Really nervous.. Please chance me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Race: Caucasian
Grade: Rising senior
Gender: Female
State: CT
School Type: Public for freshman and sophomore years; private, coed, nationally-recognized for junior and senior years</p>

<p>A bit about me:
-My parents are divorced. Half of the time, I live with a low-income parent and the other half, I live with an upper-middle class parent. I have a stepmother and 6 year-old half-sister. This situation has been a struggle though I don't want to tell some sob story.
-I have traveled a lot more than the majority of my peers which gives me a unique view of the world. So far, I have visited France, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Spain, Denmark, Morocco, England, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, and Jamaica.
-I'm trilingual. Aside from English, I'm fluent in Spanish and French (mostly self-studied). In addition, I'm currently learning Latin. I love words and learning new languages.
-Besides my passions for the environment, writing and photography, I also love music and cooking. I've been playing the guitar since I was 15 and I'm currently learning how to play the piano.</p>

<p>Honors Courses: English 9, Ancient History, Spanish 3, English 10, Civics, World History, Geometry, Biology, Algebra II, Spanish 4, Chemistry [11 total]
AP Courses: Environmental Science, U.S History (11th) Biology, Euro, English and Spanish (12th) [6 total]
College-Level Electives: Research and Experimental Design, Bioethics, Poetry and Playwriting, Art History, Black Gold- Oil, Astronomy [6 total]
Summer Courses: Precalculus</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.62 (Should be very close to a 3.7 after 1st semester of senior year)
Freshman: 3.4, Sophomore: 3.5, Junior: 4.0, Senior: 4.0
*The lowest grade on my transcript is a B.
Rank: My school does not rank or weight classes but as of now, I'm estimated to be #9/72. </p>

<p>Standardized Test Scores:
ACT- 35
SAT Subjects- Literature: 800, Biology: 800, U.S History: 780, Spanish: 770
APs: Environmental Science: 5, U.S History: 5, English Language (self-studied): 5, Psychology (self-studied): 5</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: *I don't include specific names for privacy purposes.</p>

<p>Sustainability-focused NGO (11, 12)
Outreach Coordinator and Member-at-Large (11)
Media Relations Coordinator (12)
Agents of Change program <a href="11,%2012">Connected to the NGO</a>
-Helped organize, attended, and spoke at numerous summits/delegations/conferences regarding biodiversity, climate change, etc. at the U.N and around the world.. I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest participant at most events.</p>

<p>Environmental Youth Corp. (11, 12)
-Founder and Chair
-Worked on a multitude of projects, most pertaining to environmental issues in my city/state
-Helped start more branches of the group in other parts of CT</p>

<p>City Waste/Recycling Department (10, 11, 12)
-Unpaid intern
-Made tons of presentations at summer camps and schools
-Created a composting program implemented at all of the city's public schools and in some parks</p>

<p>Green Team (9, 10, 11, 12)
-President (12)</p>

<p>Literary Magazine (10, 11, 12)
-Poetry Editor (11)
-E.I.C (12)</p>

<p>Newspaper (10, 11, 12)
-Art Section Editor (12)</p>

<p>Photography
-Photography Club member (11, 12)
-Blogger </p>

<p>Theater (11) [My school requires each student to play a sport or do theater for 1 season/year. I might do sailing next year..]
-Lead in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania)</p>

<p>Volunteer (10, 11, 12)
-Worked with an autistic child almost every Sunday morning</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Freelance writer (Published in local, state, regional and nationally-published newspapers and magazines)
Babysitter</p>

<p>Awards and Other Achievements: *I don't include specific names for privacy purposes.
Published an award-winning children's book about the environment
Finalist in an international environmental competition
1st place in a national environmental competition
Finalist in a national environmental competition
Semifinalist in a national environmental science competition
1st and 2nd place in state and regional science fairs
Local and state awards for my environmental efforts
Winner of three national writing awards (novel-writing, poetry, and creative nonfiction)
Winner of a regional writing award (playwriting)
1st place in two categories of a local literary competition (poetry and nonfiction)
Had photography utilized in my city's recycling campaign
Won local, state and regional photography contests
Had my photography shown in a gallery</p>

2

<p>I’d say a 7.8</p>

3

<p>Do you mean 7.8%? If so, can you please elaborate a bit on your reasoning?</p>

4

<p>I think you have a good shot & I really mean it. I’m going to be honest; your class rank and having only an ACT score and no SAT when you’re from CT might be a slight disadvantages. HOwever, I think you are really unique in that you obviously have a huge passion for the whole environmental movement. I think if you emphasize that in your essays (it already shows in your ECs), you may just get in.</p>

5

<p>No, 7.8/11.47193291643001348609…</p>

<p>It’s a miracle that you were able to hit 7.8 exactly, seeing as the probability that you would get that exact number was 0.</p>

6

<p>Lol alright, your sarcasm is recognized.</p>

7

<p>Actually, in all seriousness, I think 7.8/11.4 is a fair assessment of your chances.</p>

8

<p>Everything looks great :]</p>

9

<p>I have a feeling that you’re not being serious…</p>

10

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>My rank should go up to about #5 after the 1st semester of senior year. Mind you, rank at my school is unweighted so #1 could have taken 0 Honors/AP courses.</p>

11

<p>Your EC’s look really great, especially since it’s clear what you’re passionate about, but I think that your GPA will hurt your app. Make sure you get amazing recs and write good essays :slight_smile: You have a pretty good chance.</p>

12

<p>Thank you for your response, x.sunny. I will! … and I sure hope that’s true!</p>

13

<p>ECs look great, but you looked stretched too thin. I can’t tell how much of that is real commitment vs. resume building. Be sure to write in depth about ONE of your activities rather than trying to cram everything into one essay. Depth over breadth gives a better insight into the real you, even if it isn’t the whole you.</p>

<p>Your GPA is low, but nothing to be concerned about as long as you actually get a 4.0 in the first semester of senior year. You may want to consider applying RD rather than SCEA for that reason. You haven’t shown that you can maintain a high GPA and an extra 4.0 semester would help you enormously. My guess is that you would be deferred if you applied SCEA because of that GPA and they want to see if you can keep your GPA high in the first semester. I am under the impression that it is better to apply fresh in the RD pool rather than be a leftover from the SCEA round, but that comes from my opinion that Yale’s deferred list is more like a premature waitlist subject to the quality of the RD applicants than them really getting another fresh look from the admissions officers. Your AP tests are junk tests except for U.S. history. Excellent job on your ACT and SATIIs - they definitely help counteract a low GPA. If you think you can do well (750+) you probably should take the MathII SAT II. Any reason for the jump from freshman/sophomore GPA to a 4.0 in junior year?</p>

14

<p>Do I really seem stretched too thin? Hm… I wouldn’t have done theater (even though I love it) if my school didn’t require it. I feel like I have a focus on the environment and writing. None of my ECs were resume-padders at all… I really love participating in them all. </p>

<p>My reason for the jump is because of terrible familial and social issues that I still partly have, but learned to ignore. My motivation and determination skyrocketed - especially because my Dad is paying so much for me to attend this school. It continuously appears on the list of top 40 or so prep school ‘Ivy feeders’ in the U.S.</p>

<p>I’m not a strong math student, so I won’t waste my time.</p>

<p>Thank you for your detailed insight… I’ll definitely consider applying RD.</p>

15

<p>^^ “You haven’t shown that you can maintain a high GPA…” <– wouldn’t this statement only hold true if my GPA had dropped? I have a consistent upward trend.</p>