<p>Med--I'm doing the same thing as the other poster since your PM option seems to be turned off.</p>
<p>My response:
"I don't know this person you speak since I graduated NYU in 2000, and thus was at Lawrenceville when this kid was probably in the second grade, lol. I do totally understand the boarding school perspective you speak of and some of the pluses and minuses. Many people also make stupid assumptions about you (e.g you're a snob or an elitist). Some of those 92s and 93s who got into HYP I'm sure had hooks as like legacy connections and athletic talent. I was barely above average in my class at Lawrenceville (same with NYU), but I had a legacy at NYU since my dad went there and was recruited for soccer. </p>
<p>I'm not very familiar with Duke admissions, but I'm assuming it's like any other top school. Try to give the schools you're applying to the idea that your time out of the classroom was valuable life experience and not just some frolic (which it doesn't seem like), and you'll be able to come off as more unique and mature applicant, which will give you the edge. Also, don't say you only took the year off just to get a stronger foundation in science for competitive pre-med classes, that seems pretty weak since plenty of people do just fine in pre-med without taking time off to prepare. Instead, I would say to give your year off some independent significance (e.g. I took a year off to explore my interest in X, and I learned Y from doing Z). </p>
<p>Also try to keep in touch with your teachers and advisors, they can be an invaluable resource, from just giving you admission tips to serving as a reference, and even making phone calls on your behalf...that's one of the best things about high schools like Lawrenceville and Deerfield.</p>
<p>"so you're ignoring my statement saying more people got into nyu than michigan"</p>
<p>No I'm not. Again the number of people who got in from your HS says nothing about the overall acceptance rate which is clearly lower at NYU and it doesn't even address the number of people who applied. Lets see, could the fact that you're from NJ have something to do with the fact that more people from your school have chosen to apply to NYU, and thus more got in (absolute numbers, not percentages)? </p>
<p>"if you can bring up the number of kids who got into michigan and use it as an argument, then i can bring up the percentage accepted who go to michigan and nyu."</p>
<p>I'd like to see the yields if you just include out of staters for UMich. Clearly the yield gets bumped by in-staters for whom UMich is a good deal. I can tell you from my high school, UMich has a very low yield, as is the case with Vanessa's high school, and this is due to the fact we are out of state for UMich, and if you take away the in-state tuition, the school is not that attractive of an option. </p>
<p>"And I can say the same thing about several of my friends... who are going to UCLA, Cornell, USC, etc because they did not get into UMich."</p>
<p>You along with your friends are a HUGE anomaly, most people would not pick UMich over any of those schools or NYU, nevermind the fact that geting dinged from UMich and being accepted to those places you mentioned is an unusual occerence as well. Though of course you're entitled to your preferences and I respect that.</p>
<p>"I can tell you from my high school, UMich has a very low yield, as is the case with Vanessa's high school, and this is due to the fact we are out of state for UMich, and if you take away the in-state tuition, the school is not that attractive of an option."</p>
<p>alrite. well at least at my school, nyu has a lower yield than michigan. it really just depends on the school you go to. obviously, students at a private school would probably prefer to attend a private institution for college whereas a student from a public school would be more likely to look at both publics and privates. </p>
<p>"most people would not pick UMich over any of those schools or NYU"</p>
<p>how would you know most people wouldn't pick michigan over those school? (please, don't say "well kids at my school would.") I would've picked umich over nyu if michigan's business program was a 4 year program but it's not so im going to nyu. and b/c im from the east coast, i sure heck wouldn't pick ucla or usc over michigan.</p>