hey, so im taking precalc thru dual enrollment second semester senior year. I know my math level might be lower due to others but I had legit circumstances for not being able to accelerate myself. I worked during all summers to support my family, couldn’t afford summer course costs, etc. So idk if I shot myself in the back deciding to apply to yale REA. I have great ec’s, a great gpa, and amazing course rigor (15/16 DE and 2 AP by graduation) and I am paranoid that I ruined my chances applying early to such a selective school when my math level is bad. Anyone wanna offer me their perspective? For reference I did get into a few fly ins such as Upenn’s, Washu’s etc.
Did your GC explain the path you took in their LOR and/or did you write sth like the above in “additional information”?
What major did you apply for?
(For instance, Wharton expects Calculus by the end of HS).
Yale wouldn’t expect you to skip classes or spend money you don’t have on summer classes but they need to know that was your situation since they can’t guess.
If you didn’t mention it, we can help you word something for your rep.
If your list of Spring courses includes Precalculus you have the basics so with the above you’re fine wrt that item at least.
no, I did not mention this in my GC lor, she actually completed it super early and didn’t ask for a reccomendation form or anything because she said she had so much to write about me. I mentioned this information in my update form though on the Yale portal, but IDK if they read updates. Yale I applied for Ethics, Politics, and Economics, History of Science, Medicine and Public Health, and Sociology (Pre-Law/Med still trying to figure out my career path.)
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You need to turn this button off in your head. You can’t change what’s happened, so focusing on it now is a waste of energy.
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If you stated sth like “I was placed in algebra I as a 9th grader as is the norm at my school. Accelerating would have required me to take summer classes, which cost money, whereas I was expected to work to help my family with my earnings. As a result I followed the regular math track, reaching precalculus as a senior”, I don’t think it’ll be a problem, since you did the best you could in the context of your school.
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Ok. I stated everything but forgot to mention that I worked many summers of HS…what should I do in terms of updating this?
Yale does not specifically mention calculus in https://admissions.yale.edu/advice-selecting-high-school-courses .
UPenn specifies calculus for applicants to engineering or business, but not to arts & sciences or nursing: High School Preparation | Penn Admissions
WUStL strongly recommends calculus for applicants to architecture, business, or engineering: Application Guidelines - Undergraduate Admissions | Washington University in St. Louis
What was your math progression through high school? If you were placed in algebra 1 or integrated math 1 in 9th grade, it may not be as much of an issue compared to having a higher initial math placement but then choosing not to progress to calculus.
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I took Accelerated Intermediate Algebra in 9th, Honors Geometry in 10th, Honors Algebra 2 and AP Statistics in 11th, and Precalc in 12th. Upenn is my other dream school and I got to speak to an AO about my math level and they said that since I was applying for CAS it was totally fine.
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Most student’s math track is assigned by 9th grade. This is nothing unusual.
Agree with the others that you should not worry about something that cannot be changed. Your application will be viewed in its entirety so put the focus on your strenghts in all of your applications.
And as I advise everyone, apply to a good mix of reach, match, and saftey schools that appear affordable and that you would be excited to attend.
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Yeah, thanks. I switched middle schools and my math progression changed there so when I went to high school it was set.
Your math progression makes sense and follows your 9th grade placement. You’re 100% fine. It’s not like you were placed in Precalculus as a 9th grader and then decided “no more math for me”.
Your summer work must appear in another context (under “activities”), right? No need to add anything.
Adcoms can add 2+2 no need to add it.
However if that work does not appear anywhere then it would make sense to complete CommonApp and contact Yale.
You’re fine. In fact, remember an Ivy League adcom told you so! 
If you’re not admitted it won’t be for that reason. (95% aren’t so that’s the most likely outcome. You’ll never know why but it’s not going to be “following the math path I was placed on due to working summers to help my family”).
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It does, I had 2 ec spots: 1 for the work I did this summer and this school year, and another for the work I did junior summer and JR year. TYSM for your help, this process makes even the most confident people worry out of their minds.
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The first issue is that Yale is a reach or high reach for essentially everyone. There are a very large number of very good universities. If you are even remotely competitive for Yale, then you should be able to get accepted to some very good schools. They might not be Yale, U.Penn, or WUSTL, but that is okay. You can do very well with a degree from a very good but not super-top-ranked university.
If you ever get to the point of considering a graduate program, you will discover that top ranked graduate programs (including but not limited to medical schools and law schools) are full of students who come from a very wide range of undergraduate programs. If instead you get a job after getting a bachelor’s degree, then you will discover that Yale graduates work alongside graduates from U.Conn, MIT, UNH, U.Mass, Rutgers, and a very wide range of other universities and on the most part no one cares or even knows where anyone got their degrees.
I think that your math level is fine, particularly since you have a good reason for it. Doing very well in the math courses that you are taking will help you more than jumping ahead. I for example did not take calculus until I was in university, but that did not stop me from getting a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from MIT. Being very ready to take calculus when you show up at university (by doing very well in precalculus) will be helpful.
Working summers to help to support your family is a very good EC. This shows responsibility and the ability to work hard and to help others.
You should make sure that you have also applied to safeties. This is very important. I would however say this to anyone who is applying to Yale or other highly ranked universities.
I would believe them. It sounds totally fine to me also.
I fully agree with this. The process for applying to top ranked universities in the US is, well, nuts (I will avoid any less-polite words).
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Yale application was submitted, not appropriate to add anything more at this point. It’s actually normal for high school students to follow the exact math sequence that you did.
What other schools will you apply to? If you have a common app waiver, is there any reason to wait on submitting those apps?
Did you take any standardized tests? Were the scores anywhere near acceptable? The reason I ask is that at this late hour, the one thing that you could do to increase your chances of acceptance to a highly selective school that meets full financial need is to present them with a high test score, to reassure them that you have the academic preparation to do well at such a school. You could prep like crazy for the next SAT or ACT, and the score would be back in time (late January) that it could make a difference for you.
What are your safeties and matches, since both Yale and Penn are extremely high reaches?
Alright here was my college list, extremely long I know but I am finding it manageable.
8 safeties, applied to and accepted with highest level of merit, waiting on fin aid to process because of fafsa and css.
Match:
9. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities EA (in state, college of science and engineering) waiting on honors and scholarships
10.Macalester college (community health) (RD)
11. George Washington university RD
Low reach
12. University of Michigan EA PPE
13.University of North Carolina health care policy EA
Reach:
14. .Yale university REA ethics politics and economics
15 .Harvard university (RD) government
17.University of Pennsylvania (RD) health and societies
18.Columbia university (RD) public health
19.Princeton university (RD) SPIA (school of international affairs)
20.Brown university (RD) public health
21.Cornell university (RD) public policy analysis and management
22. Stanford University (public policy) RD
23. University of Chicago (RD) public policy analysis
24. Duke university (RD) public policy (maybe if time)
25. Wellesley RD
26. Vanderbilt RD Public Policy
27. Northwestern university (RD) social policy
28. USC (RD) public policy first choice
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Then yes I do have the common app fee waiver, I did take the act once but am test optional and couldn’t study for retests due to working full time over the summer and being extremely busy right now with ec’s, college apps, and my job. I do have great safeties and matches and would be extremely extremely happy to go to George Washington, macalester, or just go the the UMN because then I can graduate in 2 years!!!
Also I know that my math level is reasonable and I think it definitely is, it’s just people applying to these schools are on another level with how competitive they are and their course rigor so it has me concerned that I would be compared to them.
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And I also wanted to mention I got into the university of Pennsylvania’s early exploration program (PEEP) which is their virtual fly in. This may help my chances a bit with Penn since I couldn’t apply ED for other reasons.
Wow. 28 schools. Why? EIGHT safeties? WHY?
U MN would be great, and it sounds as if you will get in there.
U Mich and UNC are not low reaches for most OOS applicants.
I just read that the common app now has no limit on the number of schools that a fee waiver student can apply to. Sure does encourage a shotgun approach!
Don’t worry. You’re gonna get in someplace you’ll like, and do just fine. If you plan on taking Calc in college, I’d recommend doing the Calc lectures on modernstates.org or Khan academy this summer, just to prepare yourself.
Are all of them affordable based on the most pessimal assumptions of financial aid (i.e. with just the merit alone)?
Only those known to be affordable can be designated as safeties now.
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8 safeties mainly because the umn had a share my app program where i could fill out a simple form and apply to the other branch campuses so I did so, I applied to many safeties though mainly due to financial aid and many in MN don’t require an essay so the applications were super easy to fill out. Common app does have a limit of 20 schools, and I have met the limit even with a fee waiver. I will definitely look at the website you linked! Thanks so much! I really just want to get into one of my reaches because all of them are amazing for my field.