Help a Freshman in HS

Colleges & Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>I'm interested in Yale because of its Ethics, Politics and Economics program, its Directed Studies program, its Residential College system, and its incredibly vibrant Theatre program. </p>

<p>I'm currently a freshman in high school at a fairly competitive high school (aren't they all these days) in Northern Virginia. I didn't do as well as I'd hoped academically, my current academic GPA is a UW 3.55, and my overall GPA is UW ~3.7. </p>

<p>This is my planned schedule for the rest of H.S.:</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Algebra II HN
Chemistry HN
French 3
AP World(only AP we can take)
English HN
Theatre 2
Chorus
Online PE</p>

<p>Junior:
APUSH
AP Lang
APES
French 4
Pre-calc HN
Theatre 3
Economics+Finance(Required Class)</p>

<p>Senior:
AP Calc AB
AP Gov
AP Bio
AP Lit
AP Macro+Micro
AP Psychology
Theatre 4</p>

<p>If I show an upward trend and get a UW 3.9+ academic GPA, could I possibly be in academic shape for admission to Yale. I have absolute confidence I will be able to get a 2250+ on the SAT. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars-wise, I didn't have an extremely strong freshman year. I'm a member of Model Judiciary. My main extracurricular though was theatre. I'm intensely involved in theatre, and there has rarely been a time this year when I haven't been involved in theatre. Every summer I'm involved in shows as well. Theatre is one of my passions, and I mean that in the truest sense of the word. An interest I have that I didn't get to explore this year is politics. Since 2008 (I was 10, I know) I have had a great interest in politics, and this year I applied for and got an internship for a gubernatorial campaign in VA, but it was too far away from my home. Next year and next summer, I plan on applying for internships at various state legislative office and for the FCDC(Fairfax County Democratic Committee). Junior year, I plan on applying for Boys State, a program in which
"Program participants are first divided up into subgroups referred to as cities. The citizens of each of these cities elect mock municipal officials and representatives to the mock state legislature. If enough citizens are present, then a county level is added to the program between city and state. The participants also elect state officials, such as governor, lieutenant governor, and other state-level officials that their real state has. The legislature meets to organize, elect leaders, and to pass bills, in a way that is similar to how their actual legislature operates. Some programs tend to have a more traditional education focus, providing speakers and training throughout the week and then concluding with mock political functions. Other programs take a more hands-on approach by running the mock government activities all week. " I will have no sports during high school, but I plan on founding a UNICEF chapter at my school. I will take leadership positions in various Honor Societies as well, although I realize this won't set me apart from other applicants.</p>

<p>I'm African-American if that matters</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post and I guess what I'm asking is have I screwed myself over academically and extracurricularly (who cares that that's not a word) too much, or can I still be redeemed and by senior year have a reasonable chance of acceptance at Yale(or as reasonable as you can get. It's Yale, c'mon).</p>

2

<p>Does your high school use Naviance, or do they have a similar electronic system of tracking college acceptances? If so, look at the schools you are interested in, and see what the average GPA has been of students accepted to those schools. Can you attain that GPA if you work really diligently over the next 2 years? If you don’t know the answer, ask your guidance counselor. </p>

<p>At some high schools, an overall GPA of 93+ is needed for colleges such as Yale, no matter what a student scores on their SAT/ACT. That may or may not be true at your high school. Ask your GC!</p>

3

<p>My school does have a system like that, but it’s only available for upperclassmen at my school.</p>

4

<p>Then, ask your GC if you will be on track for Yale come junior year. Or, befriend an upperclassman who will get the data for you.</p>

5

<p>Nobody can tell you your odds at Yale at this point. However, I just want to warn you that there is no guarantee you’ll be admitted to either Directed Studies or EP&E even if you get into Yale. </p>

<p>I don’t say that to be discouraging. I’ve just seen kids who REALLY wanted to do Directed Studies get into Yale, turn in their deposits, and then find out they did not get into DS. They started college upset and disappointed. The same is true of EP&E. It’s one of Yale’s few selective majors so you can NOT count on getting into it. </p>

<p>This is not unique to Yale. I’ve known kids who were SURE they would get into the Woodrow Wilson program at Princeton and chose Princeton because of that program who were not admitted. To a lesser extent, it also happens with social studies majors at Harvard. </p>

<p>Of course, many people change majors. And, of course, you may not get into Yale. I’m just expressing a general principle–don’t choose a college because of a specific program if admission into that program isn’t open to all of those who are interested in it.</p>