SCEA Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Honestly, this is so I know that I have a ghost of a chance, rather than just throwing away an Early Action that could help me elsewhere, such as UChicago. But here we go!</p>

<p>Stats at a Glance
GPA: 4.52 W/4.00 UW
Class Rank: Not Reported
SAT: 800 M, 780 CR, 690 W (potential retake for the writing?)
SAT II's: Math II (800), Literature (800), US History (800)
ACT: 35 (35 E, 35 M, 35 R, 36 S superscore)
AP's: Euro (5), US (5), English Lang (5), BC Calc (5)</p>

<p>Grades! Unfortunately, my district's gradebook is down until September, and I don't precisely remember which one's I was borderline A/A- on, so I'll err on the side of caution. An A I know I got an A in, an A-, I might've gotten an A. Sorry to be unhelpful there :P</p>

<p>Freshman Year (Sem 1/Sem 2)</p>

<p>Honors Algebra II & Trigonometry: A/A
Honors World History: A/A
Honors English: A-/A-
Spanish I: A/A
Biology: A/A
Gym: A/A
Band: A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year</p>

<p>Honors Math Analysis: A-/A
AP European History: A/A
Honors English II: A/A-
Honors Chemistry: A-/A
Spanish II: A/A
Gym: A/A
Band: A/A</p>

<p>Junior Year</p>

<p>AP BC Calculus: A-/A
AP US History: A/A
AP English Language: A/A-
Honors Physics: A/A
Spanish III: A/A-
Gym: A/A
Band: A/A</p>

<p>Senior Schedule</p>

<p>AP Biology
AP Physics
AP Government
AP English Lit
Calculus III (through U of Illinois)
Honors Band
Gym</p>

<p>EC's (in order of importance)</p>

<p>Boy Scouts (All Years) - Eagle Scout (gold palm), National Camping Award, Assistant Senior Patrol
Leader</p>

<p>Music (It gets complicated) - Trumpet Player, Pep Band (four years), Private Lessons (four years), Jazz, Symphony Orchestra (three years), Pit Orchestra (two years), Marching Band (one year). 6th Chair Trumpet Illinois Honors All-State Band (junior year)</p>

<p>Cross-Country (Freshman-Junior) - Varsity Junior Year</p>

<p>Speech Team (Junior-Senior) - Regional Representative and Finalist</p>

<p>Student Government (Soph/Senior) - Founding member, and Constitutional Convention member</p>

<p>Track (Fresh-Soph) - Nothing special here, move along, move along</p>

<p>My teacher recs should be good, both are from Junior year teachers. My common app essay is a little off-beat, but I like it, and think it could quite work, and helps explain why I've moved from doing nearly all running my freshman year to becoming quite the band geek by my Senior year. Also, my school is brand spanking new (I'm in the first graduating class), so I have no idea how that'll factor in with Yale (I'm assuming they'll just base off of the norm for other schools in my district). </p>

<p>So yeah, there it is. Please provide feedback, and if it's negative, if you have any suggestions that could help shore me up at this late point in the game. And if you're reading this, thank you so much for going through all of it!</p>

2

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<p>I would suggest that rather than retaking the SAT, send in all SAT & ACT scores instead.</p>

<p>You should know that Y only accepts applicants EA that they would take from ANY pool:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/dec/15/early-admit-rate-rises-slightly/[/url]”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/dec/15/early-admit-rate-rises-slightly/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You definitely should think strategically about where to apply EA, particularly if you have other schools like UChicago that are less restrictive.</p>

3

<p>Okay, thank you. I was just thinking with the retaking of the SAT, that it couldn’t hurt, as Yale superscores, so even if all my scores were below the previous, it wouldn’t count? Or is it not worth the potential risk of them still seeing it?</p>

<p>And all the other schools that I’m applying to are ED only, so UChicago EA vs Yale EA is my only real choice there. And I definitely feel more comfortable with UChicago at regular, and even though the pools of Yale applicants are equal in difficulty, I figure EA cannot hurt at all, and it is my first choice school, by far.</p>

<p>That being said, do I stand a chance really? Or have I cleared the threshold that they sort of had, and from here on out it’s dumb luck?</p>

4

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<p>Since Y sees all scores, they take into account your testing history. IMO an applicant who retests that already has a 35 ACT, high M & CR scores, and only a slightly low W score, is overly concerned with test scores. See these comments from Dean Brenzel:</p>

<p>[No</a> choice on scores | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/jan/16/no-choice-on-scores/]No”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/jan/16/no-choice-on-scores/)</p>

<p>You are a competitive candidate, that’s about as much as anyone can say.</p>