How bad is it if I didn't answer "Why Yale?"

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
21

<p>You’re not gonna get “instantly rejected” and Yale isn’t so haughty as to see this omission as a “slap in the face”. Get real. They VALUE each of your SCEA apps and are mining them right now for reasons to admit as many of you as they, in good conscience, can do. Don’t you get that?</p>

<p>OP: if you’re really worried, write up the 500 character “Why Yale” bit and fax it in. It’ll get scanned and attached to the rest of your file. It’s highly likely that no one has even read your file yet.</p>

<p>OK?</p>

22

<p>well i don’t think it’s that bad, but i believe there are very few people who did not answer the question so they might wonder why you didn’t.</p>

<p>and speaking of the “optional” essays for all colleges in general, I think that if they have it on the supplement, you should try your best to fill them in. I mean I haven’t heard of anyone who didn’t write the “optional” essay for harvard supplement…</p>

23

<p>^ Look through the CC forums. There are quite a number of Harvard acceptees who didn’t do the optional essay.</p>

24

<p>Maybe I’m overanalyzing this, but Harvard does make a point to call it an “Optional essay.” Yale did no such thing on their Why Yale question.</p>

25

<p>If you answer the question well I’m sure it’ll boost your app, but since it’s not required I don’t think it’ll hurt you…but then it would be nice to have the boost though.</p>

26

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<p>Probably the only useful bit of advice on here. I agree with T26E4.</p>

27

<p>I’m sure it’s not an automatic reject, and if the rest of your application is strong, and if you talked about Yale in another essay, it probably won’t make any difference.</p>

<p>But the moral here is: nothing is really optional, even if it says it is.</p>

28

<p>I agree with the above; just write it up and email/fax it to Yale admissions. They’ll probably understand it was just a simple mistake. </p>

<p>(^^^ I think it is required)</p>

29

<p>^^ I agree </p>

<p>Yale asks the “Why Yale” question because they – like any college – are concerned about yield. If you omit the question, it does not give the ad coms a warm and fuzzy feeling that you would attend Yale if accepted. Fax it in!</p>

30

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<p>Hmmm. Yale’s yield is historically consistently very good. They know very well that there isn’t a single applicant who half-asses his or her application. I would say they are concerned with snapping up the few exceptional kids who show up on the radars of Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton a lot more than they are with overall yield.</p>

31

<p>I wrote one up and sent it in. Thank you all for the advice- in particular to the ones who gave me something I could go on. Fingers crossed for the next ~40 days!</p>