Do I have a chance for RD?

[Enon12]

Objective:
ACT- 33 Composite
SAT II- Math 2 (780), US History (800), Literature (800)
APs- World History (4), US History (4), English Lang and Comp (5), Art History (5)
GPA- 3.95 unweighted, 4.25 weighted
Rank- 15th out of 179 students at a blue ribbon awarded school
Course rigor- 5 APs, seven honors
Senior Courses- AP Civics, AP Literature, Physics Honors (No AP physics at my school), Calculus Honors, Economics(No AP Econ at my school), Religion IV (Required every year as a Catholic school), Speech and Political Persuasion III
Intended Major: Economics/ Political Science

Subjective:

Extracurriculars-

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Tresurer for Student Council
Executive Board leader for NHS
Student Ambassador
Book Club President
Literary Magazine Editor and President
Key Club Special service liaison
Writer for the local city newspaper (Not the school paper)
President of the Harry Potter Club/ Quidditch Leauge
Vice President of the Writing Club
Various theater productions

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Job/Volunteer Experience-

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Founder of three regional/ countrywide charities and service projects (See below)

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Success Starts at the Library- registered nonprofit that tutors low-income students from elementary through high school, holds leadership seminars and classes for the students and provides cost-free supplies. Much more in-depth than appears here.

Naïve Nativity- an ecologically focused charity that grows and harvests native species that have been wiped out in various ecosystems across the country and replants the grown species back into the original environment. Also, does educational classes and children camp works.

Open Table-Open Hearts- a charity service project that invited homeless and disadvantaged people into people’s homes around the community to share in a meal and break the stigmas of poverty and wealth. Done through shelters and food banks all throughout the state. An intimate social project

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Additionally, youngest board member in a local food bank. In charge of stocking and volunteer coordination. I also liaison with various grocery stores to receive free or discounted produce as part of my eat fresh initiative.

Youth liaison in a local preservation society. I motivated young students to advocate and lobby the town for funds and grants and stricter government regulations on the environment.

Humane Society Volunteer

Charity art gala organizer and head of decorations committee.

Work experience- Internship at Merril Lynch as well as various for pay tutoring jobs.

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Awards-

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AP Scholar with Honor
Patrick F. Taylor Foundation Scholar Award
2nd place for best News Writing Article for the Louisiana Scholastic Press Accusation
1st Place in AP Writing
2nd Place in Journalism
Highest academic and extracurricular activities honor for four years
Highest level service award for completing 100 hours of service for three years.
PR Award (Basically for being the public face of the school)

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Essays-Beautifully done actually and professionally edited four different times.

Recommendations- AP Writing teacher was 10/10 beautifully written with fantastic imagery and prose. APUSH Teacher 9/10 spoke about me as a person with a kind heart and giving spirit. Counselor Rec is fantastic and very focused on me as a leader and an academic power.

Weakness:
Might I not be too great academically maybe? Lower testing score on ACT?

Other:
State- LA
Gender- Male
Ethnicity- White
School: Private
Class size: 176

[gibby]

Welcome to College Confidential. You seem like a wonderful applicant, as are most students who will ultimately be rejected. As Yale receives more qualified applications than they have seats in their freshman class, Admissions uses a student’s teacher recommendations, guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report (SSR), essays and interview report to choose one high performing student over another. They look for wonderful scholars of “good character” – that’s an old fashioned word meaning the way you develop your inner qualities, intellectual passion, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance, inclusiveness and love of learning. As none of those qualities can be gleaned from a post like yours, the best that can be said is that your stats place within Yale’s range, so your stats will not disqualify you from being admitted.

As a new member to College Confidential you may have missed this famous post on the MIT forum. Everything in it applies to YHS et al: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/939227-reminder-no-one-not-even-me-can-give-you-an-accurate-chance-at-mit-p1.html

Best of luck to you!

[Enon12]

My charity work and social projects that I mentioned more than cover the social conscience and concern for the community aspect I believe. Thanks for your response through!

[gibby]

^^ FWIW: Colleges learn about a student’s social conscience and concern for the community NOT from looking at an EC list, but from comments made by your guidance counselor and recommendation writers. Colleges are looking for adults in a supervisory capacity to back-up what a student says about themselves in their Common Application. The more positive comments from your teachers and GC about your moral character and commitment to social conscience and concern for community, the better it is for an applicant. See: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/testing/the-real-role-of-tests-in-your-college-application

Students, when we’re on the road, we often play a little kind of quiz show game with students, asking what they think is the most important part of the application. Many, many students respond, “Well, the testing must be the most important.” It’s actually one of the less important elements in the file. The testing can give you a sense of what schools are within your range, and it gives the school a sense of what students in the applicant pool are within their range. The most important part of your application — bar none, no question, any college — is your high school transcript. Probably the next most important are your teacher recommendations, particularly if you’re applying to any kind of selective college or university.

Notice the comments are made by Jeffrey Brenzel, Yale’s retired dean of Admissions.