International Student Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Hi there,</p>

<p>I was just wondering if some body could please give me approximation of my chances at Yale as I have to decide in the next week whether or not to accept a local uni offer (which would involve me moving and renting an apartment) so I'm hesitant to make this decision until I have a rough idea of whether or not I will get accepted in the US.</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Caucasian/Australian
Gender: Female
Major: Biology
School: Brisbane Girls Grammar School (best school in my state)
GPA: 95.55/100 (unweighted, my school doesn't do weighting but I took the hardest subjects available to me)
SAT I: 2090 (CR: 730, M: 680, W: 680)
SAT II: Biology M: 710, Math I: 710, Lit: 720
ECs: Crew, Debate, Community Service (Kid's Hospital and Nursing Home), Flute, Study Abroad Program and Enhanced Studies Program
Essay: Well-written but not engaging at all (I didn't really grasp the concept of an essay for US admissions because we don't do it at home - I just wrote about my extended science research/study abroad program/doing university course while in high school)
Recommendations: Absolutely amazing (almost all categories were 'one of the top few I've encountered', gave lots of personal anecdotes and my counselor wrote 'she is, without question, a candidate of the highest order and I recommend her to you without reservation or hesitation' at the end of his lovely letter.
Interview: Couldn't imagine it could have possibly gone any better.. we talk every few weeks just to chat about international universities/if I've gotten any offers and after I met/had coffee with him and his wife they've decided to send their daughter to my school (lol)</p>

<p>Thank you in advance for any help</p>

2

<p>No one here can give you an accurate chance. Heck, I’m an Australian at Yale, and I don’t even know. None of us here even knew we’d be accepted. Competition from Australia is pretty tough though - I know in Queensland that you guys don’t really use the ATAR system, but most non-recruited athlete Australians here got 99.95, with a few 99.85s in the mix as well. ATAR obviously isn’t that important, but the competition is pretty hard. A lot of the Australians here and at Harvard, Princeton and MIT topped the state in numerous subjects, competed at olympiads, were on the state debating teams… you get the picture. </p>

<p>What you really should do is ACCEPT an offer in Australia, especially if you did well enough to get a scholarship. That’s what most of us who don’t apply early do. American admissions is so erratic that even if you had perfect stats and brilliant extra-curriculars, nothing would be certain. Please, please, please, accept an offer in Australia. In the worst case scenario, defer it, but really, please enrol. No one can tell you whether you’ll get an offer or not. The probability is either 100% or 0%. You’re a person, not a statistic. </p>

<p>Best of luck though! And if you ever want to talk about life in the US as an Australian, or about being an Australian at Yale (or anything at Yale!) feel free to shoot me a message :)</p>