<p>I would agree, it’s what you do with what comes your way that really matters. That said, I don’t see any ‘hooks’ standing out of your info and yes Yale has a lot of valedictorians they pass on. But you’ve done a lot of great stuff and should be proud of that. Think of it this way, there is NO data that suggests that taking the number one student in a school makes for a better class. So don’t sweat it. The only question that you should be asking yourself is whether you are holding your own in the classes you are in. If so, you are as qualified as anyone else.</p>
<p>Are you doing well at Yale now? I think that’s all that really matter at this point.</p>
<p>The fact is that you’re incredibly qualified regardless. As a white candidate, you would have been competitive. Whether you would have made the admitted cutoff, no one here can tell you, largely because Yale admissions are so subjective. Just looking at the accepted students thread from last year, you can’t really derive specific trends. Everyone on this site, and most of the total people applying to Yale, is incredibly qualified for the workload at Yale. </p>
<p>The admissions process is subjective. Yes, it takes race in to account, just as it does legacy status, recruited athletes, underrepresented states, kids who play instruments for the orchestra, engineers, first generation, etcetc. Whether you would have gotten in “What if, what if?” doesn’t matter–you are at Yale, and you certainly deserve to be.</p>
<p>dbate: believe it or not most if not all Yale freshmen question their admittance. That’s natural. However, you’ve just GOT to stop equating it to the sole issue of your ethnicity. I was a Chinese first generation kid from an urban school district whose scores placed me in the 30th percentile of my entering Yale classmates. My HS class rank was 10th or so. I never really found out (cuz I didn’t care). I had never known a single Ivy grad before attending Y myself. Did I wonder what I was doing in New Haven? Sure. But I refused to let any doubts creep into my mind. I never even KNEW if any of my peers were vals or sals. I never asked, no one ever asked me. And you know what? I didn’t care. You really need to stop focusing on what you perceive others’ abilities are. Yale didn’t make a mistake with me. It didn’t make a mistake with you.</p>
<p>you got into Yale. Who cares if it was due to AA?</p>
<p>It is common knowledge that Asians have the toughest time, while URM get a break. SO what makes you think you’re so special that it didn’t apply to you?</p>
<p>Overall your stats are great. But not super outstanding</p>
<p>How were you able to get in without submitting the SAT IIs? Did you provide a reason for not taking? My D (hispanic) has not applied to Ivies because she did not take the SAT subject tests. She also doesn’t have quite the stats you do.</p>
<p>Your stats and such are impressive. You have quite a few awards, nothing really major and thsoe school awards dont really count, but at least you have some. You want an honest answer, though, and I’ll give you one. While you definately would have had a shot at Yale if you were white, the odds of you getting in would not have been all that high. Many, many asians and whites do have superior ECs and stats. You would have had a shot at HYPS and you should be proud you got in (thts all that really matters!!), but many people on this forum have been sugarcoating their replies. Being black is prbly what made you a shoo-in.</p>
<p>You are qualified, Black, Hispanic, Asian, White, or Alien.
Congratulations, and good luck at Yale!</p>
<p>I agree with rtgrove. However, that by no means implies your white and asian peers are “better” than you. The majority of ivy students weren’t shoo-ins, and had stats similar to yours.</p>
<p>Ah I am sort of rolling my eyes right now.
YOU GOT INTO YALE. Enjoy it. High school is over. There is really no need for more psuedo-“chance” threads. Honestly it’s time for you to stop competing with your peers and start to focus on what Yale can offer YOU. Class rank and your high school accomplishments are honestly a thing of the past. Continue to move on and build on them!</p>
<p>As an African American female myself applying to colleges, I would kill for your class rank (I’m freaking #38). Being 12-11 people behind your peers IS NOT BAD AT ALL. Especially since you’re comparing students from schools of different calibers all around the country.</p>
<p>If you’re worrying about your “bad” rank, then I honestly have no chance at any of the schools I’m applying to with mine.</p>
<p>How would we know? We don’t know what kind of person and experiences you would have had if you had been white. If you had been born white, much of your life would have changed. Who knows, maybe you even would have gotten higher grades for the same work because there has been research indicating that when teachers are given the same essays by two students – one with a “white” name, the other with a “black” name, the one with the black name will get the lower grade.</p>
<p>Seems that as a result some white students should be asking themselves if they would have gotten their high grades if they had been black.</p>
<p>Northstarmom,</p>
<p>He’s not questioning how his life experiences would be different if he were not black and he’s not asking whether he deserved the grades he received in high school as a young black man - - he’s just questioning whether the application he submitted would have been accepted into Yale if he wasn’t a black applicant.</p>
<p>But, who cares? It’s a silly question. None of us know the answer. Obviously, he qualified for Yale or he wouldn’t have gotten in. Colleges like Yale don’t pick students who lack the ability to graduate from their institution.</p>
<p>We don’t know if he still would have gotten in if he had been white, Hispanic, Asian, Hindu, lived in Montana, lived in Manhattan, etc.</p>
<p>You have amazing awards. You definately deserve to get in. Maybe even just because of the awards.</p>
<p>Well, yes he was qualified as a hooked applicant for Yale. However, one cannot seriously believe that hooked applicants and unhooked applicants are held to the same standard when applying to Yale. The OP asked a fair question (though maybe one no one here could answer). Would he have gotten in if he were hookless?</p>
<p>Dbate, the only real yes/no answer would be if you found someone else with your same stats. I know someone who’s a freshman at Yale, with many interesting ECs, but nothing like yours. I don’t think they only accept vals. How boring would that be? The fact that they accepted you and you weren’t a val. is a great sign: they actually look through the whole application before deciding y/n.</p>
<p>But, don’t make this a battle within you. Come up with a legit reason why they accepted you (my vote: your Science and Debate) and move on.</p>
<p>
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<p>And that makes sense to me because I remember your posts during your application year were articulate and thoughtful. Don’t beat up on yourself. Once you are admitted somewhere, you (and this “you” means all onlookers too) simply accept that the admission committee was wise and fair 
and you go on with your life as a college student. </p>
<p>Your thread has been merged into you-know-what thread to keep down the possibilities of flame wars igniting. Keep thinking about social policy while you’re at Yale, and I’ll be interested to hear what you think in a few years.</p>
<p>I guess I really am being ridiculous and should just move on. To the person who asked about my grades, I am betting the average grade in all my classes by about 4-5 points and have 3 As and 2Bs right now. So I guess that isn’t too bad, although the Bs are disappointing.</p>
<p>Thanks, rtgrove your comment was the most honest and what I really wanted to hear.</p>
<p>I only know of a few people who were not val or sal who got in. Two are unhooked white guys who were 9 and 11 in their class of like 600. Another person (who goes to Harvard) was Asian and he was ironically ranked 13 in his class, but he attended a more competitive school down the street from my high school.</p>
<p>When i asked my admission officer this same question she said it was because I showed a “passion” for research based on my research paper I submitted on quantum tunneling with my app. But I figured she was just lying.</p>
<p>^ As I said, once you are admitted somewhere, just figure that the admission committee that admitted you had a great reason to admit a great student, and any admission committee that didn’t admit you missed a great chance. That’s the best way, in the individual case, to deal with all those decisions that may include some decisions to admit and some decisions to deny admission. </p>
<p>For a longer-term, more general discussion of social policy in relation to college admission, here we are in this discussion thread.</p>