My chances of getting into Yale through early action?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Yale University
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Yale right now is my top choice for colleges, but I don’t know how competitive I would be in their early action pool. Ideally I only want to apply early action to Yale if I have a pretty decent chance of getting in, otherwise I will probably early decision to Duke or Penn, so if I could get opinions on where I should I apply I would appreciate it.

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Asian

Location: Louisiana, USA

High School: Good for the area that I am in, but it does not offer as many opportunities as schools in areas with better education (no STEM program, no IB, etc.). In my list of classes below, if a class is not honors/AP it is because my school doesn’t offer it.
There is a pretty small class size (my grade is 75 students), and every year 1-5 students get into Ivy Leagues or schools like Duke, but very few students go to Yale (Penn is the most popular, with 2 kids going there in the grade above me)

Parents: both have graduate level degrees and work for Tulane University, so I have no advantages there

SAT: First- 2210 (800 Math, 740 CR, 670 WR with 7 on Essay) (Jan); Second- 2180 (740 Math, 770 CR, 670 WR with 8 on Essay) (Mar); Third- 2260 (800 Math, 730 CR, 730 WR with 8 on Essay) (Jun); 2300 with superscore (800 Math, 770 CR, 730 WR)

SAT II: Biology- 760; Chemistry- 800; Math II- 800
AP scores: World History- 4; US History- 5; Biology- 5; Chemistry- 5

GPA: 4.0 (UW) 4.2 (W);
For weighted GPAs, honors/AP classes add .33 GPA (An A in an honors/AP class is a 4.33 GPA)
My school does not calculate unweighted GPA, so for each individual year I only know the weighted GPA (I had to calculate the unweighted GPA above by hand)

Rank: 2/75 (my GPA was .013 behind #1)

Freshman: Band, English , Honors Geometry, Government and Economic Systems , Biology, Honors Spanish IV- 3.96 GPA (weighted) for the year

Summer: Genetics Class at CTY (academic camp), internship at Tulane University (mostly learning the ropes stuff and helping around with basic tasks in the lab)

Sophomore: Band, Honors English, Honors Pre-Cal, Honors Chemistry, AP World History, Honors Spanish V, Genetics (one semester), Anatomy and Physiology (one semester) - 4.11 GPA (weighted) for the year

Summer: Genomics Class at CTY (academic camp), internship at Tulane University Department of Epidemiology (got a research paper published to the American Journal of Hypertension (pretty decent journal (top 25% in its field)) where I am the first author)

Junior: Honors English, Honors Calculus, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP US History, Honors Spanish VI- 4.33 GPA (weighted) for the year (took a year break from band because it was hard to fit into my schedule since I double upped on AP sciences)

Summer: Internship at the National Human Genome Research Institute (internship program at National Institutes of Health has open application, with about 1100 of 8000+ applicants getting in (majority of interns are college undergraduates)) (I will have another research paper submitted before early action/decision comes around, but I doubt it will be published before November so I will say that it is under review in my application. Also, I will probably be second author rather than first)

Senior: Band, Honors English, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C, Latin American Studies (history class taken entirely in Spanish, so it is a language and history credit), AP Statistics, Art history (second semester, so it might not affect early action)

Important extracurriculars that I participated in during the school year:
JV/Varsity Football (Grades 9-12) (not going to play in college, but might do like an intramural flag football thing)
School Band (Grades 7-10, 12)
Poster Presentation at the American Heart Association Epi/Lifestyle 2015 Scientific Sessions in Baltimore (March 2015)
Any ongoing work from a summer internship that is yet to be completed (editing papers, making posters, etc.)

Other not as important extracurriculars (since my school is pretty small, the clubs are pretty casual/informal so I didn’t really participate in them until my junior year):
Cultural Awareness Club (Grades 11,12)
Students Against Destructive Decisions Club (Grades 11, 12)

Honors:
1st Honor Roll every semester
Biology Award (Grade 11)
Cum Laude (Grade 11)
National Merit (not announced yet, but since I got a 233 in Louisiana I assume I will get it)

I plan on creating a club around either weight lifting or research/science this year, but we’ll see how that goes.

In terms of alumni interviews, I am fairly confident I can be a good interviewee since I usually get along with people well, especially adults that I am trying to impress.

Teacher Rec: My Spanish teacher and Biology teacher both really like me, and I am sure they will write good recommendations

Counselor Rec: I am not 100% sure on this one, but my counselor seems to like me and he is a nice, experienced counselor, so I am fairly confident it will be a good letter

Extra Rec: I plan on getting recommendation letters from my supervisors at my internships at Tulane and the National Human Genome Research Institute (one from Tulane and one from NHGRI)

Supplements: I will send them the research paper that I am the first author of and the research paper that is under review (not sure if I am allowed to send that one, so I’m going to have to double check)

Possible Majors: Biology/Biochemistry
Possible Minors: Exercise Science/Chemistry

Essay: I will probably talk about football and research because it is a pretty unique combination. I am not sure how I will put it together, but I think it will be something like “football shows my work ethic and the diversity of my interests” and “research shows my ability to innovate and excel in academic fields”.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my post!

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Stan, welcome to College Confidential!

As a new member, please take a look at this post from an MIT Admissions Director on chance posting, as everything in it applies to Yale as well: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/939227-reminder-no-one-not-even-me-can-give-you-an-accurate-chance-at-mit-p1.html

You seem like a wonderful candidate, as are the thousands of other students who apply and are rejected. As Yale receives more applications from qualified applicants than they have seats in the freshman class, Admissions uses a student’s essays, teacher recommendations, guidance counselor report (SSR) and interview report to select one high-performing student over another. As you haven’t posted that information (nor should you), the only way you’re going to find out your chances is by submitting your application. Best of luck to you!

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Just one other thought - if your school has Naviance data and/or counselors who closely track who gets in where over time, that might give you a sense just in terms of chances of admission based on the more objective indicators (test scores, grades, rank). Parchment also has a tool where you can input this data and get an estimated chance of admission.

Obviously as gibby mentioned those kinds of indicators are only part of the story of who does or doesn’t get in, but it’s a start.

I would assume there’s more of an advantage to applying early at Duke or Penn than Yale as those schools have binding ED and Yale has non-binding EA, but on the other hand with ED you need to be sure you’ll be happy at that school.

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Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it. Do you know how much Yale values research? I know one of my friends who is going to MIT said that research is a pretty huge boost to your application there, but I’m not sure if it will help as much at Yale.

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Yale values everything good, including research. Lots of applicants interested in STEM will have done research. I think you’re a good candidate–I think I would encourage you to write your essay about football. That was the thing that made me sit up and take notice when I read your post–it’s an unsual combination with the rest of your background.