My chances as an international student?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>I'm a student from Eastern Europe and I'd like to apply to Yale. I'm thinking of applying Early Action. I'm not really decided on a major yet, probably something related to social sciences or the humanities. What do you think are my chances with the following results and extracurricular activities?</p>

<p>GPA
9.82 (out of 10)
I study at a highly competitive high school in my city, around 20 former students are currently studying in the US, 5 of them at Ivy League colleges.</p>

<p>Testing:
SAT I: 2200 (690 CR, 780 M, 730 W)
SAT II: 760 Math, 690 Lit, 730 French
I'll be retaking the SAT I and Lit and French and I'm hoping to get at least 740 in CR, over 700 in Lit, and over 750 in French</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities
- 3 month internship at an English language and advising center in my city (10 hrs./week) earlier this year
- 3-year participation in an exchange program that involved 8 countries, participated in 2 student-exchange events, both as an exchange student and a host, as well as other
- 1 month internship/summer school at Microsoft, activity consisted in learning more about the company and also creating an App, earlier this year
- member of the European Youth Parliament, participated as a delegate in 3 sessions (one regional, one national and one international) since May 2012
- volunteer for a social center that conducts different activities with underprivileged children (since January), I help them with homework and participate in extracurricular activities with them (2 hrs./week)
- volunteer for an association that organizes English lessons for underprivileged children (since June) (2 hrs./week)
- volunteer for an association that promotes sports events in my city, have volunteered for a marathon, a semi-marathon and have also participated in a tree-planting event organized by them
- was secretary of my High School Student Council from 2012 to 2013 and organized a charitable event for the children from a social center
- participated in a 3 month photography course in my high school ( 2 hrs./week)</p>

<p>Contests
-qualified for the National English Olympiad in every high school year, receiving 2 honorable mentions and 2nd prize
-qualified for the Nationals of a General Knowledge English contest two years in a row, receiving first place both times
-was chosen as a finalist twice at a national English Essay competition, winning an honorable mention last year and 2nd place this year
-was chosen as a finalist and received an honorable mention in an international scientific essay competition
-received a prize for "Most Original Entry" in a national video contest</p>

2

<p>You need to understand the difficulties of applying to Yale as an international student. Each year, Yale admits about 1330 students and only 10% of them are international students, the rest are US students – so the breakdown looks like this:</p>

<p>1200 US Students</p>

<h2>130 International Students</h2>

<p>1330 Total Admitted</p>

<p>There are hundreds of students competing from Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and lots of smaller countries for one of those 130 slots. So, you need to be at the top of your class (which you are) with great SAT scores (which you have). So you are definitely going to be a competitive applicant when you apply – but beyond that it’s impossible to predict what might happen. You just need to send your application out into the universe and see what happens.</p>

3

<p>^^^
Yale actually admits close to 2000 students, of which 1330 matriculate. That really doesn’t mitigate the competition though.</p>

4

<p>I’m also an international student planning on applying to Yale, and I’m also a (very) active EYP member, but I must say you have way more interesting achievements and extracurriculars. You definitely have a shot, so good luck! :)</p>