<p>Okay, so I know that most of the people applying to ivy leagues are cream of the crop students with outstanding grades and ECs. Generally, almost all of the people reading these forums are extraordinary people and not being accepted into (insert school of choice) is a huge upset, but we all know that success isn't determined by the colleges we attend. It could just be several rare cases limited to the people who post on these forums, but I really don't understand the reasoning behind deferring a candidate who was has (insert national titles/varsity sports/clubs). I'm an Asian-American (half korean, quarter Japanese, quarter Chinese) male raised by my single mother who has never attended college. I see people posting all these hooks and other things such as how many people from your school applied to (so and so college), but how much does this really have an effect on my acceptance into Yale, or as a matter of fact, any other ivy? I guess you can call me the cliched asian boy who is outstanding in math and science (though I pale in comparison to most of the other frequent posters here), but I'm also captain of the varsity soccer team. I really have no outstanding ECs other than soccer, and before reading these forums I thought I had a decent chance of being accepted. I guess I had a total misconception of the whole process and have only realized this after seeing all these top tier students who are nationally recognized are being deferred from schools I thought I actually had a chance to be accepted to. Any thoughts or comments on this? Is there any base in my delusions, or did the adcoms just get something wrong with these outstanding students they've deferred? OR, is the whole process rather random, and do I have an equal shot as many of these other kids?</p>
<p>If anyone could comment about the extent to which being a certain ethnicity and growing up in a certain environment has on admissions, I'd be grateful. Anyways, good luck to everyone throughout this rigorous process and I'll be praying knowing that we'll probably run into each other in the future some time. Isn't that quite a though ;p.</p>
<p>EDIT: I attend a very non-competitive catholic high school that rarely sends students to ivies. I don't think there are many, if any (maybe 3 or 4 altogether out of 240 students) applying to ivies. What effect does this have on my admission, specifically.</p>
<p>There have been numerous posts regarding this topic, and if you search the database I'm sure you'll find the answers to your questions. However, since I have some time, I'll save you the trouble. In my personal opinion being a certain ethnicity is not a factor in college admissions. Although college admission officers are looking for a diverse class, many of the applicants applying to such schools as Yale are as you said cream of crop, so I'm positive race is seldom a factor. However, the environoment in which you grew up in may be taken into consideration. I noticed that you mention you grew up in a single parent household and you are a first generation college students, I am positive that admission officers will take this into consideration when evaluating you. Furthermore, it has been widely stated that students from a socioeconomically disadvantaged household benefit from AA. I don't know if this is true, but I thought I would bring up a point. Additionally, your school should play only a little part in over all process. If your SAT scores are low, then they will be compared to the school's median. (Courseload, GPA, and ranks are also considered in reference to the school.) I am firm believer that the essay is the key to an acceptance and I urge you to focus more on that. There's not point in wasting time, speculating whethere being one race or another is more beneficial to admissions.</p>
<p>gohenry--I'm glad you discovered CC so you have a more realistic idea of how competitive elite college admission is these days. If you don't get in, it will help you put things in perspective and you now know you need good back-up plans. You may be surprised at how hard it is to get into schools that are "below" the Ivy level.</p>
<p>Yale has so many applicants with extraordinary academic and EC qualifications that it can't accept them all. There is some degree of randomness involved, but I also think that if you could see teacher recommendations, read the essays and alumni interview reports, it might seem less random than it appears on CC.</p>
<p>As Yoshi points out, there have been lots of posts about whether being Asian and specifically Asian with an interest math or science hurts. I agree with Yoshi that being a first generation college student will help.</p>
<p>If your high school isn't competitive, it hurts you. High grades come from a noncompetitive high school aren't as impressive as high grades from a school that is highly academic and sends lots of kids to elite colleges. Yale wants to accept students who will be able to handle the academics. There might be a question whether your high school adequately prepared you. If you weren't from Long Island but from a rural area or a state with fewer applicants, your high school wouldn't hurt as much. In fact, it might be a plus if you lived in an area from which Yale is trying to get more applicants. Because Yale gets tons of applications from kids from Long Island who go to rigorous high schools, this isn't the case. You are by no means condemned to rejection because of the high school you attend, but I think you'll have a harder time. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Lol yeah thanks alot. I mean, I understand that the admissions process isn't as random as I'm probably making it out to be. I know there there are tons of great schools out there that can provide an education that is just as good, if not better than many ivies, but I'm just shocked to see these seemingly extraordinary students get deferred/rejected. Maybe the adcoms saw an image that they didn't think suited their college scene? I don't really know, but thanks for clearing some stuff up.</p>
<p>EDIT: My highschool isn't competitive, and quite frankly, it is a school that believes just passing regents is an accomplishment (a little exaggerated but still). I'm ranked 2 and probably will graduate salutatorian, but I feel it doesn't really mean much. I'm just disappointed in my decision to attend my highschool because the education, though not terrible, is a lot worse than many public schools. I wasn't able to pick any of my courses until junior year and almost every teacher gears their students towards simply passing the regents, whereas in my eyes most decent public schools teach toward SATIIs. In all honesty, I know I wouldn't be ranked as high in a good public school, but I feel I would be much more prepared for the admissions process and college in general as well. Anyways, good luck to everyone stuck with RD =(.</p>