<p>I'm applying to Yale (my #1) and H and P, and also Chicago, WashU, and Duke... but I really care about Yale most. What are my chances still? Why was I deferred?</p>
<p>Academics:
SATs: 740CR-780M-770W (10 essay)
SAT2s: 750 Math2, 750 German, 730 Physics
First in my class of 78 at a public school where no one's ever even applied to Yale
National Merit Semifinalist
5 AP German, 5 AP US Govt, 4 AP Eng Lang, 4 AP Phys B
Yale Book Award / Bausch&Lomb Science Scholar</p>
<p>Extracirriculars:
Was a year-long foreign exchange student in Germany in 10th grade
Varsity cross country
President of this year's record-setting United Way (service) Club
Treasurer of Key Club
Founder of Model United Nations Club at my school
Winner of Rotary 4-Way Speech Contest
Academic Challenge Team (Top3- was on TV)</p>
<p>I took or am taking every AP class my school offers, and have aced all of them... I also have 3 top student awards... ive also done a couple other ECs, but not really anything to brag about, except my my university of notre dame summer experience thing this year.</p>
<p>i think one of my rec letters was really good, one was bad, and i dont know about my counselors... she wrote me one before and it kind of exaggerated a lot: "an inspiration to the rest of the school", "unbelievably brilliant", that sort of thing.</p>
<p>Well, you spelled 'caffein' wrong, so... Just joking. I've heard that Yale only accepted URMs, legacies, and athletes SCEA to fill their quotas. They deferred the other students they'd like to accept for reconsideration during regular admissions.</p>
<p>Deferred. I'm there with you man. My theory is that they took all the kids that they thought might go to Harvard, just so they can snag a couple of the best students away from Harvard. I go to a competitive prep school in Mass, and we got 10 students into Yale early. However, all 10 wanted to go to either Harvard or Princeton, and were by far the best in their grade (NONE were even affiliated with the school, meaning not even siblings which I have). </p>
<p>We'll see what happens. I know for a fact that a large percentage of Yale EA kids applied Harvard (especially because the supplements were essentially the same). So what will Yale do if 200 of 480 go to Harvard? Who knows? They may have to dip into the deferral pool. We are basically tests to see if Yale having EA while Harvard and Princeton don't makes sense...</p>
<p>You say one of two recs was "bad". There is no place for a really "bad" rec letter in an early app. Hope you are wrong about it being bad. If it is bad then it will hurt you in other places too- you should do something about it.</p>
<p>You mention that you are the only student in your school that ever even applied to Yale. If the school is unknown then your grades and class rank and top student awards don't carry as much weight. </p>
<p>Your stats are good but based on your presentation of your package you don't immediately "differentiate" yourself in a dramatic way. Maybe your essays did that, maybe not?</p>
<p>I'm not putting you down, I'm just trying to explain why you might not have made the EA round. You are a very strong applicant. Deferred is much better than Rejected. I know a Val in a local school that had a similar package as yours, he was deferred last year and got in RD. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone... yes, i know i spelled caffeine wrong... its something i did in like 6th grade and everyone thought it was funny, so i still use it as my username for stuff...</p>
<p>Dangy, What are URMs?</p>
<p>scared6378, i did apply to a couple of fallbacks, i just got into OSU this weekend, but i just didnt worry about writing that stuff down.</p>
<p>vicariousparent- i guess the rec wasn't really "bad", but i know the teacher and if i had to guess she just wrote things like, "he attends school funtions" and "he participates in class and does his homework", which doesnt really tell yale a whole lot. also, she was my math teacher, and my other rec was from a science teacher, so i asked my govt teacher (who i think will write a good rec) to send one in for me after i was deferred. hope it helps. also, i think youre right about the essays, they were good, but not great. im sending in two new essays today. i figgured my applying early would sort of make up me rushing through my essays (in order to apply early). now ive had some more time, i hope these 2 new ones, which are pretty good, i think, will help me.</p>
<p>Yale is Yale, as they say. No one really knows what they are looking for, SCEA or RD. Obviously the Ad Com knows, and it probably changes from season to season. One of my D's classmates last year was rejected at Yale and accepted at Harvard. My D was deferred EA, eventually rejected, and is now at Brown. It's really hard to know what they consider will make a good student, how the class will be shaped, and what is the best fit for their school.</p>
<h2>My theory is that they took all the kids that they thought might go to Harvard, just so they can snag a couple of the best students away from Harvard</h2>
<p>I agree. My high school is a feeder to the ivies (in new york city) and we sent 8 kids from 28 EA applicants to Yale early this year. And from those 8, 6 are applying regular to harvard. only 2 applied because yale was their top choice</p>
<p>Oh, no doubt about it. I'm sure many Yale SCEA admits have their eye on Harvard or Pton RD. Based on who I see Yale has decided to admit from EA, I expect a lot of cross admits with HP in the spring. I wonder what Yale will do to try to keep us early admits with YALE, rather than HP. What do you guys think? For one, they say they are not releasing their new financial package (due next month probably) because of Harvard's, but I'm sure there is some sort of relationship, even if they already had something in the works.</p>
<p>I heard Yale is doing that same program for SCEA admits this year that they did for RD admits last year... they're having current Yale undergrads call these admits and tell them how great Yale is in order to lure them... and if I had to guess, it'll work pretty well. H and P are going to have to come up with something too, especially since they got rid of EA/ED. I just think it sucks that Yale's now going to spend all this effort trying to recruit students who don't really want to go there, but then turn down virtually equally-qualified students whose #1 choice is Yale.</p>
<p>caffinefree-- are you sending in new essays to yale? i got deferred, too, and i think my essays could've been better. i didn't know that you were allowed to do that...</p>
<p>The bottom line is that the vast majority ofm qualified applicants do not get into Yale, or most ivies because there is very little space. After the hooked applicants are accepted (40% of the class) less than 4% of the unhooked applicants are admitted. </p>
<p>Move on emotionally, you will get into some wonderful schools.</p>