Marysville (CA) grad picks Yale over Princeton

Colleges & Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>Marysville grad bound for Yale</p>

<p>By Amy McMenamin/Appeal-Democrat</p>

<p>This fall, Grant Goodlin will become the first graduate of Marysville High School in 29 years to attend an Ivy League school.</p>

<p>Goodlin will attend Yale College, the undergraduate program at Yale University, where he plans to major in English and premedical studies.</p>

<p>“We were trying to look back and see (how rare it is), but I believe it's been almost 30 years,” said Marysville High counselor Wendy Olson.</p>

<p>Yale, which has the highest endowment in the country, awarded Goodlin $45,000 in financial aid, which will cover most of the $46,000 tuition.</p>

<p>“We live in a trailer park,” said his mother, Johanna Goodlin. “I don't get child support. I made $25,000 last year, which isn't very much.”</p>

<p>Goodlin won a $700 Dale Lacky scholarship for athletics and the $2,000 Frank M. Booth scholarship. The family also received a $300 gift towards a laptop computer from Johanna Goodlin's employer, Fremont-Rideout Health Group.</p>

<p>Goodlin did not always aspire to Yale.</p>

<p>“I didn't think about it much until this year,” he said. “I think I had a great-uncle who was at Yale for one year before going to Vietnam,” said Goodlin, whose parents have a few years of community college each. “He didn't go back. I just remembered that.”</p>

<p>Olson nominated Goodlin to the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) program held on the Princeton campus during the summer after his junior year.
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<p>“I didn't think he'd get in, I really didn't,” said Johanna Goodlin of the LEDA program.</p>

<p>The program coaches students through the application process and assists financially with campus visits as well as application and SAT fees. Goodlin feels it was instrumental in his acceptance to Yale.</p>

<p>“LEDA was a big factor,” he said. “They see that on your application, and it's huge.”</p>

<p>Goodlin was accepted at University of California schools in addition to Princeton and Yale. During the school year, the colleges flew him to New Jersey to tour Princeton and to Connecticut to tour Yale. Ultimately, he decided on Yale because of the campus atmosphere.</p>

<p>Goodlin worked at Sonic Drive-In in Yuba City during high school and, according to his mother, lived on energy drinks while running track, swimming and maintaining a 4.125 GPA.</p>

<p>“He's self-motivated,” said principal Gary Cena.</p>

<p>Olson too, has nothing but praise for Goodlin.</p>

<p>“He was accepted and respected by every group around him: peers, teachers, administrators. He fits in wherever he goes. It's rare that you find someone who's so intelligent in so many ways. He's artistic and musical, social and personable ... A counselor's dream, that's exactly what he is.”</p>

<p>“Grant doesn't come from the background of the typical Ivy League student,” said Cena.</p>

<p>But Olson doesn't feel qualified to make a comparison.</p>

<p>“We haven't had (an Ivy League candidate) in so long, I don't know what that profile is.”</p>

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<p>
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Yale, which has the highest endowment in the country

[/quote]
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<p>What? Did Harvard fall off the face of the Earth? I can't believe Byerly didn't comment on this.</p>

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<p>I was wondering if anyone would notice that. And it looks like the kid didn't get into Harvard, either! </p>

<p>Interesting that both Yale and Princeton flew him in for campus visits. Nothing like being a URM with a modicum of athletic ability!</p>

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<p>source?</p>

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<p>"modicums" don't count for much in admissions.</p>

<p>also, a couple other errors in the article: yale doesn't have a "premedical studies" major, its tuition isn't $46,000, and it doesn't give athletic scholarships (unless the author just blew a whistle).</p>

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<p>Apparently the kid wasn't impressed with Princeton, even after the school paid to fly him in for a visit.</p>

<p>"Ultimately, he decided on Yale because of the campus atmosphere." Must have been nervous about the "eating clubs" at Princeton.
No wonder "scottie" is irritated!</p>

<p>[source: the reporter]</p>

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<p>The "pre-medical studies" error is attributable to a clueless reporter. Grant probably said he wanted to pursue a pre-med track (which can be done by majoring in biology, biophysics, or chemistry, etc.) and the reporter mistook that as Yale offering a pre-medical studies major.</p>

<p>My tuition cost was listed as ~$47500 on my financial aid letter because Yale included personal/travel/book expenses in the figure, so it's not unlikely that Grant's tuition figure is $46000. However, it seems a bit off that he only has to pay $1000, since the minimum contribution for American citizens and permanent residents is $1800 (assuming the parental contribution is $0), from what I understand of Yale's financial aid policy. Any scholarships are applied toward the $4400 self-help amount required during the year before reducing the $1800, and the sum of his scholarships is less than $4400, so the $1800 required should still apply.</p>

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<p>pure speculation. he could have liked it perfectly well (after all, he spent a summer there and later applied), but just liked yale better.</p>

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<p>yale's financial aid site lists 05-06 tuition and fees as $31,460.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/financial_aid/glance.html#cost%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/financial_aid/glance.html#cost&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I have no "joy"... where do you get that? How weird. He sounds like a fine kid who would have been a credit to Harvard if admitted. Indeed, I posted a link to the story here on the Yale board because he sounded like such a fine kid. Your counterpart on the Yale board - "poster X" seems little interested in such stories, getting more excited about condo prices in New Haven etc.</p>

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<p>Tuition for 06/07 = $33,030</p>

<p><a href="http://www.yale.edu/sfas/financial/0607Costs.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.yale.edu/sfas/financial/0607Costs.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>perhaps it was the exclamation point you used to punctuate the statement ("And it looks like the kid didn't get into Harvard, either!"). THAT, my friend, is "weird." and if memory serves, you also initially double-posted the post containing that statement, possible additional evidence of your zeal, if not your joy.</p>

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<p>You seem particularly ill-humored today. Bothered about something?</p>

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<p>I should have been more clear. What I meant--and what Grant meant, as well--by "tuition cost" is total cost.</p>

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<p>this makes me happy
i’m going to LEDA this summer</p>

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<p>Talk about necromancy resurrection…</p>

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<p>In my (limited) personal interview experience, the story as written often has little relationship to the story as related to the reporter by the subject.</p>

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<p>I actually didn’t apply to Harvard. I visited and didn’t like it too much. </p>

<p>Also, this quote (Nothing like being a URM with a modicum of athletic ability!) is condescending and uninformed. I’m white and Yale is Need Blind, so I wasn’t a “URM”, and I wasn’t applying to Yale to do sports. </p>

<p>There’s nothing scary about eating clubs, I liked Yale’s social atmosphere a little better but that was based upon the newly admitted students that I met at both places, not the implications of their social structures. </p>

<p>I just graduated this year btw, congrats 2010!</p>

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<p>This thread is more than four years old. It’s unlikely you’ll get a response from the poster who started it.</p>

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<p>I noticed that. And (Grant, if thats really you, tell me if I’m wrong), I was thinking Marysville? Doesn’t sound like he is black to me!</p>

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<p>Oh, my. I just re-read the OP. Don’t sweat it, Grant. The poster Byerly, who I think is long gone from these boards, devoted many posts to documenting the alleged inferiority of Yale and the alleged superiority of his alma mater. As his posts about your college choice make clear, he was not above using hyperbole, innuendo, and outright falsehoods to accomplish his goal. </p>

<p>Congratulations on your graduation from Yale!</p>

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<p>NOOOOO!!! Byerly has risen from the dead again… grab the pitchforks and torches!!!</p>