Double Major = Good soft factor?

<p>Seriously, it doesn't take a Rhodes or publishing novels to get into Yale Law. Of course, a fair # of Rhodes Scholars and at least one published novelist have been admitted in recent years, but it certainly doesn't mean it's a requirement. </p>

<p>The thing is...there really is no blueprint for getting into Yale. After the initial cut, the apps are reviewed by faculty members. They can apply whatever standards they want. They do not have to account to anyone. Different applications are read by different faculty members, so results are often inconsistent. </p>

<p>I know a group of 4 friends who applied. All went to the same college. All had the same major. All participated in the same primary EC. All had gpa's of 3.7 or better and LSATs above 175. None were URMs. </p>

<p>They agreed on the order in which they would be accepted. In other words, YLS might not take any of them; it might take all of them. But if it only took one, #1 was the obvious choice. He had a 180 LSAT and was the only one of the four with a couple of years of work experience. They agreed on the order for the others as well: 2,3,4. I STILL think that if anyone looked at all 4 apps, they would rank the 4 of them the same way. But, of course, that doesn't happen. Different faculty members see different apps.</p>

<p>End result? 3 and 4 got in; 1 and 2 were wait-listed. </p>

<p>If you want to run for student body president, go ahead. But do not think if I have a 3.75+, a 175+ LSAT and am prez of the Emory student body, I'll get into YLS. It just doesn't work that way.</p>

<p>no its much more erratic than that i'd suppose and now understand. but i just plan on doing the things i want to in college with the fact in my mind that they will hopefully help me, ya know? student body prez is just one of those things but idk </p>

<p>can we elaborate on how one becomes or earns the rhodes?</p>

<p>bdm,</p>

<p>The most Duke has had in recent years is 3 Rhodes in one year: in 05 and 01. They also had none this year (07) and in 04. But even Harvard, who had 34 the past 11 years, had none in 05 or 00. They also had 6 in 06 and 5 two other years. Note that these are US Rhodes numbers. A few schools, Harvard, Yale and Pton mostly, pad their count with Rhodes awarded in other countries for students that attend HYP.</p>

<p>Huh. Guess my memory's going. (I graduated 2006.)</p>

<p>BDM,</p>

<p>Lots of folks confuse Rhodes with Marshall with Fullbright. Since they award about 6000 of the latter, you can see how lots of people think Rhodes Scholars are much more common than they are!</p>

<p>But no matter. The truth is that the same qualities that lead a kid to win a Rhodes, Marshall, Gates etc. are also the qualities that make for a winning application for grad and professional school by and large. So it is hard to sort out any bump from the award versus what must be a darn good package.</p>

<p>Yep, and the truth is that many, if not most, of the Rhodes Scholars who attend/have attended Yale Law in recent years were accepted at YLS as college seniors, before the results of the Rhodes were announced, and then deferred to do the Rhodes.</p>

<p>If you speak a foreign language fluently and apply for openings in non-English speaking nations, it's not all that hard to get a Fullbright. It has a lot to do with the project that you've come up with, rather than your academic record. Of course, not all that many US students speak a foreign language fluently, so that's a pretty big if. </p>

<p>Moreover, the "teaching" Fullbrights are still easier to get and aren't that popular at some of the top colleges, because the "in house" programs are better and pay better stipends.</p>