I just won a major national award...can I get into Yale now?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I just won the Davidson Fellowship, found out yesterday - how does this make my chances look?</p>

<p>I live in Minnesota and I go to a pretty crappy public school in the inner-city, we sent 1 girl to Harvard this year and one to Columbia, but that's pretty much it, everybody else usually goes to one of the campuses of the state U. We only offer 8 APs: Calc I and II, Chem, Bio, Enviro, Lit, Spanish and AP US. My parents are both Princeton grads but we make less than $60,000 a year, don't ask me how. They're both artists.</p>

<p>Applying EA to Yale (1st choice)
Also...
2. Brown
3. Harvard
4. Princeton (double legacy)
5. Stanford
6. Penn
7. Northwestern
8. Washington University in St. Louis
9. Macalester (relative safety as I'm already in sort of)
10. Boston College (safety?)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.991 UW (school doesn't weight, I've only ever gotten 2 A minuses)
Class rank: 5/460
SATs: 780CR, 620M, 780W, 2180 total
SAT IIs: Lit 780, Spanish 750, planning on around 700 US History</p>

<p>Soph. Schedule:</p>

<p>Gym/Ind. project on young women in Spanish literature (1 sem. each): A
AP US History: A
Honors American Literature (AP not offered til junior year): A
Spanish IV: A
Honors Chem: A
Algebra II (No honors offered): A</p>

<p>AP Scores: US History 5, Spanish self-study 4 (nonnative speaker)</p>

<p>Junior Schedule:</p>

<p>Ind. Project developing a fiction portfolio: A
Newspaper production: A- one quarter, As the rest
Pre-Calc (no honors offered): A- one quarter, As the rest
Honors Physics: A
College-in-the-Schools Composition/CIS Literature (1 sem. each): A
Spanish Class (305 level) at Macalester College (26th best lib. arts school in country): Unknown, but most likely A-/B+, grade prob. not factored into my GPA but counts for HS credit. Out of 50 applied for post-secondary program, only 4 were admitted from around the state.</p>

<p>Planned senior schedule:</p>

<p>American Lit 101 at Macalester College
Spanish 315 at Macalester College
Newspaper Production
AP Calculus I
May take AP Bio, but I'm not sure because I hate science--is it necessary?</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Newspaper: Editor-in-Chief (12), News/Features Editor (11), Staff Writer (10). Newspaper won All-State silver award last year.</p>

<p>Varsity Soccer: 3 years, 3 years conf. champs; JV soccer frosh year</p>

<p>Club Soccer: 9 years, Captain 3 years, Classic I (top level out of 3 classics)</p>

<p>Loft Literary Center TeenInk Member, 1 year: One of my most significant ECs, the Loft is a revolutionary literary center in the city and I was selected to be on their first ever teen council. Only 8 were selected out of 100 or so applied. It's pretty prestigious.</p>

<p>Volunteer/Translator for Head Start BOOST Literacy program: 2 years, will have 250+ hours. Also one of my major ECs.</p>

<p>Awards</p>

<p>2008 Davidson Fellow for Literature - $10,000 scholarship winner</p>

<p>Scholastic Art and Writing Award - Regional Gold Key, National Silver in Personal Essay/Memoir</p>

<p>National High School Press Association Award for Excellence in Column Writing</p>

<p>National History Day National Champion (1st place) in performance category, 2006, 4th place in state last year for another performance</p>

<p>Most likely National Merit Semifinalist (216 PSAT, last year cutoff was 213)</p>

<p>Some extras: I'm white but mostly fluent in Spanish after just 4 years of HS study, I skipped 3 years of HS Spanish (level 2, 5, and 6) to self study AP. Recs will be really good, one amazing, essays will focus somehow on my passion for writing.</p>

<p>Things I think are most impressive on my app: Def. Davidson Fellowship, Literary Teen Council, taking classes at a top-tier lib. arts college, captain of soccer, very focused volunteer hours and lots of 'em. By the end of HS I'll have taken 5 college classes already (3 at Mac, 2 from the University of Minnesota).</p>

2

<p>It's still a crap shoot, but it will increase your chances considerably.</p>

3

<p>The double legacy for Princeton would give you a boost for that application, I think.
But, I am sure you'll get your safeties.</p>

4

<p>You're entering one of the most competitive years for college apps at the moment, but everything you've listed will definitely be beneficial to you when your application is being evaluated.</p>

5

<p>pamplemousse25,
doesn't it just get harder and harder every year?</p>

6

<p>yo man I think you gotta good chance, what school you go 2? cause i'm from MN too.</p>

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<p>South in Minneapolis.</p>

8

<p>I think you have a good shot, even if you don't get into the elite schools you still have a very impressive resume.</p>

9

<p>Bring up that SAT Math score!</p>

10

<p>I'd try for the SAT again to see if I could get the score above 2200 and then I would think that you're in at some top school. Maybe Princeton? LOL!</p>

<p>Intended major?</p>

11

<p>RD, I don't think it's possible, I just suck at math no matter how much I study. </p>

<p>I want to major in Comparative Literature.</p>

12

<p>I'm from Mounds View, Arden Hills. Its cool to c some minnesotans on CC, don't see many of them (always california, new york, mass. or FL...or korea) lol</p>

13

<p>Wats Davidson Fellow?
It could be important enough to get you in</p>

<p>apparently some kid got 3.5/2100 but made it to RSI/USNCO finalist and got full ride to MIT (chose MIT) and princeton/harvard</p>

14

<p>$10,000 Davidson, while very important, does not carry the same weight as RSI/USNCO finalists /internationalists. </p>

<p>It's a real good boost, but still no guarantee. Davidson fellow I hear it's very selective with a long process of mentoring and research and stuff. I hear it's very complicated.</p>

15

<p>You have a good chance at Yale - applying EA will help your admission chances, and your passions are easily visible through your EC's and the Davidson Fellowship award :)</p>

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<p>Well, yeah, Invoyable, but there are absolutely no humanities awards out there that are of the same caliber as RSI/USNCO. Davidson is literally the only really selective and prestigious literature award out there, besides of course publication.</p>

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<p>Woot, totally! I think you have a good chance! :D Yeah, try to bring up your math SAT score; however, your ECs are def. set. I think you have a pretty good chance.</p>

18

<p>Oh, and what did you win the Davidson Fellowship in?</p>

19

<p>This thread is older than the Harvard application I never turned in...</p>

20

<p>Why would anyone revive this?</p>