Hi everyone, I talked to my schools guidance counselor yesterday and she recommended that I apply SCEA to Yale. She seemed to think I had a strong chance at Yale but she also called Northwestern (which I thought was an obvious reach for me) a match school so she might be a little too optimistic.
I really like Yale’s large music scene and strong music program, in addition to its relaxed and optimistic atmosphere (at least compared to Princeton, Harvard, or MIT) and it’s undergraduate focus. I think it would be a good fit.
Here are my stats:
School info
Large competitive (Ranked within the top 20 high schools in the Nation) public school in California on the 4x4 schedule.
Background
White upperclass Jewish male from San Diego
Stats
ACT 35
SAT 1550
SAT II: 780 US History, 780 Math II
Grades
4.0 UW
4.4 W
4.5 W 10-12
(Top 5%)
APs: 5 in Calc BC, US history, World History, English Language, Statistics
4 in Physics 1
EC/Work
I play jazz piano at a semi-professional level and I’ve won some national awards and scholarships for my playing. My local jazz combo was accepted into the prestigious Next Generation Jazz Festival. I also was selected for the All Southern California Jazz Honor Band the past two years.
I play around town with high school and professional musicians several times a week so I have some experience.
I am recording a studio album with original compositions and have several internationally known jazz musicians as sidemen.
I participate in my school’s jazz band and was in the after school Instrumental Conservatory for a total of 3.5 hours a day. I unfortunately had to drop instrumental conservatory to take part in humanities conservatory.
I am part of my schools selective humanities program in which I am doing music research on practice patterns and teaching methods with beginning music students.
Through humanities, I am also starting a music education program for refugee children later this year.
I play lead piano in my school’s pit orchestra for productions such as Evita, Drowsy Chaperone, or Sweet Charity.
I also am a composer and have won some regional awards for my compositions and I plan on doing Young Arts next year for jazz composition and performance.
I was on my school’s JV swim team as a freshman.
I have acted in my school’s productions and gotten a few lead roles including the part of the The Baker in “Into the Woods”.
I used to do some public speaking, giving the commencement speech at my large middle school and elementary school but I haven’t been involved recently.
I will be co president of my school’s Boggle club next year lol.
I currently intern at a local tech firm doing testing and administrative tasks.
Community Service:
I do volunteer piano performances at local charities and senior homes (50 hours)
I regularly volunteer at a local soup kitchen for the homeless (50 hours).
I raised over $500 in my own project to provide food for the pets of the homeless people.
My parents hired me a college planner and a professional editor for my essays. At this point, my essays and letters of recommendation are very strong.
Do you guys think I should apply SCEA at Yale? Yale definitely likes my high school (5 students accepted last year out of 40 applicants). Also, my friend from last year had slightly lower academic stats and was accepted SCEA. He told me that Yale is looking for more jazz musicians to expand the jazz scene on campus. He can also introduce me to music faculty.
Do I have a decent chance of being admitted SCEA or will I be more competitive in the RA pool?