<p>I'm not a CC-regular, so sorry if this has already been discussed (I'm sure it has...)</p>
<p>Obviously this board is filled with tons of above-average high school students, so consequently most of the stats we see are very impressive. I'm just going out on a limb here, but I think it could be uplifting, to say the least, to discuss the lower end of the spectrum, ie. low scores or seemingly less-than-stellar applicants you know of that were admitted, and why you think they were admitted. Obviously we are all smart here, but I'm curious to see how honest they are when they say scores aren't everything. </p>
<p>In my opinion, the admissions process should be solely about matching students to schools they will thrive in, and I think Yale does this well. Yet we have to take into account the fact that they receive over 20,000 applicants, and can therefore afford to weed out all the low scores and still easily find a freshman class of passionate, unique students.</p>
<p>Just wondering if there's any hope for some students that don't look too great on paper, but would fit in at Yale. I'm thinking the interview is the best time to get this across...</p>
<p>Thoughts? Examples of accepted students with imperfect applications?</p>
<p>Hmm... I know a girl who was accepted to Yale but almost rejected from everywhere else. Her SAT score was something like 2000<x<2100, but that's not truly my definition of a lot less "qualified" score. She was a very good student, A, but she didn't kill herself with one million activities like other applicants do. Maybe 2-3. She didn't play music or do sports.</p>
<p>Thats probably not quite what you are looking for, although at Yale some of the specs mean a lot. Do you mean not look good by grades? scores? activities?</p>
<p>The only way you can be imperfect and get in is if you are a URM. That's the way the world works. Deal with it.
But yes, there was one student I know. She had 1900 SATs but showed insane dedication to physics. She was AZN, too.</p>
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The only way you can be imperfect and get in is if you are a URM.
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<p>haha that's not true at all.</p>
<p>I know TONS of people (in real life) who were much less "qualified" than I who were accepted to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, and Dartmouth last year. They were ALL white/asian, and I'm black.... soooooo you're def wrong dashboard.</p>
<p>I wouldn't go with any definite assumptions in the URM domain of the application. Of course, being a URM is sort of considered as a boost, but even URMs will be rejected if they don't have the qualities that Yale is looking for. The problem is, there are so many qualified applicants applying to Yale that they can probably select extremely qualified URMs above ones with "faults" and still have a very diverse student body. In fact, if I could make one assumption, it would be that URM status alone is not a guarantee of admission.</p>
<p>grc061390: Yes, it is. Last year, the only guy that got into Yale from our school was one. He wasn't even top 10%, had 2100 or so SATs, and absolutely NO leadership positions. His only advantage may have been that he was a relatively good athlete, but certainly not good enough to be recruited. Extremely quiet guy, too.
eating food: while I'm not entirely convinced, if what you say is real, that makes me very happy. Perhaps there's hope for all of us.</p>
<p>Well, the only reason I think being a URM could be somewhat of a boost is because I was looking at the stats of accepted applicants from past years, and the majority of the stats that made me feel better about my own (lol) because they were the same or lower were from URMs. So, it's probably not much of a boost, but it's still something. But it's true that technically everyone admitted is imperfect; it just depends on how they felt when they looked at your app.</p>
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grc061390: Yes, it is. Last year, the only guy that got into Yale from our school was one. He wasn't even top 10%, had 2100 or so SATs, and absolutely NO leadership positions. His only advantage may have been that he was a relatively good athlete, but certainly not good enough to be recruited. Extremely quiet guy, too.
eating food: while I'm not entirely convinced, if what you say is real, that makes me very happy. Perhaps there's hope for all of us.
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<p>who are you to judge how well fitted a student is for college? are you an admissions officer? did you read his essays? from your post(s) it seems as if your idea of gaining admissions is that it is based solely on grades and leadership positions (and on how quiet you are). so stop judging him and blowing off his merits to his URM status. btw, being south asian doesn't give you true "URM" status. </p>
<p>actually i dont think URM status has anything to do with it. i think the bigger focus is on socioeconomic background and the nature of the environment the student grew up in. if someone overcame economic and social hardships to get great scores then that's better than a rich, white, suburban kid who got the same scores. i think it's all about the opportunities you get in life, and how you use them.</p>
<p>^ spare us the moral lecturing. Not everything is always in black and white. There is no
"all" or "always". </p>
<p>What if the white kid had a slightly better essay, slightly better grades and maybe an extra leadership passion that he has? Who wins out then? The person with less opportunity or the overall better qualified kid?</p>
<p>I am not a white person, but I hardly think this is fair for them to be judged like this.</p>
<p>^ It's all relative. How many white kids had the same "slightly better essay, slightly better grades and maybe an extra leadership passion"? I don't think admissions officer would choose, let's say, 100 or so white kids with the same "slightly better essay, slightly better grades and maybe an extra leadership passion," nor would they choose the same 100 or so students of color who were all the same. So, at times, they would be "justified" to take the URM over the white kid.</p>
<p>I agree, it's not fair at all. But, they're an institution and as "gracious" as they might seem, they are not always looking out for your best interest. They want students that will excel at Yale and that will make Yale look good.</p>
<p>onekinglife, how on earth was that a moral lecture? lol...</p>
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What if..
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<p>yes, there is a what if, but if you read my post you'll see that i said same scores, in which i was implying "similar records", but i think you knew that. i made a comparison by putting them on level ground, and then saying what would happen. if the white person is better in other ways then OBVIOUSLY no comparison can be made, so the "what if" is quite irrelevant.</p>
<p>regarding OP, i know some examples.
2010 SAT I accepted harvard (6 A levels)
2000 SAT I accepted MIT (2400 in SAT II, perfect A levels in further maths+physics...and not much else)
if u want to search for more examples just look at the accepted posts at HYP etc. because ive seen many.</p>
<p>Sifat: I CERTAINLY have no need to hear a lecture from you. Azn gives you URM status? It shouldn't. Plus, I seriously think you need a reality check...college admissions officers only take a moment to look at yourself, and sometimes, it does really come down to URM or no URM. While it can't guarantee you anywhere, it is important. Colleges want diversity. I personally wouldn't want to go to a college where everyone was Azn (and moralizingly annoying like you, for god's sake).</p>
<p>And sorry to the creator of this thread for turning this into a URM discussion. As for being imperfect, you really have to be specific...can't really make any huge generalizations.</p>
<p>Wow, didn't take long for that to disintegrate into an affirmative action debate... Thanks for some of the examples posted. </p>
<p>Obviously every applicant, admitted or not, is imperfect. I just wanted a catchy title for the thread... :)</p>
<p>And dashboard: I mean "imperfect" specifically in SAT scores or perhaps somehow in ECs or community service... My point was basically that I was wondering how often it happens that people get in who really don't look like the typical Yale student on paper. For example, students who apply that have an SAT score 2000-2100 or so and don't have a crazy trip to Uganda or something to make them stand out. Because plenty of times those students are the brightest ones, or the ones who could take the most advantage of Yale's programs. </p>
<p>The whole application process is just nerve wrecking and flawed because admissions officers don't always get to see more than a few sheets of paper to describe a person, and some people don't translate well onto paper...</p>
<p>I know someone from my school who was admitted to Harvard with no prestigious awards or leadership positions...and I think his SAT scores were not 2300+, so I mean, some things might just be luck of the draw. He was, however, rejected from the other ivies and elite colleges he applied to.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we did have someone who was accepted to Yale (attending), Harvard, and Stanford last year, and he had high 2200's SATs with amazing recommendations and did some third world country community service BS (cause it was BS, its not like half the people who do those things actually care about what they are doing...).</p>
<p>I think it all depends how you present yourself. If you are a more qualified applicant but you are not a fit for the school (eg you may not have passion for something or you are too well rounded) as opposed to a less qualified applicant that has qualities that the school is looking for, then the less qualified one might be accepted over the more qualified one.</p>