What are my chances at Yale?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

SAT I:
Not reporting

ACT:
June 2015: 31 (English: 32, Math: 33, Reading: 32, Science: 26), expecting a 33 during the September 2015 test.

GPA:
3.83 unweighted
4.57 weighted

SAT II:
US History: 780, Biology E: 740

AP:
US History: 5, Calculus AB: 5, English Language: 5, Comparative Government: 5
(Also took AP Biology and AP Physics 1 during junior year, but too expensive to take all tests)

Senior Year Course Load:
AP Environmental Science, AP United States Government, AP English Literature, AP Calculus BC, AP Spanish Language, Teacher Assistance*
*Took because I couldn’t fit AP Chemistry in my schedule

Awards:
AP Scholar with Honor
National Spanish Exam Honorable Mention (2014 & 2015)

Extracurricular:

  • President and Co-founder of school Environmental Club: (Spring 2015-)
  • Treasurer and Founding Member of Model United Nations Club (2015-)
  • Student Government Homeroom Representative (2013-)
  • Varsity Member of the Academic Team (2013-)
  • Writer for the School Newspaper (2014-)
  • Member of the National Honor Society (2014-)
  • Member of the Leo Club (2013-)
  • State Competitor in DECA (2012-)

Summer Activities/Volunteer Service:

  • Summer Diplomatic Solutions program at Long Island University Summer Honors Institute (Summer 2015)
  • Trail Maintenance at French Creek State Park (Summer/Fall 2015-)
  • North Coventry Township Park Maintenance (Summer/Fall 2015-)
  • Organizing and Facilitating a Tire Clean-up of our local Schuylkill River (Fall 2015)
  • Performing Research with AP Biology teacher (Fall 2015)
  • Student Member of the Parks and Recreation Committee (2015-)

Essays:

  • Common Application: story about the time I was nearly diagnosed with cancer and how I overcame anxiety during that time and my entire life.
  • Supplement Essays: How Legos gave me the skills to critically think and be curious about the world, how things work, and why.

Recommendations:

  • Counselor Recommendation: Probably good. I know him pretty well. He knows I want to go to competitive schools and that I’m an interesting well-rounded person.
  • Teacher Recommendations from AP English Language teacher, AP Spanish Language teacher, and AP Biology teacher. All will be very good.

Other:

  • Applied for financial Aid: Yes
  • State: Southeastern Pennsylvania
  • School Type: Rural Public School, pretty highly ranked in Pennsylvania, in top 400 in the country.
  • Ethnicity: White
  • Gender: Male
  • Income Bracket: $80,000-150,000
  • Hooks: Nothing
2

First off, Yale is a reach for anyone.
Your GPA and test scores are on the low side. I’m also pretty sure that Yale only wants 2 letter of recs and nothing more so choose wisely between the 3 teachers. Preferably the AP Bio teacher and another teacher as it is preferable to have one from math/science and one from the humanities/language.

Do you know where you stand among your peers academically?

3

Unfortunately, my school does not rank. However, they will tell us our decile, and I am in the top 10%.

4

As mentioned, your test scores are a little low, and it’s honestly a pet peeve of mine when people predict scores, because you really can’t know. That aside, I see one glaring issue in your generally fairly strong application - all of your volunteering and much of your leadership, as well as several of your clubs, you seem to have just started this year or last year. This, to me, suggests that you only did a lot of these things to impress colleges, and whether that is true or not I think it might come across that way to Yale. Just be sure to use the space that you have to show your true passion for the things your involved and explain why it came late in high school. I also will say that your common app essay could be really cliche if you aren’t careful, so just be sure it tells an interesting and unique story. Your supplement essay, meanwhile, sounds very intriguing. Good luck!

5

Thanks!

6

I would place odds at 20:1

7

Given your family’s income level, I’m surprised that you could not afford to take two AP tests. Admissions officers will see the missing scores and think you did not self-report them because you did poorly on them.