<p>^ He had EC's, just no volunteer. I wouldn't say its flawed beyond hope -_-.</p>
<p>I'm doing different essays; for Harvard, I want to elaborate on my ethnic background more.</p>
<p>And yeah, my lack of activity sucks. It... has a lot to do with the shape my life took, especially in my early years. I'm not going to type out my life story, and no, it's not really tragic in the sense that I was put in a horrible situation, but I'll just say I'm thankful for what I've done, what I have, and what I know about myself now, and it quite honestly doesn't matter to me whether I get into those schools or not. Funny to say that on my own chances thread.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who's replied so far.</p>
<p>You'll be in for sure at Stanford; just to put it out there---> Stanford's class of 2012 is 12% Hispanic/Latino/a, that's a lot compared to most schools!</p>
<p>Oh, sorry, wrong thread! I thought this was your Stanford thread.</p>
<p>Werg, I was rejected early action from Yale, too. But Chapel Hill seems to want me with a scholarship, too, which is about as hard to get as getting into Georgetown, Duke, Wash. U., or Columbia...</p>
<p>It is a crapshoot, no matter what anyone says, and you being rejected just proves that point even further. If someone else applied from your school, that can also hurt your chances. Everyone I know who was flat-out rejected EA at Yale had another person in their school who applied and got in.</p>
<p>It especially hurts if your school is quite small!</p>
<p>Lesson: Do NOT despair!!!!!!!</p>
<p>Hmm... yeah, I was rejected from Columbia ED, but my stats are nowhere near as impressive as yours---EC's maybe. (Testing screws me over. Every time.) Plus I'm Asian, which blows if you're a bad test-taker. </p>
<p>I say you have a very good chance. Maybe Yale didn't need as many English majors this year?</p>
<p>Dude try to figure out why you were rejected by Yale. Contact them maybe?</p>
<p>There's gotta be some killer in your app, because with your stats and URM status you should have been at worse deferred. I know several kids that weren't anywhere near as qualified as you, and they were deferred. Usually in EA cases for schools like Yale, Stanford, and MIT you don't get rejected unless there's some fatal flaw.</p>
<p>I'm worried I didn't show enough personality or something. I read my counselor rec and it was solid, not brilliant, but definitely solid, said I went from being a shy intellectual to an outgoing leader during high school. No real alarm bells went off there.</p>
<p>I have two B's and a C on my transcript... all earned in 8th grade. Perhaps that hurt me?</p>
<p>I ended up sending an essay about how I wear shorts to school every day. Hopefully that helps me show some personality.</p>
<p>*** a mexicain jew? how does that work...</p>
<p>Mom's Jewish, dad's Mexican.</p>
<p>"And yeah, my lack of activity sucks. It... has a lot to do with the shape my life took, especially in my early years. I'm not going to type out my life story, and no, it's not really tragic in the sense that I was put in a horrible situation, but I'll just say I'm thankful for what I've done, what I have, and what I know about myself now. . . ."</p>
<p>Instead of writing about your ethnicity in the Harvard supplement, perhaps you should have written your "life story." It would have helped the admissions officers interpret your activities in their proper context. I am not assuming that your essay was in any way mundane, but even if you found a very creative way to express the import of your ethnic background, the reality is that essays about identity are all too common, so they are read with prejudice. I, too, have an interesting ethnic background, but I opted to write a more holistic, biographical essay about my upbringing because I wanted admissions officers to realize why I had not undertaken very many activities. That was a very risky decision, but it paid off, it seems.</p>
<p>The moral of the story: use your interview as an opportunity to speak about the events that have shaped your life, even if it means gently changing the subject now and again. The interviewer will (or should, at least, if he is passionate about his job) appreciate such introspection and maturity, and so will the adcom. Plus, your life story offers unparalleled insights into your personality.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn't write about my ethnicity. I wrote about my wearing shorts to school every day, but it really tied in with how I've grown as a person and gained confidence and independence as I've gone through high school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you got flat-out rejected SCEA Yale, it's unlikely that Harvard will go well for you.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Absurd statement.</p>
<p>TheWerg I remember being pretty shocked about your rejection. I don't necessarily think that things are a roll of the dice, but perhaps your personality will fit better into HPS. I know from correspondence with my Yale regional adcom that personal qualities were a very big factor in my acceptance, and I'm reasonably qualified in other aspects too. Maybe something with essays/recs put them off, who knows. If you sent applications to HPS, you're getting in somewhere, unless you're making contact with the admissions department or something that makes you look like an a-hole.</p>
<p>TheWerg. I'm just curious. How did you get to read your counselor's and your other two recommendations to know one was a form letter and the other was great?</p>
<p>They gave the letters to me to send, not sealed in envelopes. Everything was positive anyway so it's not like they had anything to worry about.</p>
<p>ok im a little confused here:</p>
<p>"Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 11/540, lost ranks because of AWFUL 8th grade."</p>
<p>how can you have a 4.0 unweighted gpa, but "lost ranks because of an AWFUL 8th grade" by getting two Bs and a C? if your class rank was affected, wouldn't that mean your gpa was affected?</p>
<p>I'm going on the assumption that, as many people have said, colleges don't count grades received prior to high school. If they do, it's slightly lower than 4.0, not sure about the exact number. Basically I've gotten straight A's 9th through 12th grades.</p>
<p>Hey man I feel for you I'm Hispanic Jew and I have similar stats. I was rejected as well. I however got into a little squabble with the Dean of Admissions :P. But nonetheless prolly it was one of your essays that rubbed them the wrong way. Yale is considered the hardest Ivy to predict acceptances. Also, I felt as you did, "**** I got rejected from YALE; no one will want me!" </p>
<p>This just isnt the case. Each school has its own system and expectations. They prolly read your application and said, "Hmmm.. this one doesnt seem like a Yalie." That's how they act. Added by that I had the worst experiences at Yale... rude professors, racist admission reps, and snobby deans of admission! </p>
<p>Go Harvard!</p>
<p>Did you use the same essays/recs for Yale and Harvard?</p>
<p>As a rejected SCEAer, I sure hope Yale's verdict isn't the same as Harv's. :\ Best of luck to all of us rejectees, anyways!</p>