<p>As people decide where they will enroll next fall, it seems as if many people are creating threads to tell their story so I feel it's my turn. </p>
<p>A year ago, I dreamed of attending an Ivy League school for simply its name. I never thought of whether or not I would get in, it was a dream that seemed so far away. Over the next several months, I researched tirelessly many colleges out there including all the Ivy League and realized that all top universities are different. This led me to fall in love with Yale. By the end of the summer, my college list was extensively long and looked like this (in no particular order):</p>
<p>Yale
Princeton
Cornell
Washington University in St. Louis
Georgetown
Northwestern
Washington and Lee
University of Notre Dame
Boston University
University of Chicago
Ohio State University (safety)
Miami University (Safety)
Rollins College
Washington and Jefferson
Williams
Amherst</p>
<p>Many of these schools were high reaches for me. Let me give you some of my details:</p>
<p>I am a white male who goes to a moderately sized public high school in Ohio. At the time of my applications, I was ranked 1/364 and had a 4.0 uw GPA and a 4.7 w. My ACT score was 32 and my SAT was 2190 (v670, m710, w800). My SAT II were Biology 620, US History 670 and Math II 750 (I know nothing amazing). At a high school which send 97% of its students to college, 95% of those stay instate and attend public universities such as Kent of Ohio State, both respectable schools, but I wanted something more. We had not sent a kid to the Ivy League in ten years, although 1-2 applied every year. </p>
<p>My course load was the most rigorous at my school, although we had no honors during my freshman year and only honors English my sophomore and junior years. I took APUSH my sophomore year and scored a four. During my junior year, I took APStats and APUSG and scored a five on both. During my senior year, I have taken AP Physics, Calc AB, Euro, and English. </p>
<p>My strengths definitely lie in my extracurricular activities, primarily speech and debate where I was nationally ranked in Student Congress and was a top state placer in International extemp. Otherwise, I was captain of several teams, played varsity tennis, and had dabbled in numerous volunteer activities.</p>
<p>As the school year began, (btw I had never heard of College Confidential yet), I narrowed my list to basically Yale, Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State, and Amherst with editing to do if I didn't get accepted SCEA at Yale which I had decided to do. As October rolled around, I finally finished my Common Application fifteen minutes before Yale's was due. I quickly finished it and sent it in. Now it was time to wait for my interview.</p>
<p>By December 5th, my interview never came and I was panicking. I was under the impression that the interview was required, yet I had no idea what to do. Now it was December 14th and I found out that my mom accidentally deleted a message that was from the interviewer several weeks earlier. At this point I gave up and proceeded to angrily avoid my parents.</p>
<p>December 15th: SCEA decisions. Almost forgot they even came out but at about nine pm after a choir concert, I checked the computer and a singing bulldog popped up to my surprise. I was accepted! It was the best day of my life. I never really expected to get in. even without College Confidential, I was knowledgeable enough to know my stats were slightly below average. </p>
<p>Now to the point: Following this, I discovered CC and all its amazing advice and I still wonder how I was able to figure everything out without this ( I never did have my interview though - although on December 27, I got a call again asking when I would like to have it and to his surprise I told him about my acceptance - he then proceeded to treat me to dinner anyway!).</p>
<p>What I have learned since then is that acceptance to a university is not chance... there was something about me that caught the adcoms attention, whether it was my strong essays and recommendations or extracurricular activities, I fit somewhere in the class of 2013. I proceeded to not finish any of my other applications and upon receiving my financial aid several days later, I accepted the offer of admission. </p>
<p>If you have a dream or desire to attend a college like Yale, go for it. Find your passion and pursue it and highlight it in your application. For me, it was something as common as speech and debate. Yes, i was a very well rounded applicant, but I had no hooks at all. I am an overachiever who was naturally able to excel, although I never did anything amazing. Now I am fortunate enough to be entering the Class of 2013 at Yale and I could not be happier. Good Luck to anyone else like me with a dream to succeed!</p>