Hey everyone,
I’m a junior right now. Could someone please guesstimate my chances of admission to Yale? (probably a long shot, I know)
GPA: 4.05 weighted
SAT: 1510
Sports: Varsity Cross Country, Varsity Swimming, JV Crew as a coxswain (hopefully will make Varsity this year)
Clubs/EC’s: Conservation Club, Alliance, Astronomy, and started the school’s very active animal rights club (something I’m crazy passionate about); spending this summer working at a biomedical research laboratory assisting the scientists; have taken voice lessons since grade 7; currently training for my first marathon which will be this summer (don’t know if that is relevant); tutor peers at my school; assist in the pre-k during my free period (my school is a private k-12); give tours to families visiting my school
Awards: Winner in my class for public speaking at my school, National Merit Commended (I know they haven’t sent this out yet but my score is definitely high enough); National French Competition 8th in state last year (placed well freshman year too but I don’t remember the exact place); National French Honors Society
Volunteer: Spent last summer volunteering at the local hospital + doing a little work at some children’s science programs, very active in school’s community service group
Essay: Obviously not written yet, but I’m a very good writer and I’ve got some great ideas. There are certain things that I’m very passionate about and I can reflect that quite well in my writing.
Major: undecided, but leaning towards biomedical engineering or chemical engineering, probably with a minor in political science
I’m also a legacy at Yale.
Thanks!
Race/gender/income level?
That matters a lot.
White, Female, income around 140k, and I live in Maine
Also, I’m considering applying to Brown and Carnegie Mellon as well, if someone could let me know my chances at those two.
decent shot at cmu engineering, doubtful for brown and yale
Yeah I agree with the above. Nice stats but no hook
So the legacy won’t really help much?
Do your parents donate? That could help. Try SCEA.
I would suggest you go to the accepted students/decisions thread and read through what their stats were and what they had or didn’t have. I think that from what you have presented here as your accomplishments are going to get you into some great schoos but that you may struggle with the AO in Yale. Even with a legacy. You might want to figure out what it is that makes you stand out, what is your passion and then focus on that when applying. But being a part of a few clubs without doing anything with it, doing some research over a summer and a weighted GPA of just over 4 is probably not going to be enough when you go up against so many incredible kids. There will be kids with a 5.0 weighted, published research papers and kids that have been on the varsity team since freshman year that you will compete with. I am telling you this so that you can take the time to find yourself, your story and your passion so that when you write about it and go forward with it, you will have a better chance. Im just being honest.
Your extracurriculars seem a bit scattered, but you do have some that you seem to love, like animal rights. Assisting in the Pre-K might also give you some interesting perspectives to right about. Communicating this very personable side of you will make you seem genuine, but I don’t think you have a proven passion for engineering.
However, I have gotten the impression that Yale is looking to bolster its engineering department & having legacy obviously helps.
Overall, I’d say (if Yale SCEA):
Yale: Defer/Waitlist
Brown: Reject
CMU: Waitlist/Accept
Best of luck! 
Chance me back?
Your chances will be about the same as the other 35,000 who will apply next year. I am sorry to sound harsh, but Chance Me for Yale or any other school with single digit admissions is a long shot. As a alum and a parent, my advise to you is to do your best this school year, do something fabulous over the summer and come up with a realistic list of schools to apply to. Of course Yale can be on that list, but only as a tippy top reach school. Make sure you have other, more viable, alternatives.