<p>What is Yale looking for in someone in order for them to accept you? What does your average have to be and what do your SAT scores have to be? i have no idea what i should do if i want to get in!</p>
<p>if we knew, we would do it! lol</p>
<p>um just attach some $20 bills with your app. that's what i did.</p>
<p>haha.. too bad even if we did it wouldn't work :(</p>
<p>haha, you havent been accepted yet, so you cant claim that works.
but i wish i had done that as well</p>
<p>if you had done that... you would for sure be rejected.</p>
<p>The middle rage for SAT scores at Yale are:
V 680 - 770
M 680 - 770
Really though, I think that if you have a 1400+ or close to a 1400, you are fine. Especially if you are a URM, then high SAT scores are not so required. It's only when your parents are heavily educated that they expect higher scores than average. Also, if you are legacy, they feel much better accepting you if your scores are higher.</p>
<p>As for GPA and rank, just about everyone at Yale was in the top 10% of their high school class. Yale likes to see a strong, solid transcript. This means many AP and Honors classes (as compared to the number your school offers) and grades mostly in the forms of As, but having a few Bs is okay.<br>
3-4 years of a foreign language is appreciated,as is one year of Calculus.
Also, make sure to have physics, biology and chemistry, the great trio of science classes.</p>
<p>In your extracurricular activties, Yale will look for dedication, committment and passion, as well as leadership roles, such as : editor, captain, president, founder etc.</p>
<p>After that, we reach what I think are 3 extremely important parts of the application:
The Essay(s)
The Rec. Letters
and The Interview
These are the most subjectively evaluated, but they mean a lot. Imagine that these officers have to read essay after essay after essay....if your essay is new, fresh, intriguing, captivating; if it takes them into your world, they will love it! They are looking to know more about YOU and who you are and they regard the essay as one of the best sources for that.</p>
<p>What your teachers and counselor say about you in the rec letters will also be HIGHLY important. Yale greatly values comments about you as a student and as an individual.</p>
<p>The Interview is not required, but if you have a great one, I think it can really help. </p>
<p>The more Yale feels they know you, and the more they like you, the harder it will be for them to reject you. They get thousands of applicants with great test scores, amazing GPAs and stellar ECs, but how to distinguish amongst them? I think it is through the last three items I mentioned:
The Essay(s)
The Rec. Letters
and The Interview
And you have control over all of these, at least to some degree!
Prepare for your interview, select great teachers who like you a lot and put a LOT OF EFFORT into your essay! And when you are all done, and have sent in your app, you know you will have done your best!</p>
<p>great post :) although aren't those mid-range sat scores a little higher (although i hope i'm wrong!)</p>
<p>thanks ChartreuseGlass! that was awsome!</p>
<p>So if you're parents went to community college, then you aren't expected to score high on the SAT?</p>
<p>Basically, yes, but:
It's not so much that you aren't expected to score highly;
it's more that if your parents went to a community college or aren't highly educated, and/or if you are a URM, lesser SAT scores are more forgiveable.</p>
<p>wat about art?
does yale give any added preference to someone whos sending in art slides?</p>
<p>I don't have 3-4 years of language.. I was too busy taking tech courses.. is the language part important?</p>
<p>I don't think the interview is usually that important a part of the application...it may be able to help (or hurt) if it is extremely good/bad, but most don't do anything for the applicant (which is fortunate considering that 30-45 minutes generally isn't enough time to really get to know a person well enough for a solid evaluation).</p>
<p>A middle class and especially upper middle class student is out of luck unless you are have international, legacy,minority status or play a sport they need. I had a long talk with a Yale admissions officer who said more than he should. Among things, Yale feels non-minority kids from professional families do well because they are expected to do well so their academic records are judged accordingly. To put this in context. the Educational Testing Service tried to develop a program which would rank admission candidate taking into consideration education of parents, income and ethnic status. It was meant to level the playing field but in effect it turns individual family histories into a
mathematical formula. The argument against this is that it kills the American dream. You know, sacrifice and work hard to succeed so that your kids will have a better life than you did. under this scheme sacrifice and hard work hurt your child. The ETS abandonned this project during the University of Michigan Supreme Court case. The thinking behind the "Strivers" score was to standardize what colleges, especially the elite college do anyway in a less scientific fashion. I told the admissions officer that my child went to a private school where there were lots of children whose parents were doctors, lawyers and engineers and they didn't all do well academically. Many choose not to work particuliarly hard. Some very bright kids valued a good time over hitting the books. But there was a small percentage who sacrificed, kept their noses to the grind stone for four years or longer and did well. I asked if he wasn't punishing them with a blanket evaluation.Tne adviser said we don't want a meritocracy. I said you mean you don't want people to earn want they get? Do you want to punish parents because they were good parents? He went on to say that every application is considered individually. I said yes but statistically some kids have a better chance than others. He said the Yale was a private University and could pursue any policy they wanted to.I said that was true . I agreed that fairness required the Yale's population mirror the population and no part of the population should under-represented. I asked how many kids without a special admissions status applied and how many were admitted. I noted that last years admission rate left 40 percent of the 2004 freshman class for kids who were not international, legacy or minority. I asked of that group how many played sports-field hockey,water polo, fencing,crew, squash, riding, football etc.He said he couldn't give that information because the association of ivy league schools had agreed not to release that information. I said stating that Yale's admittance percentage was nine percent was misleading becaues it varied greatly by category. He admitted that it did. I said you have a admission philosophy that is not reflected in your web site and that it was dishonest and misleading. He denied that the was the case. I said you are playing with kids live. He said there are plenty of other good universities. I said you don't say that on your web site. in other words "Let them eat cake". Bottom line -Yale can do what it pleases but it doesn't please Yale to tell the world what it is doing.</p>
<p>Speaking as middle-class kid with no legacy, minority, intl status or sports, that was incredibly depressing... :(</p>
<p>Still, I can't imagine that it's totally true.</p>
<p>Sorry but its all true.</p>
<p>Well that is just terrible now isn't it? I'm white, middle class, from the suburbs, and my parents are both teachers... why should I even apply then? I mean, even if I have incredible stats, according to what you are saying I'm basically pre-rejected because of my status. That's not descrimination? I just refuse to believe a school like Yale is run like that. And if it is, then that is just disgusting.</p>
<p>Oh... I forgot. Here is a sure fire way to get accepted.</p>
<p>Having billionaire parents who are willing to donate millions to Yale.</p>
<p>Yeah...anyone have a pair of billionaire parents to lend?</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>Edit: I'd settle for millionaire</p>