<p>Ironically, I was just reading this article earlier today - “Whitening” the Resume - perhaps you can feel guilty about suppressing your race as well. Catch 22 time! <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/weekinreview/06Luo.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/weekinreview/06Luo.html</a></p>
<p>I think that this sentence says it all, “It is hard to go from being one of the top students at a school to being average in intelligence. And to be below average is absolutely repulsive.” </p>
<p>It sounds like you are struggling with major issues of self doubt and possibly even self hatred because you’re experiencing a perfectly normal college phenomenon – You’re discovering that while you may have been the highest grade-earner or one of the highest grade earners in high school, in college you’re just one amongst many. All of your fellow classmates were high achievers just like you, and so when you put them all on a continuum together in college, they can’t all still be clustered at the top. </p>
<p>There could be a million and one reasons why you were accepted with fewer national awards than some of your classmates (certainly not all of them, btw, there aren’t that many national awards in the country). It could have been geographic, it could have been because you had better recommendations or essays, or interesting extra curriculars taht while they may not have garnered you national awards, obviously gave you personal satisfaction. It could have been because of your gender, and yes, even because of your race. But you’re so called “logical conclusion” is simply not that logical as there is no way to know, without seeing the admissions files themselves and the comments made on them, what every factor was in your case, and in the cases of other rejected and accepted students. And frankly, you never would have gotten to the “tipping point phase” where small differences like geographic location and race make a difference if you weren’t already qualified to be a Yale student. So you have to stop beating up on yourself. </p>
<p>Really, I think you need to shift your focus from, OMG I didn’t get the highest grade, to “What am I learning? What am I passionate about? what do I love about Yale? What can I gain from my four years here?” Also, intelligence is not measured in grades, if that’s the only measure you can think of, your’e going to go through life as a bean counter, not an educated adult. </p>
<p>All of this self hatred and self doubt is really just extended self pity, and frankly, that’s much less attractive than getting an “average” grade on any exam. Cut yourself a little slack, and learn to love yourself, ALL of yourself, including your race. I doubt it gave you any kind of “unfair” advantage in this process, I think you’re just using it as a way to project other insecurities about your current situation. You can’t go through college getting twisted up like this over each grade or you’re going to wear out before you get to the third year.</p>
<p>I saw your stats, they are very good. Don’t doubt yourself for a moment.</p>
<p>I am not worried about my grades, I can do that it is simply a matter of qualification. I remember all the the times i would hear about lowered standards and would proudly mentally repudiate the possibility that some lower standard would apply to me.
Like when I got a 2070 on the SAT, I knew that wasn’t good enough for top schools so I bought a ACT prep book, studied for a month and got a 34 a score that I figured was respectable enough for any student. I was initally 26 in my class at the start of my junior year of high school and worked hard to be in the top 10 because that was what I wanted since I was a freshman, but only ended up being 13 when college admission came around. I didn’t stop there and ended up graduating exactly as number 10 achieving my goal. But on this one, there is no denying that i had lower qualifications that my peers. And I am man enough to admit that. I guess the only other thing I had going for me was my research on quantum tunneling and applying for engineering.</p>
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I rest my case. 
If you can do the work, you belong at Yale.
13 out of 476 is a terrific class rank. I’m guessing math is not your thing? You are in the top 3% of your class.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that “class rank” is calculated by different methods at different high schools. Some high school weight the rankings, some do not. Some give greater weight to AP’s and honors courses than others. Some high schools only include academic subjects to calculate rank, others include everything – there are many, many students who have lost ground on class rank simply because of their unweighted A’s in band. Also, many high schools have multiple “valedictorians” because they grant that status to everyone who has a specific GPA.</p>
<p>I’d also note that Yale does not report GPA’s of its entering class on the common data set… so I’m not sure where you get your figures about “most” being valedictorians. Again, if you are using CC as your data source, it is a skewed source. </p>
<p>I’d highly recommend that you take a class in statistics!</p>
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<p>I think that you are selling yourself short and that you also totally misunderstand AA. If you have a 34 ACT and are in the top 3% of your class, you are NOT an “Affirmative Action” admit. Your 34 ACT puts you at the 75% level in the class – you are on the upper end of the applicant pool. “Affirmative Action” is when a college admits someone who would not otherwise be in the running, overlooking a deficiency to give the person a leg up. At Yale, the students with an ACT of 29 or below may be AA admits (the 25th percentile is 30); students with SAT’s of below 600 (about 3% of the Yale admitted class) are very likely to be the beneficiaries of AA or some other hook. </p>
<p>I doubt that you were even in whatever AA “pool” the Yale ad com has. And I’m probably right that that the only students possibly displaced by you were black – I say that because Yale might have targets as to how many African American students they want to admit. If they are short of those targets, they might give their weakest applicants a second look – so every upper-end URM applicant who is admitted makes it less likely that Affirmative Action will come into play and benefit some borderline applicant.</p>
<p>Dbate is a very confused black individual who is focusing on dumb and trivial information. </p>
<p>Instead of feeling proud that he now attends Yale (most high school kids don’t have this opportunity), he’s trying to think he’s like his white peers. He doesn’t realize many selective schools want a diverse student population. #13 out of 376 is NOT low.</p>
<p>Can we say someone is thinking too much? ::shakes my head::</p>
<p>Stop comparing yourself to your white peers, focus on doing your best, and complete the degree requirements.</p>
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I am starting to wonder about your analytical skills and understanding of statistics. Yale claims that 97% of entering students are in the top 10% of their class, but you are top 3% – and Yale also reports that only 40% of students submit class rank data. So even Yale is extrapolating its figures, probably based on GPA.</p>
<p>It is clear that you were qualified to be a Yale admit, with or without AA. My question to you is what will it take for you to feel worthy of your admission? A spot on the top debate team, a 4.0, a published paper in your field?
My D was a little shocked to be the average fish in the pond as well at her elite LAC, but loves the water she is swimming in.
Yale saw something in you, so quit feeling sorry for yourself and show them they made the right decision (which I personally think they did.) Good luck!</p>
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<p>Why not, Dbate? Historically, African Americans have been disenfranchised in this country for hundreds of years. We had unequal access to education and civil rights. There is nothing wrong with listing your race. African Americans on average have fewer financial resources than non-Hispanic whites. </p>
<p>I am proud of being a black woman. If the school wants to know my identity, I always list it. Not listing your identity IMO is dumb. You are lying to yourself. I come from a single-parent household, and my family were poor farmers fifty years ago. I need as much (beyond overdue) advantage as I can get to stay on par with my white peers and have access to connections that were traditionally unavailable to people of color.</p>
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<p>I know I am in the top 3% I converted the percentile rankings for all the admits from CC and the average class rank was a .66%, following a normal model I was in the bottom 1.43% of all accepted students. </p>
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<p>I took stat in high school and got a 4 on the AP, which was a bad score as well. </p>
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<p>I was on one of the top debate teams in Texas (we got 5th at state my sophmore year), and I was ranked as the 11th best speaker in Texas my senior year. I had a 3.89 and got my research published. But this things are not important. </p>
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<p>Well I asked my admission officer whether I got in because I was black and she said that I was such a strong candidate that it was easy to admit me. But I am sure she is speaking with regard to ethnicity. I know that what I accomplished in high school was great and impressive, but Yale regularly rejects people who do great and impressive things.</p>
<p>To a certain extent I think I am just a perfectionist, who is obsessed with doing well. And should learn to just calm down. I had a meeting with my dean because I was getting two Bs and she said that I should realize that I don’t have to be perfect or whatever. So I should probably just take her advice.</p>
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<p>Amen. 10 char</p>
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<p>Because I would feel like I got additional help which is something that has always bothered me. It is the same reason I would always tell my teacher if she accidently gave me credit for a wrong answer, or why I never cheated on tests. It is the same reason I got a job instead of asking my parents for money for my science projects or even for stuff here at college, because everything you get in life should be earned by your own hard work and nothing else.</p>
<p>I know other students here got in because of one reason or another that wasn’t fair: using private admission consultants, friends with interviewers, heck my suitemate didn’t even have to write essays to get into the university because he was on the hockey team and another of my friends was only in the top 30% of his class but got in because he is a fencer.</p>
<p>None of that matters to me though. I do not want an advantage in life because it would be wrong. I want to accomplish everything on my own without help, it is naive and will place me at a disadvantage relative to others, but that is okay. I understand the historical reasons for Affirmative Action and would readily support affirmative action for others, but I did not want that because I want to earn everything that I have in life.</p>
<p>Well, Dbate, George W. Bush got into Yale through Affirmative Action (the legacy variety) and he was a great success.</p>
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<p>I have news for you, Dbate. We do not live in a meritocratic society. Some people are more privileged than others. Yes, receiving good grades is great, but if you do not have the right connections, no matter how much you complain, you will not get in. </p>
<p>There are people who get into HYP because they are legacies or sons/daughters of wealthy families. They have their own form of affirmative action. Do you think they walk around thinking they don’t belong there? HECK NO.</p>
<p>Stop focusing on how others perceive you, and just do your work. Be thankful for every opportunity you can receive. All that useless thinking is putting stupid thoughts in your head.</p>
<p>Two Bs? Argh… What a failure!!
If you’re fishing for sympathy, you won’t get it from me. Now, if you’d gotten two C-s, I could understand the despondency. </p>
<p>I’ve heard that the hardest thing for many students at top schools to adjust to is getting the first Bs in their lives. The only students not taken aback must be those who knew going in that they were likely to get mostly Cs and perhaps a few Bs (the happy bottom quarter, as Bill Fitzsimmons of Harvard once called them). It has nothing to do with skin color and AA.</p>
<p>^^ Students who are not obsessed over grades grew up in the real world a.k.a. non-CC. They take this opportunity of a lifetime to do their best and make sure they graduate with the degree in hand. </p>
<p>OP, I have around 3 Cs on my undergraduate transcript, and I am attending Michigan for graduate school. If you know anything about Michigan, it is one of the elite research institutions in the country. None of my (white) professors and peers know, and none will say I am unfit for my program. I don’t consume myself with negative thinking (a.k.a. do I belong here?).</p>
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<p>I knew that from your profile, that is why I stated these things. Do you not think these accomplishments were part of the reason Yale found you an attractive candidate?</p>
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<p>Step outside your dorm. Look up at the windows. Windows 1, 6, 13 and 24 are Legacy’s. Windows 3, 5, and 9 are athlete’s. Window 2 has a daddy that is a senator, and 31 is a teen film star. Oh…shhhh…look up at window #8, Dbate lives there (pssst, he is an AA admit.) All the others must be the “qualified” ones. They didn’t have anything special, except according to you, they are all Valedectorians. </p>
<p>I’m being sarcastic in hopes you see how unfounded your statements are.</p>
<p>Good to hear from you Dbate… I think.But it kind of makes me glad my kids don’t hang out here.</p>
<p>^^^^^</p>
<p>Ditto Shrinkrap</p>
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<p>As I said, garbage in, garbage out.</p>