<p>Hi everyone, so I (along with 2734 other applicants) was deferred from the Yale early action round. This has made me reconsider some of the other schools I'm applying to, so could anyone give me some input on what my match schools would be, and if I'm being too unrealistic?</p>
<p>Here's some basic info about me</p>
<p>Citizenship - Canadian
SAT I - 2330 on the second try (2370 super scored)
SAT II - 800 literature, 790 world history, 790 french w/listening
GPA - predicted at a 43 on the IB scale
IB Classes - French SL (7), English HL, History HL, Geography HL, Biology SL, Math SL
Class rank - not reported at our school
AP - Human Geo (5), French Language and Culture (5), Microeconomics (5), Macro (5)
Major Awards - first ranked GPA in grades 9 and 10 (I was at a different school then), top 0.5% in Canada for a national math contest, AP Scholar with Honor, Duke of Ed Program Bronze and Silver awards</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Debate - coached since grade 10, ran a tournament to fundraise for a mental health organization, made it to finals for a few national/international tournaments
Model UN - executive member for 4 conferences, awarded at 2 national conferences
Field Hockey - playing since grade 8, provincial umpiring certification
Work experience - interned at a sustainability consulting firm since June 2015
Community Service - museum volunteer</p>
<p>The universities I originally planned to apply to are:
Duke
Harvard
Princeton
Dartmouth
Grinnell
Amherst
Williams
UPenn
Washington and Lee
Colgate</p>
<p>So... as an international and based on my profile, do I have a shot at any of these? Being deferred has kind of changed my whole perspective on college admissions and now I think I might be aiming too high...</p>
<p>@am291x I hope you’re right! I visited Amherst in the summer and thought it was absolutely gorgeous :)</p>
<p>@mnm111 Oh I forgot to mention that I’ve applied to a Canadian university already (UBC) but I’m more into the humanities/social sciences, which is why I’m not doing McGill </p>
<p>Remember that you got deferred and not denied. That means that the Yale admissions officers see some redeeming qualities in you. If you stand out in the crowd of RD applicants, you may actually be accepted. Your college list is actually pretty balanced. You really only need 1 safety you’d be happy at. Thus, if you’re happy with possibly having to go to Grinnell or Colgate, you’re all set! </p>
<p>Try not to worry about it too much. Just because you weren’t accepted at Yale yet doesn’t mean that other colleges won’t see what a great find you are.</p>
<p>As mentioned above, the fact is that Yale defers many applicants, so it isn’t easy to say (pardon the perceived bluntness here), that you’re either qualified or not so. Your stats look competitive to me, so I’d say that you should keep your list as is. Now, if you were talking about a deferral from Stanford it’d be different, as they defer far fewer people. Either way, you will assuredly get into many of your schools, good luck!</p>
<p>A safety is a school you’re almost guaranteed admissions into. A match is a school where your stats are “on par” with what they generally admit. For ivies, there’s no such thing as a mach even if your stats are on par.</p>
<p>In terms of picking schools to apply to a safety is a school where you are near-guaranteed admittance, are happy to go to, and can afford.</p>
W&L tries very very very hard to get international students. Judging purely based on the your SAT and EC’s (I have no idea what your GPA means), I think you have a good shot. Did you apply for the Johnson scholarship at W&L?
You were deferred at one of the most select colleges in the country. This was a surprise? Would you be happy to attend UCB? If so, why are you rethinking your list? Didn’t you put a ton of thought into it already? The only that happened since is what was most probably going to happen.
Duke - Reach
Harvard - Reach
Princeton - Reach
Dartmouth - Reach
Grinnell - Safety
Amherst - Low Reach
Williams - Low Reach
UPenn - Reach
Washington and Lee - Match
Colgate - Match