Hi everyone!
I was deferred SCEA at Yale in December, and as per the instructions on the deferral notification, I’m getting ready to send off my update letter this week. The most significant of these updates involve scholarships from other institutions. I was selected as a semifinalist for the GTech President’s Scholarship (top 4%), and I was awarded a Charter Scholarship at UGA (top 8%). Both take into account academics, leadership, ECs, etc. etc.
I’ve been working with my counselor and my AP Lit teacher on my application/deferral procedures, and they have differing viewpoints on mentioning these scholarships. I’m not mentioning the offers of admission, but simply the scholarships that put me at the top of the applicant pool at these institutions. Would it hurt me at Yale if I mention them? And how high on the list of updates should they go, if I am to mention them?
Mention them, but leave them low key. Not going to make a huge difference IMO for Yale, but depending on who is looking at your app, it could be a tip factor.
IMO, Yale (and HPMS, etc.) are not overly influenced by the information that another school offered you a scholarship, if the other school is not as selective as Yale.
WHY would you mention scholarships from other colleges to Yale Admissions that are not transferrable? Yale Admissions understands that every applicant applies to multiple colleges, and a competitive applicant to Yale will receive multiple offers from other schools. As the scholarships are NOT to peer institutions (HPSM, the rest of the ivies or little ivies) Yale Admissions will NOT be impressed. In fact, Admissions might just say “Let him go to GTech or UGA!” IMHO, you absolutely should NOT mention your other scholarships, as it’s pointless and could backfire.
I am including the President’s Scholarship not necessarily to show them that I have another offer, but rather because it is highly selective (500/12,000 are semifinalists), so it is more a demonstration of merit than an effort to leverage another acceptance. I’m taking out the UGA scholarship, but what if I keep GT as the last item in my list of updates? Keeping it low-key, as @cptofthehouse suggested.
Maybe I should also mention that my list of updates is followed by my “interest in Yale/first choice” paragraph, which is strong and sincere. I mention twice that Yale is my #1 and I state that I will enroll if admitted. So it’s not like I’m drawing all their attention to my opportunities at another college and saying “Oh, you’d better accept me because I have other options besides you”.
Given GTech’s applicant pool, I imagine EVERY admitted Yale student could also qualify for the same Presidential Scholarship at GTech – so mentioning it in your update letter is not telling Yale Admissions anything, other than you’re a highly qualified applicant for GTech. But, that doesn’t mean anything for Yale, as it’s NOT a peer school. Come on, use common sense – GTech has a 33% acceptance rate. Most students admitted at GTech are not competitive for Yale. IMHO, you should keep the scholarship very low-key and NOT mention it, as it’s not a compelling reason why Yale should move your application from the deferred pile to the accepted pile (sorry). I realize you’re grasping at straws trying to leverage any advantage you may have, but I don’t think this is one of them!
FWIW: My daughter applied to Yale and was deferred and then rejected in the RD round. What didn’t Yale like about her? Who knows? Bottom line, she was accepted to Harvard and just graduated PBK, so it’s Yale loss! (And I’m saying this with a son at Yale!)