Please help a worried fellow

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Hi. I have been reading these forums awhile and comparing myself to the Yale applicants. I will be applying to Yale next year, and comparing myself to you guys on this site make me quite worried I am not going to get in. I have finally decided to do a chance-me thread. My concern is that my classes are not rigorous enough to be considered seriously for admission to Yale. I only will have "very demanding" courses checked off by my guidance counselor, apparently. I am really sad.</p>

<p>I am extremely worried! I am not able to concentrate because I feel that my chances are blown! Please tell me if I actually have a chance of being accepted to Yale. I am using a template I found on another thread.</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 1950, not using.
[</em>] ACT: 32.
[<em>] SAT II: Not using.
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 15/656. (I know it's pretty good, but the people ahead of me are taking more AP's than me!)
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): This year, AP Chem, AP Gov. Probably a 3 and 4, respectively. Sadly the classes people at my school excel at due to good teachers I am not taking until next year. (Senior year I will have Stats and Calc AB).
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): Not an IB school.
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB, AP Stats (maxed out math), Spanish IV, English IV Honors (should I take AP Lit?), Physics I Honors.
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Rising Sunshine State Scholar, local writing award, Varsity letter, academic letter
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Academic team (captain), Math Honor Society/Mu Alpha Theta (president), FIRST Robotics (officer), NHS (president), Varsity swimmer (grade 9-10)
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Camp counselor
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: About 80 hours mentoring children, 50+ tutoring peers
[<em>] Summer Activities: (total): Swimming conditioning, child mentoring, high school classes, executive internship
[</em>] Essays: Hopefully great
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Well, my teachers like me. Good, hopefully. One of them has taught me Chem I and AP Chem, and she is the sponsor of academic team. I know her well.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: I hope she is on my side.
[<em>] Additional Rec: Probably an assistant principal or engineer mentor.
[</em>] Interview: It will be exciting for me.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
[</em>] Intended Major: Chemistry.
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): FL
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Large public.
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: $80-120k, I think.
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None : (
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: Passion (I do, it's just hard to tell in this post), Essays, Extracurricular leadership
[li] Weaknesses: Test scores and academic rigor[/li][/ul]General Comments: The Yale site states explicitly that academic rigor on the transcript is the most important aspect of an application. I only have an average number of AP classes, I am not ranked number one, and I only have "very demanding". I feel this is very detrimental to me. I think I was scared I'd have too much work and didn't take AP Euro or some other options. I took electives instead. My parents influenced me. They think that I am "fine" and I don't need to worry. They don't realize it's different than when they were kids. My dad went to Princeton.</p>

<p>Please tell me if I still have a chance, I am afraid that my unwise decisions in grades 9 and 10(not doing extra classes, just electives) are going to damage my chances substantially.</p>

<p>Thanks. Go Yale!</p>

<p>P.S.: Would taking online AP Classes be wise? I am unfamiliar with FLVS and the work involved.</p>

2

<p>Granted that many people who you will be competing with will have more AP classes than you, it does not mean you don’t have a chance. </p>

<p>Don’t be a drama queen. Many (if not all) kids are stressed out about the college application process.
Apply, and hope for the best. At this stage, you can’t change your choices from 9th and 10th grade. Don’t give excuses for them. Make the best of the upcoming year. I can’t say anything about taking AP Lit or not (since I haven’t taken that class). </p>

<p>I would also say that don’t limit yourself by applying only to Yale. That would be stupid - nobody can say for sure who’s to get in.</p>

3

<p>Strengths: Passion, Essays, Extracurricular leadership
Weaknesses: Test scores and academic rigor</p>

<p>Where is the “Passion”? I see a lot of well-roundedness but I can’t determine a single passion.</p>

4

<p>I will apply to other places besides Yale. Cornell, Princeton for legacy, Stanford, UF, and UCF.</p>

5

<p>If you can’t show passion on a piece of paper, you can’t expect them to know that it’s there. Of course, I suppose you could show it in your essays…</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>How about getting some prep books and studying on your own to shoot for higher scores?? Jr year is critical, so if you want to maximize your chances, you should be showing that you mastered the AP material. Particularly in AP Chem since you want to major in Chem and will get a LOR from that teacher, a 3 is rather underwhelming I’m afraid.</p>

7

<p>Yes. I think about 15% of the people who take the test get a 5 in Chem. If you want to do Chem at an institution with roughly a 10% acceptance rate, you should be in that top 15%.</p>

8

<p>Okay. I will work on that.</p>

9

<p>Worriedfellow: How do kids from your high school with similar test scores and grades do when they apply to UF? Do they mostly get in?</p>

<p>My personal opinion is that your list right now is very heavy on reach schools that you only have a small chance at. UF might be a match, might be somewhat of a reach (you can determine that by looking at your high school’s experience). Maybe you should spend some time looking for schools that are not as selective as your reaches, but are still going to offer a great college education for you.</p>

10

<p>worriedfellow - don’t be such a worried fellow to the extent that it’s holding you back from pursuing something interesting and that you’re passionate about for fear that it isn’t going to “gear” you towards Ivy admissions!</p>

<p>Why don’t you try letting go of some of those worries, be in the moment, take a “why not?” attitude - to life and academics so that you aren’t inhibiting yourself and see what happens?</p>

<p>:)</p>

11

<p>Okay, I have calmed down-But you’re saying I actually “could” get in? Not that I have high chances, but I do have some possibility?</p>

12

<p>sat score is bad bad bad</p>

13

<p>Yes.</p>

<p>Now stop fishing for abstract comfort, get off this website, and focus on getting your AP estimations to the maximum (among other things).</p>