What are my chances to get into Yale as an International student?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, my name is Alexandra and I am an international student. I’ve had this goal to get into Yale for about 2 years and I’m doing everything in my power to build up my chances.

General Information-
Gender: Female
GPA: 4.25 from a scale of 5 (current)
Curriculum: IB (I have been in IB since Freshman year)

Achievements/Extracurricular/Volunteer work:
Grade 10: Student Council, MUN (Model United Nations), Science fair competition (national level), Debate National level (competed in other countries), Out of school competitions (debate and science), Trained Dancer for 8 years, Won medals in several dance competitions in school and out of school, Volunteered at animal shelter every twice in a week, volunteered to teach dance in different academies, Played badminton and competed against different schools (although I’m not very good in sports), Have acted in school plays and theater (only once), Worked on a personal research paper (5,000 words) and published it, Signed up for 4 different after school clubs which I attended every week, Had 1 letter of recommendation from my Humanities Teacher, Got certificates and medals in many debates and science fairs and dance competitions.

That’s all I can think of for now, I might be missing some more things but thankfully I’ve always had a list of Achievements that I kept with me.

Grade 11: IB subjects: Business HL, English HL, History HL, Math studies, French SL, ESS. TOK, Extended Essay, 150 hours of Community service.
Continued Student council, participated in MUN, Debate competitions, 3 after school clubs, Extra Volunteer work in science labs and research labs, Published a research paper, participated in 3 dance competitions and won medals and certificates, NASA school trip, Debate marathon in Malaysia, 2 letter of recommendations from Business Teacher and History Teacher, Academic Appreciation Award, Dance champion finalist, Community Service trip to Africa to help poor kids and build schools for them, Continued in badminton team and won certificate, started working on college essays to different Universities in USA and Canada, 2nd Highest GPA in class, After school volunteer work to educate poor kids.

Again, I might be missing a few more details but this is what I could remember as of now.

Grade 12: Student Council, MUN, Debate competitions (national level), Medals for Science fairs and quizzes, Dance championship winner, 3 after school clubs, Acted in school play, Academics Awards, Research lab certificate, recommendation letter from Principal and school counsellor and French teacher, College essays complete, Highest rank in class, Debate Marathon (national level), Singapore space trip, worked on another research paper and published, Founder of Educate girls organization along with a few other people, Founder of a non-profit dance academy to teach little girls dance, Appreciation letters from Principal and supervisors, Trips to India to support and raise awareness about Girls Education cause.

SAT final score: 2345 out of 2400
ACT scores: 33 out of 36
IELTS score: 9 out of 9
TOEFL points: 109 out of 120

So, these are some of my Achievements in the last 3 years. I did not mention Grade 9 because I wasn’t exactly a very bright student at that time, but over the course of these years I think I have displayed a lot of potential and I’m proud of that.
I also have some connections to that University, but I wouldn’t exactly call it connections. I know 2 student who currently study in Yale. My school is ranked in the outstanding category and there are many people who get into colleges like Cornell, University of Toronto, UCLA, University of Penn, Brown, Columbia, etc, and many other top ranked colleges in England and around the globe. I think there was 1 student who got into Yale from my school. And I think overall my school has good connections to top Universities around the World.

Please note that I have also repeated an year (Grade 10) in order to get higher GPA’s and fill up all the extras and volunteer.
And… I had a choice at that time to continue in Grade 11 or repeat the year and I chose to repeat an year because I wanted my chances to go up of getting into Yale. So, yeah, frankly I’ve done and sacrificed a lot to get into Yale, a whole year to be specific. It would really, really hurt if I don’t get in because I had chose to repeat a whole year in order to score my chances.
My motivation throughout these years was Yale. I hope I made enough efforts to secure my chances. But then again, It’s not like my life will be shattered into pieces if I don’t get in, it’s just that, I’ll be kind of bummed but I guess it’s okay. I am applying to other Universities too, not just Yale, I’m applying to many Ivy leagues and also safety schools. I’ve applied in Canada and USA so I have options.

It would be really appreciated if you could reply since my College Application process is around the corner, but thankfully I’ve completed everything on time and am in the midst of sending everything away. Thank you!

2

How could you have an SAT of 2345 ??

3

First thing I happen to notice is, like @uclaparent9 said, you have an sat score of 2345. Um? That’s impossible. Either 2340 or 2350, not in between.

You probably want to include what place you won in the competition, such as 1st-3rd. Some universities will not be aware of the specific competitions, so mentioning which one will also be helpful

It is also important to note how long you’ve volunteered for certain activities. If you’ve done it only for one year, it could be worth mentioning, but probably better to mention if you’ve done it, like, for 3 years, for example.

Do you think your LORs are good? Did your choose your recommenders as the best ones to write your letters, and who know you best?

I don’t have anything to say about repeating 10th grade, because I wouldn’t know what to say.

You do seem to have a LOT of stuff you’ve done, so I think you’re quite strong with your ECs. However, remember that international students do have to harder to get accepted into universities in the US.

Wish you best of luck!

4

You’ll have to provide transcripts from both 10th grades and have your guidance counselor explain that it was a choice (and that it’s validated in your educational system - as in the US, repeating a year is very year and would never occur with a student aiming for 4-year universities, let alone one like Yale. However in your school system it’s clearly seen as an opportunity for students with strong potential, something that’ll have to be clearly articulated). You, too, will have to explain this in the “education interruption” part, explain your motivation for learning and not as “getting more stuff in for Yale”.

Like all international students, your odds are about 5%. There’s nothing you can do about it - you prepared well but the competition is just that fierce.

What other schools are you applying to?

5

@uclaparent9 and @bloxJacket
Thank you so much for replying! I meant to write 2340 not 2345. Thank you for pointing out the competition part, I’m most likely to send in my certificates and medals or just re-check. I’ve done most of these volunteer work for 2 years straight, some for 3 years. I actually think my LORs are pretty strong since most of my teachers have always liked me throughout school, especially my Business HL teacher, I’ve also had the Principal of my school write a recommendation, so overall I think my letters of recommendations are pretty strong. Thanks you for noticing my ECs, Because repeating an year was a hard decision for me, I always had the goal to make the best of everything and do as much as I could and take on everything, I really hope it’s worth it because god, it’s been crazy to handle all my ECs AND maintain outstanding GPA.
And yes, I do know how hard it is to get into Ivy Leagues as an International student but I believe it’s not completely impossible, right? I think my hard work throughout these years should pay off well.

6

@MYOS1634 I didn’t clearly understand what you were trying to say? I understood that not many people in the US do not repeat an year if their aim is to get into an ivy league, but in my case it was a bit different I clearly had an option to NOT repeat the year but on my own will, I had agreed upon repeating the year, so again, it was an option. I did ask my school counselor to write a letter explaining the whole situation. And to be completely honest? I repeated the year to improve my life and my education because in Grade 9, I wasn’t very bright in fact I used to fail many classes which is really embarrassing to say but at the end of 10th Grade something struck me: I had to get into a top college and I had to work hard for it. So I did, as much as I could.

It kind of upsets me why International applicants have a lower chance than the applicants in the US. I really wanted to ask why?

I’m applying to Cornell, Brown, U of Penn, Princeton, Dartmouth, NYU, UCLA, University of Toronto, McGill, University of Waterloo and some more top colleges in USA and Canada. But of course, I’m not naïve enough to just rely on these colleges so I applied to a couple of safety schools as well.

I have also requested an interview with Yale, but please do note that I will be travelling all the way to USA this winter, not just for the interview but also because my parents wanted to travel to USA so I thought I could ask Yale for the interview, I have requested an interview with a couple of other colleges as well. And I hope they will notice my potential.
BTW I live somewhere in the Middle East, and trust me when I say not a lot of people here apply to Yale. Do you think that might be an advantage of some sort?