Questions and concerns and oh yeah, please chance me for SCEA!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Still considering whether I should do it or not, I LOVE Yale but I don't know if I have what it takes to get in (even though it's always a certain amount of luck that goes into the admissions process). anyways, here goes...
I'm a white female at a large, city public school.</p>

<p>SAT Scores- 750 reading, 790 math, 740 writing (one sitting)
ACT Scores- 34 english, 33 math, 33 writing, 31 science (one sitting)
SAT Subject tests- 790 math II, 800 chem, 770 Bio M
GPA- 99.3 out of 100
Class rank- 3 but I'm scared it might drop to 4 or 5, will this matter?
APs- US History(5), Chem(4)</p>

<p>Taking this year: AP Physics C, College French II, AP Gov, AP Economics, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Euro, Wind Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra
My school doesn't offer a lot of APs, I hope it doesn't look like I'm scrambling to take all of them in my last year of school!</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
-Played Piano for 10 years, have had solo recitals, accompanied my school's choir for 4 years, been giving private lessons for 2
-Clarinet Section leader in the biggest marching band in New York State
-Cello for 9 years (made it into this years All-State Orchestra, been playing in a college orchestra for 4 years, went to numerous summer camps for cello)
-President of the Math team
-VP of Harvard Model UN (2 years)
-African Dance classes since sophomore year
-I religiously attend yoga classes, but will this count for anything? should I even write it?
-Varsity Crew for 2 years
-sang in a jazz choir for 4 years and my school choir for 1
-I was in a rock band for a while, not sure if I should include that either
-I'm a peer tutor and lab assistant at my school
-interned for the environmental educators at my city's parks and rec department this summer, and currently sit on a city committee dealing with environmental issues</p>

<p>hooks: I'm a very dedicated Buddhist, and plan to write my essay on what it's like being a Buddhist in America. (diversity? eh? meh?)</p>

<p>weaknesses: Not a lot of APs (even though my school doesn't really too many as a junior or sophomore), SATs are meh, and I haven't really won any major awards, even in the activities I'm really dedicated to. </p>

<p>also: I'm considering applying as an engineer, specifically an environmental engineer, will it be more selective that way or possibly less selective?</p>

<p>I WANNA GO TO YALE SO BAD</p>

2

<p>I don’t usually respond to the chance threads but heck, 349 page views and no responses? Your stats are competitive as is the rigor of your coursework. Rank of 3 or 5 makes no difference. What is attending Yoga classes supposed to count for? If it means that much to you that you “religiously attend”, use your allotted space to detail why this is important to you. It would seem an easy thing to work into your intended essay topic. You don’t have much essay space so make sure you use it to talk about what makes you tick. Using a Buddhism in America essay to show you bring diversity to campus sounds dull. The challenges of that topic and the ways you have struggled and enlightened yourself and others has more potential. If you want to sell yourself as a STEM concentrator/engineer, you may want to use your essay topic to talk about that summer experience and how you parlayed that into the committee job.</p>

3

<p>I am curious about one thing on your list. You mention taking Calc BC yet you don’t list a score for Calc AB. Did you not take the test since I assume you did take the course?</p>

4

<p>At my school, you learn part of the calc curriculum during precalc so you go strait from precalc to calc BC!</p>

5

<p>To YaleGradandDad: thank you, this helped a lot! I’ve been struggling on my essays.</p>

6

<p>Seems like you got it all… 2280 on SATs is meh??? I would kill for that! And your high school will send Yale a list of all the courses they offer, so if they dont offer many APs, don’t worry. Yale will see that</p>

7

<p>

This is the only part that’s a problem. You shouldn’t want to go to one specific school too bad. You have great credentials, and will certainly get into some very good and selective schools (if you apply to enough of them). Yale may be one of them, and it may not be. I don’t think it would be unreasonable for you to apply to Yale SCEA, but you should have the rest of your list ready to go.</p>