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<p>You don’t talk much, about scores, schools, etc. D1 only told a couple very close & savvy friends that she was applying SCEA to Y, everybody else only heard about the 2 state schools with rolling admissions that she’d already been accepted to. Some people thought she was crazy, but that didn’t matter, it was her business, not theirs.</p>
<p>LOL don’t take 2400ers too seriously…although it is a funny group of people. End of story.
hb730 - yepp I get those responses as well.</p>
<p>@entomom:
Of course you don’t talk much, I agree, but then again, it also helps if you a) don’t live in Asia, where news spreads extremely fast, EVEN if you only tell your parents, and b) your sat scores don’t come out at 3pm local time when you’re still at school, sitting in the library, and pressured to check with a crowd standing behind you, and c) if you don’t go to an extremely small school (some classes are as small as 3 students). I recognize the benefits to keeping things quiet, but over here, people know no matter what you do. My sat proctor, who happens to be my mom’s friend, congratulated her about my sat- how did she find out? Her daughter told her. But I don’t even know her daughter, and she lives halfway across one of the world’s biggest cities! see? And I did NOT go around telling people. And Yale? I started my apps and college list in my free block with 2 other friends - and I was shocked when sophomores told me thy knew I was applying back in October. I hope you understand; it’s a matter of environments. I’ve known kids whose parents delivered them a string of expletives for getting 2080s, and others who demean and denigrate their kids before they take the sat (like they’re useless people who can’t even get a 2000), then yell at them and expect better after they’ve taken it (even when they do well!). It isn’t easy being Asian, and it makes applications all the more stressful. I mean, just today my grandmother talked to me about getting deferred from Yale - I didn’t even know she knew.</p>
<p>Oh, and I didn’t mean to rant, but just further elucidate my situation. Sorry if I come off as a bit… much.</p>
<p>@ZishuAW: We 2400ers are all a bit off-tune, ehe.</p>
<p>The comments about me are old by now, but I’m very proud to have retaken a 2380. It’s staying on my application because plugging away until I get what I’m after is just the way I do things. I didn’t do it for colleges (though I was expecting an incidental bonus); I did it because I believed I could and wanted to prove it to myself. I said that a long time ago. I guess I’m eating my words now, but I still believe it.</p>
<p>People are free to hold my personality against me (and they do). A lot of people think I’m arrogant because I expect better of myself than what is good enough for a lot of other people. I can see that. But that’s just who I am, and I’m sure somebody out there will appreciate it (or I’ll do my best to make sure they’ll appreciate it in the end).</p>
<p>hb,
I do understand, honestly, I’m not trying to foster an argument with you. My fault for being so matter of fact at a difficult and stressful time for so many. I was giving my usual SAT talk, but the day after EA decisions on the Y forum is not the time or place. Please accept my apologies, I’m sure it’s not easy, and that you’re managing as well as you can given the circumstances.</p>
<p>@christiansoldier: yes, someone will appreciate you for who you are (and a lot of us on cc already do!)</p>
<p>In the end, you’ll go to a college which accepts you because it wants you - and knows it’ll be a richer place because it has you. If a college doesn’t see your merits, it doesn’t know what its missing. Its loss.</p>
<p>But remember, Yale does see your merits - they’re giving you a second chance, and I think they may very well admit you in the foreseeable future. Good luck.</p>
<p>@entomom: I think I was overreacting. Thanks for understanding!</p>
<p>christiansoldier, as one of your sometime critics I would like to make clear that my problem with you – and I don’t only have a problem with you, I think you are thoughtful and articulate – is NOT that you “expect better of yourself than what is good enough for a lot of other people”. It’s actually that you expect far too little, too trivial, and too easy things of yourself . . . like 800s on SATs, and 36s on ACTs. You give the impression of being way too focused on, and way too proud of, pseudo-achievements like that.</p>
<p>I am actually disappointed and sad that Yale deferred you. But I and others told you that your test-focus was an Achilles heel, and contrary to the value systems of all of the colleges you most want to attend. If you are accepted at one of them – and you should be, I believe – it will be in spite of that, not thanks to it. That’s your arrogance: that you continue to believe that your standards are high, but the evidence is that your standards are too low. And the irony is that, because you are thoughtful and articulate and energetic, you would be a far stronger candidate with imperfect test scores.</p>
<p>(P.S.: Do NOT retake the SAT in January to get all 790s!)</p>
<p>I got deferred unfortunately. Now I have to finish my other applications which will probably take me alot of time. I just hope I have a chance of getting accepted in the spring.</p>
<p>I disagree with christian’s philosophy, but you have to respect his eloquence. you are very well-spoken, and convincing, very logical. you remind me of my ex-bf. he’s arrogant in a more obvious way though xD</p>
<p>I have been reading the Yale posts for a while as my son applied. Forgive the long post. Obviously, a 2400 cant be all that someone banks on and is no guarantee of admission–evidence proves otherwise–but there is also evidence throughout these schools stats that people with an 800 on a section are being admitted at much higher rates than those with 750-790 regardless of the adage that once you hit about a 2250 it is all the same. A quick look at Browns web site, for instance, shows that CR scores for people with scores ranging from 750 to 790 are admitted at a rate of 16.6%, while people with an 800 are admitted at a rate of 23%. The admittance rate of those with 750-790 math is 15.9% vs. 20.4% for 800s and the same pattern holds true for writing scores 24.3 vs. 16.7%. </p>
<p>Again, a 2400 is a guarantee of nothing but probably will result in a higher admission rate than a 2250 or even 2300 or above. </p>
<p>The implication on this thread that there is something inherently wrong with people as a group who get 2400 is ridiculous. Just as it is wrong to assume they will automatically be admitted, it is also wrong to automatically assume they have nothing else going for them. As hb730 stated, he got around 2190 before retaking SATs and getting a 2400. He didnt suddenly become a less desirable candidate in the rest of his application or a robot because of it. I personally think they are looking for different things in the EA round than the RD round and many of the 2400s will fare better there–just speculation, no evidence on that.</p>
<p>Regarding Christiansoldier: No one here knows why anyone was deferred, yet people seem to “know” that he was deferred because of his retaking the SATs however many times he did. No one here has that kind of information, so I would ignore it. His scores are phenomenal and, along with his ECs and character, will probably be one of the reasons he does get accepted at Yale or other fine schools. </p>
<p>Christian, I have been reading these posts for months and, to me, you have shown the most character, poise, lack of arrogance and consideration of others of anyone responding. Don’t make the rest of your application a test of whether the admins agree or disagree with you for your retakes. Use Score Choice for the schools that allow it, get in and them show them what a great person you are and the high standards you set for yourself once you’re there. You are competing against people in situations similar to yours who are taking advantage of it for the schools that allow it. Don’t put yourself at a disadvantage now. I personally don’t find the retakes as a bad thing, I see them in a positive light as a sign of dedication and drive, but it’s not worth taking a chance. </p>
<p>Finally, we all know by now that Christiansoldier retook his SATs to get great scores. Regardless of our personal interpretations, I think it is time to get over it and move on.</p>
<p>For all of your genuine concern and thoughtful advice, I’m very thankful. You have all become a big support group for me, and can empathize with me in a way that most of my friends at school can’t.</p>
<p>To JHS, you were absolutely right, but there’s no changing course now. My application is, for the most part, what I engineered it to be. I’d probably be better off if I had kept a keener eye for opportunities to do substantive things, but it was tests and competitions that caught my eye. I did exactly what seemed like the most rewarding thing seemed to me at the time, so I have no regrets. It reminds me of when I was little, and my mom hoped that I would someday be able to take the inexhaustible energy and precision that I put toward Pokemon and put it toward school. I eventually did. Hopefully there is a committee out there willing to gamble that I can bring the patience, dedication, and careful attention I have shown tests to the real world.</p>
<p>As for CCPost, I’m flattered by your character assessment and your advice is well taken. My immediate reaction to my deferral was to use score choice for my other applications, but after talking it over with my parents and praying on it, I decided against it. They’re my scores and I don’t want to hide them. Honesty is a mountain I’m willing to die on. I don’t want to create this false impression of a test god that always wins on the first try when the reality is a fallible person who will grind away until the bitter end. I feel like my 2380 humanizes my application in a way that no essay could. Even if the risk of appearing an academic robot does not outweigh the risk of appearing a test-fixated loser, I can at least be proud that I didn’t hide my failures.</p>
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<p>Even though I disagree with the logic of your retakes, I can understand your decision now to report all your scores. You are letting colleges see that you are the type of person who would retake a 2380 to get a 2400. Let them make their own judgement about that and accept you as you are. As an aside, you should realize that you can always use score choice to report your 2380 and hide your 2400. </p>
<p>I also agree with JHS:</p>
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<p>I also agree with those who say that we don’t really know whether the score retakes hurt christiansoldier. It could simply be that the scores were a non-issue, and they just didn’t see a lot of other things in his application to accept him right away. Lots and lots of amazing kids were deferred, and he is just one of them.</p>
<p>Christiansoldier, I admire your stance and I’m sure you will do well. Good luck!</p>
<p>whoaa, step back for a minute</p>
<p>you guys just suggested not reporting a 2400. wow. just. wow</p>
<p>christian, u should score choice, and hide the 2380. just show the 2400</p>
<p>^ I don’t necessarily agree with that… I think that at some colleges (Harvard, with its reputation of being more numbers focused, comes to mind) they’ll see that he is a person who strives for perfection and they’ll like that. The jump from 2380 to 2400 will show that characteristic about him.</p>
<p>As I said before, though, I tend to think that scores aren’t what get you in, they’re the gateway issue. You pass a certain “threshold”, and then the rest of your application gets looked at… I think it’s your essays, recs, ECs, and (of course) the rigour of your classes that eventually determines whether you get in or not.</p>
<p>And Yale has always had a reputation of being a very holistically minded application viewer school (woah, bad sentence construction), so I think this reasoning holds true for it especially…</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I have a question here…
How do you guys submit an additional rec from a prof outside of your high school? Can we use the “School Forms” even though it’s outside of school? It is not convenient to ask a mail to send to a few schools.
Thanks</p>
<p>You mail it directly to the admissions office… if it’s outside of your high school I don’t think the school form is required, but if you want to use it, go for it.</p>
<p>fuzzyfirebunny, thank you</p>
<p>Haha for some reason I thought Yale wasnt mailing out deferral/rejection letters… but I got my deferral letter in the mail today… hmm… maybe its cause I was international i guess</p>