p>
<p>My GC will explain this in the rec. If it weren't for my freshmen year, I would most likely be in top 10, maybe even top 5.</p>
<p> Rank: top 10-20 out of 220 (went from 50+ after freshmen year)</p>
<p> Senior Workload: AP Gov, AP Physics, AP Literature, AP Spanish, Precalculus, AP Calculus.</p>
<p>Note: Self studied precalculus to be able to take Calculus.</p>
<p> Number of Apps from Your School: About 2-3 possibly, 2 of which are ranked 1 and 2.</p>
<p> ECs listed on app:
-Tutoring at Museum and local Boys/Girls Club several hours per week.
-Volunteered around 40 hours in 3 weeks for a senator.
-Volunteering at library several hours per week.
-Internship at local Museum.
-Tutoring in school for Math once a week.
-Officer for DECA, organized several activities
-Model United Nations (2 years, started Junior year)
-Started and run a website since 8th grade, dedicated to particular strategy games, has a few thousand members, very nice tight-nit community that loves to discuss politics, history, etc. I work on it almost every day like a job.
-Self Studied Arabic for 1-2 years, not yet fluent but plan on continuing in college.</p>
<p>-Did history research on the Spanish Inquisition, might submit to some places.</p>
<p>Maybe I should send it as supplementary?</p>
<p>Hobbies:
Tennis
Chess
Drawing
Reading/Writing
Playing strategy games, strictly strategy.</p>
<p>Sports:
Varsity Tennis 3 years, Captain
I spend all year round practicing, about 2-3 hours each week during the winter, and atleast 7 hours during the summer and fall, either with a group or with members of the team just because I love to play it, unfortunately I started playing tennis late so I am not good for recruitment, but I love the sport, for many reasons among them probably being the same reason one would love to play chess.</p>
<p> Essays: Very good.
Teacher Recs: (English, History) Excellent.
Counselor Rec: Very good.
Location/Person:
State or Country: North East
School Type, Average Stats of School: Public, half of the school is minorities
Ethnicity: Puerto Rican. If it helps, which I don't know if it will, and might not: I am the only minority in the advanced classes, and <em>possibly</em> the only of two minorities in the top 20.
Gender: Male
Income: Below poverty line, single parent (mother doesn't work because she has depression - bipolar I believe), first generation (my mom attended a small community college for a year but dropped and my father never went to college).</p>
<p>I am very passionate about history, unfortunately our school has no clubs which are remotely related to history or politics, so my opportunities to get involved were limited in the first few years, until I started to discover some other activities I can do around the community like tutoring. I enjoy doing research for history. So intend on majoring in History, or politics.</p>