<p>Other Tests
SAT Subject
French (670)
Literature (730)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars
-Editor-in-Chief of Language Magazine
-Founder and Chairwoman of Junior Committee of the Humane Society of the United States
-Member of 1 student-run and 1 school-run a cappela group
-Translating a play from French to English in an independent study (which I hope to publish)
-Featured roles in 8 theater productions in high school, manager of varsity baseball
-Cartoonist for school newspaper
-Work experience: babysitter, part-time waitress
-Internship at a law firm in Brazil (full-time, first American to work there, translated and researched, etc., it was far from just filing and getting coffee)
-Peer tutor in English and History (commended by the school)</p>
<p>About Me
Gender: Female
Race: White (Non-Hispanic)
Religion: Jewish
State residence: NY
Legacy: Yale, Northwestern
Income: $200,000+
Fluent in: English, French, Portuguese</p>
<p>High School Education: Nationally recognized top-tier private day school, very challenging courseload but my school doesn't offer APs or report rank
Application essay quality: Best possible
Teacher recs: Best possible
Additional recs: founding partner of Brazilian law firm (see above)</p>
<p>I think your ECs are great, especially the internship at law firm. But your standardized test scores and gpa are somewhat below average… Do you plan to retake the tests?</p>
<p>Thanks! Unfortunately, it’s too late for me to retake. I wanted to to get my math up, but my counselor advised against it because of my perfect reading score. I still regret it :/</p>
<p>Argg, your counselor was a fool. Your gpa and SAT are probably on the lower end of the spectrum, especially for white people with privileged backgrounds like yourself. Retake the SAT if you possibly can. Make sure to talk about your theater roles because I almost missed them when I was glancing through your app. 8 featured roles (I’m assuming in different productions) is pretty impressive because I know how much time theater can take.</p>
<p>I feel your pain with the SAT scores: I got an 800 Critical Reading and a 690 Math as well! I think you are somewhat competitive in the applicant pool, and having your extracurriculars and legacy status will definitely make you stand out. That said, I’m going to offer some criticisms, but I still think you have a very strong application. </p>
<p>I think your ECs are great, though they aren’t that exceptional. While they look good on paper, I don’t understand what compels you to do them. Why found a humane society when you could get involved with local charity groups in need of assistance? Your independent study looks “cool” but why not take a college-level French course if you were really serious about it? These aren’t fun questions to ask, but will invariably come up in the admissions office and you have to accept that.</p>
<p>If you go to a nationally ranked day school, you should have a curriculum that adequately prepares you for college admissions tests, correct? You have all these opportunities available to you, yet your subject test scores are well below (I think the Lit one is OK though) what is expected of a potential Yale student. You only took the SAT once and got an 800 in Critical Reading, so I don’t think the SAT I score will make much of a difference, but the subject test scores definitely will. The GPA (depending on how it is relative to other applicants form your school) could potentially hurt you, and it most likely will.</p>
<p>Other than that, your application is great and I think your biggest strengths are your theater experiences (WOW!) and your critical reading score. You definitely stand a shot towards admission but I think it’s going to be a bit of a stretch. I think it is for everyone though, so I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m just playing the devil’s advocate here.</p>
<p>Wally, one of the top private schools near me also does not offer any AP courses. Students with 3.7 GPAs and 2200ish SATs are picked up by Ivy league schools from this top private school all the time. </p>
<p>Lilahtov, your GPA is considered ‘low’ but it is low compared to an application body of mostly fairly competitive public school students. Does your school send many kids to very prestigious schools? Ivies, Stanford, Caltech, etc? If yes, then I would say you have a good chance. If no, it might be a bit slim. Either way, you never know.</p>
<p>Pat1120, my school sends an unusually high number of kids to Ivies and other top schools each year, and we’ve been having a great year acceptance-wise so far. I hope that’s a good omen for me!</p>
<p>You have a good chance. However, don’t be down if they do not accept you…Yale is tough to get in. My friend had exactly a 2340 but was still wait-listed then rejected at Yale. He went to Harvard so I guess it’s even :)</p>
<p>My cousin had a similar situation…Yale was his first choice and he ended up at Harvard. Funny how it works out that the rivals steal each other’s hopefuls!</p>
<p>So, I vowed to never do chances again, since, ultimately, NOBODY’S opinion on here matters and the fact is that most of us (including myself) are in high school and don’t know one bit about what goes on in an admission’s office. However, though I won’t offer any specifics about what I think your “chances” are since there is no way I legitimately could, I feel like I must comment on this thread to correct some things I very strongly believe to be misconceptions.</p>
<p>1) Yes, a 3.73 is a low GPA. However, what is the GPA of most of your peers? What is your rank? The GPA is meaningless as a number without any context to it; perhaps you just go to a school that grades incredibly difficultly, and the rest of your school’s student body has a comparative/lower GPA.</p>
<p>2) About your SAT scores: yes, they are a little on the low end for Yale, but not significantly. Let me quote Yale’s website directly:
</p>
<p>The 25th-75th percentiles of score ranges for Yale’s last incoming freshman class was
SAT-Verbal: 700-790
SAT-Math: 700-800
SAT-Writing: 710-790
ACT: 31-35</p>
<p>On the individual sections, your math and writing are a bit low, but the composite score is definitely in the “range.” Though I have yet to find Yale’s range for composite SAT scores, the ACT composite of 31 equates to a 2070 on the SAT (source: [Compare</a> ACT and SAT Scores | ACT](<a href=“http://www.act.org/solutions/college-career-readiness/compare-act-sat/]Compare”>http://www.act.org/solutions/college-career-readiness/compare-act-sat/) ), meaning, of people who were admitted to Yale submitting ACT scores, 25% of them had an SAT equivalent of 2070 or lower. You may be on the lower side of Yale’s range, but you still are in it.</p>
<p>3) I cannot comment on your EC’s without knowing your circumstances or the opportunities provided by your school/community. With that said, I strongly believe it is not only important to have good EC’s, it to also portray them well. Part of how well your EC’s look depends in part on how clearly you portrayed your passion and commitment to them in your EC section, short answer, and essays in your common app.</p>
<p>4) One reason I believe chance threads are close to meaningless is because we, those who are judging the chance threads, cannot see a massively vital part of your application: your personal statement. Though I cannot have any empirical evidence to support this claim, I use logic in this situation. Think of it this way: about 30,000 students will probably apply this year. Most of them are academically qualified and have great extracurricular activities. What makes an applicant stand out is the one part where they get to actually speak and show their own personality: the essays. No accurate chance can be given without this piece of the application.</p>
<p>So, my final determination? Like anybody else, you might get in, you probably won’t (due to the wickedly competitive process). However, you appear qualified, and a lot of the final decision will depend on how well you portrayed yourself in your application. And, if you don’t get into Yale, I’m sure there will be other amazing colleges out there waiting for you. Good luck!</p>