<p>I was just looking through the 2010 early decisions thread...it's so depressing. So many amazing people got deferred, and a lot of people were saying that much less qualified people from their schools got in. I'm starting to worry the same way...I just looked over my common app and it's just not that impressive unless you look at the Additional Info section. Will Yale care? I feel like they are harder on us people who have perfect test scores and academics, and they pick kids with SAT scores in the 2100s who just appeal to them. This probably didn't make much sense but I'm really depressed. The statistics just seem to be completely against me...I live in a state where only a few dozen max kids get accepted to Yale per year...If only Yale looked at all applicants equally based on merit, I would feel so much better about myself. It's just hopeless when you know that you're not an athlete, not a legacy, not a minority, not a national award winner, but just a normal kid who organizes stuff in their own community and will probably end up at the state school with merit money.</p>
<p>Don't be depressed. I will tell you something encouraging. Yes, when you look at the thread of those who were accepted early, there are a lot of applicants there who have scores that were not perfect or near perfect, but had some unusual passions and interests that set them apart. And yes - there are also a lot of legacies and recruited athletes that were taken early. However, I have looked at the threads carefully, and if you look at them for those who were accepted regular decision, you will see that most of the applicants were those who had the unbelievably high SAT scores ect. Perhaps you will get in early,but if you get deferred you still will have a good shot in the regular decision round.
I am sure that if your additional information section is impressive, that your extra curricular grid must be also.
The important thing is that you have a really good list of schools that you are applying to and that you are excited about. Yale is obviously your first choice, but you should be applying to several of that caliber in addition to other schools on your list. Often one can't predict. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to why one students are accepted over others. I see on these threads students who were accepted to Yale, but not Cornell. Students who were accepted to Harvard, but not Brown or Dartmouth, - students who were rejected to Yale (not deferred), but accepted regular decision to Harvard. You just never know. I am sure you will get into somewhere great. It is natural to worry. Hopefully it will be Yale</p>