chances!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>i no its close to decision time for scea, but i havent done a chances thread
so here i go...</p>

<p>Long Island competitive public school
GPA: 99.5 out of top score of 100 (mostly A pluses)
Class Rank: probably top 2%, but school does not rank
Class Size: 521 (this is why the school doesnt rank, too many kids with
95+ gpas)
Ethnicity: Pakistani American, first generation (does this help??)
Gender: Male</p>

<p>SAT I: best scores (took twice): 750 reading, 780 math, 760 writing (2290)
SAT II: Physics 800, Math 2 800, Chemistry 770, USH 740, bio m 670 (first satii in freshman year)
ACT (Twice): 33 (34 eng, 33 math, 31 reading, 34 science)
32 (30 eng, 36 math, 35 reading, 27 science)
***combining best from each section = 35</p>

<p>maximum course load at high school : 5 in all aps taken (6 total -
AP World, Euro, US, Physics B, English Lang, Psychology)
senior year: straight A+s first quarter -sent grades to yale
classes are ap calc bc, ap bio, ap lit, ap us gov, ap micro, ap italian,
advanced research honors, college finance (taken w/ local university)</p>

<p>College Credit Classes:
Stony Brook U: Intro to Undergrad Research A 4.0 GPA
CW Post: College Business Law A 4.0 GPA</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:
Research at Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
(got stellar recommendation (i think) from graduate student I worked with)
**Siemens semifinalist as a junior, special congressional recognition for research from senator clinton
Forensics Speech (no position, but two time state qualifier, only naitonal award is third place at National New England Tournament in Boston)
School Activites: Managing Editor of school paper and yearbook, treasurer
of technology club, treasuer of italian honor society</p>

<p>lots of other small stuff -50 hrs hospital volunteer, internships, some jobs,
etc.</p>

2

<p>Wow, this is pretty awesome. Your GPA and APs will go a long way toward helping you, so I wouldn't worry too much. Your SATs are average or a bit above average at best, however. btw, what does "siemens semifinalist" mean? I know about the award; I won it for MN, but what is the semifinalist distinction? </p>

<p>Also, I believe the committee considers the best composite ACT score, not the best as a combination of all the times you've taken it. The combination, however, does apply to SAT scores, of course, so that'll be good for you. </p>

<p>Again, I'm uber jealous of your grades and courses. Great job there. What with your ECs (the school stuff is a bit weak, but the research more than makes up for it), I'd say you've got some pretty stellar chances. Of course, there's the necessary disclaimer: I don't know anything; I'm just another student, etc.</p>

<p>All that notwithstanding, good luck! :)</p>

3

<p>thanks dchari for ur feedback!</p>

<p>siemens competition semifinalist means out of the 1200 students who applied
nationally, 300 are chosen as the best scientific reports. regional finalists are the top 30, and national finalists are the top 6 in the nation.</p>

<p>btw wat specifically makes my school activites average? i was hoping my
leadership positions (4) would help, so is it that these are typical of the average yale applicant? </p>

<p>as for the act, any reason y they don't combine? cause combined i think a 35
would really help. do u think i should mention in the additional info section
that combined my score is higher for future apps?</p>

<p>last, i was considering asking my newspaper and yearbook advisors to maybe do a joint recommendation -they both know me and each other well, n i hav done ALOT of work in both throughout the years-i jst wanted colleges to know how much effort i put into both, n i feel it could be overshadowed my focus on research</p>

<p>thanks again and best of luck in ur college search as well! :)</p>

4

<p>Ahh, the research award. That's wonderful. I was thinking of the siemens award for advanced placement, but this is better. </p>

<p>You were thinking of doing the newspaper/yearbook rec for subsequent applications, not to Yale? I got the impression you'd applied SCEA. But if you're actually applying RD, and considering sending in that rec and the one from the grad student you worked with to Yale, I must advise against it. Somewhere on the Yale FAQ for applicants (I'm too lazy to find the link), they strongly encourage (that's their wording):
1) TWO RECS ONLY
2) Recs from the teachers of two rigorous (and different) courses.
Their reasoning for this is that Yale is primarily an academic institution, so of course they pay a lot of attention to things like GPA, scores, etc... and it is nice to know how you will contribute to the classroom setting at Yale, so that's why they do the recs. If you've already got the grad student rec, that should be fine, but you should probably have your other one from a teacher of an academic subject. There's space on the app itself to expand on your extracurricular activity. </p>

<p>I'm not sure why they don't combine ACT scores; that's what it said on the FAQ, and I didn't investigate it much since I didn't take the ACT. </p>

<p>I suppose my comment on your school activities was a bit harsh; I may have skipped over that line when I was reading. The point is to play up those activities as much as possible in your app; that is, choose one of them, and not one of your research excursions, to expand on. </p>

<p>Hope I helped!</p>

5

<p>lol sry for not being clear - i have applied to yale scea.
i sent two academic recommendations -one from an english teacher
and one from my research teacher. i realized that I did not play up
my school acitivites other than research enough in my yale app,
n i was considering if i should send in the combined newspaper/yearbook
rec as a supplemental rec for apps to other schools. I will talk about these acitivites more in future apps, but i jst feel a supplemental rec (do u no the policies of most schools on this?) would backup that i really did do all that is claimed. </p>

<p>btw, did u apply to yale scea?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

6

<p>in case i didnt say, sry for the bajillion questions i hav :)</p>

<p>anyone else w/ comments on my chances as well?</p>

7

<p>hmmm... I'm not the one to tell you about the general opinion on supplemental recs. All I can tell you is if the school is like Yale, the answer would be no. But you probably already know that. .... i did apply scea to yale.... if you're curious about me, i posted a chances thread.</p>

8

<p>Hello,
It was my impression that the Siemens competition was only open to seniors.
How did you attain semifinalist standing as a junior?
Nice stats</p>

9

<p>hey,</p>

<p>many ppl don't know this, but the siemens competition last year
was open to teams composed of at least one senior --
i paired up with a senior n we won as a team
this year (2007) the rules were changed so juniors could
enter individually.</p>

<p>on the other hand, intel sts, a different competitoin, is open only to individual senior projects</p>

10

<p>bump
any other thoughts?</p>

11

<p>buumppp-any other thoughts?
jst looking for some feedback, since
i really and truly love yale n all it has too offer
the curriculum is great, as well as the social experience
many of my good friends go there n i no i would thrive in
that environment</p>

12

<p>they don't superscore ACT, do they?
you've done everything you could, now you just have to wait for the decision really... nothing will really keep you out; the impressive things that you have listed may or may not get you in. essays and recs could be the tipping factor, i guess? GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!</p>

13

<p>thnx, gl to u 2!</p>

14

<p>you have pretty weak (maybe poor) ECs. your SATs will not make up for your superficial profile. You are not a well rounded applicant, that Yale looks for.
I am sorry, but I have to say that your chances are less than fair.</p>

<p>:-((</p>