Could someone chance me, please? Help is DESPERATELY needed!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Hi! I really need some help to figure out how big, or small, are my chances to enroll in one of America's top universities. I'm planning on focusing on philosophy, international politics and law. </p>

<p>I really appreciate your help, since counseling on American undergrad studies is, basically, non-existent in my country.</p>

<p>Age:19</p>

<p>Nationality: Portuguese</p>

<p>Graduated: May '10, valedictorian with a 1.0 Abitur average and honors in the field of Science, since I was the school's best student in every scientific subject, although I also ranked #1 in every humanistic studies class.</p>

<p>School: German School of Oporto (from Kindergarten to Gymnasium) - it's a German state-funded bilingual Gymnasium in Portugal's second-biggest city, Oporto.</p>

<p>What have I done since then?: Studied/ying Medicine at Portugal's top med school</p>

<p>Languages: Portuguese, German, English, French, Spanish (every single one fluently), Italian (basic knowledge), Latin (basic)</p>

<p>SAT scores: 790 Writing - 800 Reading - 760 Maths
SAT Subject scores: World History 800 - US History 800
TOEFL:119</p>

<p>Awards:
Well, here in Portugal, especially at my school, there isn't an award culture. You only get awards for your academic merits. So what I have is this:</p>

<p>Valedictorian, class of '10 and all-time (the school is 110 years old)
Award for excellency in the field of Science
Best student in the country (If I apply to any Portuguese Law School, I'd be applying with the highest possible grade, which is a 20.0 in Portugal - I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'd probably be the first one to do so)</p>

<p>Extrac's:
President of the GSO Student Government for 2 years
Member of the School Council for 2 years
President and founder of the Student's Association of the German Schools of the iberian Peninsula
President and founder of the Student's Association of the International Schools of Oporto
Class delegate for 5 years (don't know if this counts, but it is relatively important in my school)
Member of the GSO varsity volleyball team
Captain of the GSO middle school basketball team
Coach of the GSO middle school basketball team
Active at my local parish for about four years - I've been doing some work with homeless people and I'm also a monitor at the local Catholic Youth group - we have about 400-500 kids over there, it's the biggest religious group for teens in Oporto.
Participated in the Schleswig-Holstein Model UN
I am responsible for an initiative on Health Awareness at a primary school from one of the city's poorest neighbourhoods.
Founding member of the Debating Society of the GSO
Played the violin for about 7 years
Played tennis for about 6 years
I'm also thinking of doing a summer internship at the EU or at the International Court of Den Haag (don't know if that is possible, though)</p>

<p>About my Abitur:
I graudated with a 1.0 - my grades are extremely high in the humanistic field. I had the highest possible grade in every single history semester, in all the others my average is about 14.something or higher - 15 being the highest possible grade in the German system.</p>

<p>Scholarships:
For my valedictorian status I received a scholarship, which is essentialy a free-pass for an internship at any German firm.
When I was 16, I got a scholarship from the Robert Bosch Stiftung to pursue a Bachelor in Engineering at the University of Heidelberg and procede with my Abitur studies at the same time. </p>

<p>Recommendation letters:
History teacher, English teacher, Philosophy teacher, German teacher, Headmaster.
My headmaster has said, that the German ambassador to Portugal was very interested in writing a recommendation letter, too! Which of these should I send? </p>

<p>So, how do my chances look like? Do you have any suggestions? I'm looking forward for your answers, thanks for your help!</p>

<p>"Abra</p>

2

<p>This is almost too good to be true…</p>

<p>For recs I’d go with one person that knows you the best, then either headmaster or German Ambassador (depending on how well he knows you).</p>

<p>Um… I think no matter what you do you’re 100% accepted…</p>

3

<p>I know, but I’ve worked my butt off for all of these things :P</p>

<p>My history teacher knows me, since I’m ten years old. The headmaster knows me for about five years and we have a lot of contact, due to my position as President of the Student of Council and member of the School Council.</p>

4

<p>Dang, have you read all the recs? choose the ones that you like the most and send the ambassador one maybe as an extra.</p>

5

<p>For this year, I’ve sent the one from my history teacher, the one from the headmaster and from my philosophy teacher and the one from the Ambassador. </p>

<p>If i don’t get in this year, I’ll go for a rec from one of my possible orientators in a possible internship in 2012!</p>

6

<p>Even with stellar credentials such as yours, you are applying to schools that have accpetance levels, for the mostpart, in the single digits. Keep that in mind.</p>

7

<p>Are you only applying to Yale because if I was you and had those credentials, I would apply to all the Ivies</p>

8

<p>No, I’m applying to all the Ivies, Stanford, UChicago and Northwestern. </p>

<p>Nonetheless, I’m also applying to Oxford and Cambridge. If I don’t get enough financial aid or if I don’t get into Harvard/Stanford/Yale/Columbia, I’ll seriously consider Oxford and Cambridge.</p>

9

<p>I really hope you get into your top choices and get enough financial aid to go. I think you have a really good chance of getting into most of those.</p>

10

<p>Thanks Suprafreskid, Happy New Year!</p>

11

<p>Couple of questions for you. 1) Why do you want to switch to an American school? It sounds like you want to give up your medical studies permanently… 2) You will be applying as a transfer, right? Since you have already started undergraduate/professional education for 1.5(?) years. Yale accepts something like 1% of transfer applicants, but your credentials sound excellent.</p>

12

<p>P - congratulations on all you’ve achieved. I don’t know much about chancing for Yale but wanted to tell you two things:</p>

<p>1) Are you aware that you cannot apply for both Oxford and Cambridge? They can see that you’ve done it via the UCAS application they are sent, and I’ve never heard of it not leading to automatic rejection. Perhaps this is just de facto for UK-school kids like me, though, and they’ll treat it differently if you’re from Portugal? I really think you should check this out.</p>

<p>2) The reply above me suggests you would be applying as a transfer since you’ve done a year of university, but I’d suggest you don’t do that: the rate of admission is much lower, and the systems are so different it will be impossible for you to transfer credits from the university you’re at now, so you’ll likely be at Yale for 4 years anyway, as far as I understand.</p>

<p>Finally - you are able to submit additional reccomendations to the Common App as well as your two required academic teacher references. I’d send 2 from academic teachers who have taught you subjects you’ve been best at, and then perhaps add the headmaster and the ambassador to put all your achievements in context in additional letters of reccomendation.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>