<p>Wow, this thread is not only putting things into perspective for me, but is scaring me! Seems like Yale is impossible 
Especially since my record, as it stands, is not nearly as impressive as some of yours. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone during the RD round!</p>
<p>@treselefantes hey congratulations fellow wisconsin admit!</p>
<p>yale is my safety ******h.</p>
<p>sike</p>
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oh how I envy your geographic location -.-</p>
<p>Why? Is because yale is desperate to balance their east coast admits with some wholesome Midwesterners? ;)</p>
<p>^ Exactly. DX</p>
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<p>aww, thanks! 
congrats to you too, wisconsin buddy!</p>
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<p>no, you really, really donāt. REALLY. i live in a very insular small town, and i would like to live in a more stimulating environment. even the 'burbs would be better. the only advantage of living here is for college admissions. i think the fact that i owned my small town-ness helped, too. now, i do envy people in the madison/milwaukee environs.</p>
<p>^ha true. let me qualify- I envy your location for purposes of COLLEGE ADMISSION
east coast is just vicious! but yes, Iād die in a rural environment.</p>
<p>yes! that i understand. east coast and west coast are severely competitive. this is the only good thing about living in a town of 2,000 people and working in a hamlet of 700, at least for me. my town is 99% white (looked it up today on Wikipedia for the breakdown) and completely rural. i feel like a coastie at heart.</p>
<p>[my high school has 2000 students because i drive to a nearby town for HS.]</p>
<p>^are you in la crosse? I know a few people who go to la crosse central</p>
<p>nope. not that far west. :] iām more toward the center of the state. iād rather not say where exactly, although iām sure itās pretty obvious if you know wisconsin.</p>
<p>^ teehee!!</p>
<p>^baha. yes. you know my area. ;)</p>
<p>In response to the safety/non-safety school thing I saw on the previous pageā¦ For super-qualified international students, not even Cornell/UChicago/Dartmouth/Williams even LACs like Grinnell and Bates can ever truly be safeties. Diversity/amount of aid needed are critical factors here. Last year, a guy from my country got rejected by a bunch of LACs and Ivies and ended up being accepted only by Princeton (lucky him, but still)ā¦</p>
<p>I understand completely tres elephantes. Half of the year Iām in a super rural area, and the other half Iām surrounded by tourists.
But hey, thereās disadvantages to coming from the midwest too! My counselors and teachers werenāt even aware of the SAT IIās. I had to travel an hour to take all my standardized tests.</p>
<p>^iām probably not as far out as you are location-wise, but iāve had the same problems with standardized testing. and oh, clueless counselors! donāt get me started! :)</p>
<p>Haha, Iām in Oregon, probably not as rural, and in the smartest city in the United States (at least in the top five). We have like 6 rhode scholars, and a ton of other important people lived/live here. </p>
<p>Point: my counselors are still idiots 
As are a good majority of my teachersā¦ I am so sick of public high school, canāt wait to (hopefully) go to a college that actually has smart professors and students! Ah, Yaleā¦</p>
<p>^Iām thinking all the top 20 colleges have profs/students who are WAY smarter than those at your ordinary public high school
my counselors are complete idiots too.</p>
<p>Aw, I feel like itās necessary for me to step in with a defense of high school teachers here 
I LOVED the majority of mine- especially my AP Euro/IB World teacher, she is without a doubt the most fantastic teacher (and one of the coolest people) Iāve ever met- even though her grading curve is insanely difficult.
My counselors have been cool too XP Maybe itās just my school and how 7th/8th/9th graders can take as many APs as they want because weāre so laissez-faireā¦ I feel lucky :P</p>
<p>^of course you look back on your high school experience with joy because you got into yale cuz of it :(</p>