I am a rising junior at my high school. Yale has been my dream school since I was 4 years old, but I’ve recently been doubting that I will ever be considered. Thoughts?
8th Grade:
Algebra I (B)
9th Grade:
Geometry Honors (A)
Civics Honors (A)
Physical Science Honors (A)
English I Honors (A)
Show Choir (A)
Int. Choir (A)
Spanish I (A)
PE I (A) we’re not allowed to take AP as freshmen
10th Grade:
Algebra II Honors (A)
AP Human Geography (A; got a 4 on the test- I was VERY disappointed)
Biology I Honors (A)
English II Honors (A)
Show Choir (A)
Int. Choir (A)
Spanish II (A)
PE II (A)
Health (A)
11th Grade:
Advanced Math I Honors
AP U.S. History
Chemistry I Honors
AP English Language & Composition
AP Art History
Spanish 3
AP Spanish Language & Culture
(I also plan to self-study for the AP U.S. Government and Politics exam and the AP Environmental Science exam)
My senior year I plan to take 6-12 (I know it’s a crazy jump- it depends on the results of my junior year AP’s and I’ll likely take 8). My UW is 3.9 and W is 4.0.
By the time I graduate:
Choir for 9 years
Choreographed and participated in many musicals
Danced (jazz, ballet, pointe, and tap) for 4 years
Performed in The Nutcracker Ballet (3 years)
Earned my black belt in tae kwon do and hapkido (already completed)
NHS 2 years (Hoping to be some sort of leadership role senior year)
BETA 2 years
Mu Alpha Theta 3 years (Hoping to be president my senior year)
WISE club 2 years (helps the environment)
SADD club 2 years (students against destructive decisions)
4 years of parish honor choir
Performed at Carnegie Hall (during my freshman year)
Debate Team 2 years
Freshman Mentor (2 years)
Student Council (1 year)
1 or 2 mission trips with my church
District Honor Choir 2 years
LMEA All-State Choir 2 years (?)
ACDA All-State Choir 2 years (?)
In addition, I’d like to start the Future Business Leaders of America club at my school, but I’m not sure that I’ll be doing that. I’d also like to try and receive that presidential service volunteer award, but, again, I’m not sure about that. Furthermore, my mom runs her own business and I work with her on her projects and help her make sales and promote her products (I get paid to do so, but I doubt I’ll mention any of this in my applications). I took Introduction to Philosophy at my local college this past summer as a dual-enrollment student and finished off with an “A”. I go to church every Sunday and will soon be joining the teaching group as a vocalist (I doubt I’ll mention this too)
I have taken the ACT once in my life (as a sophomore) and received a 26, which I know is horrid. I spent literally five minutes studying just to see what I’d get. I’ll be taking it again in March and maybe once before then (not positive). I’ve never taken the SAT.
I am a white female in a regular, (not super competitive, but not not-competitive) public high school. I plan to major in Business Administration with a minor in Spanish with a concentration in Translation. My major is subject to change, but the minor is definitely staying.
Why is that? Did you take a tour when you were 4-years old and have been enamored ever since? Do you like the gothic architecture? The city of New Haven? How about the courses offered at Yale? What professors would you like to study with at Yale? What do you want to learn at Yale?
Specifically, now that you’re older – and hopefully wiser and more mature – what does Yale offer you that you cannot also find at Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, UPenn, Cornell, UChicago, Georgetown, Williams, Vanderbilt, UMich, Boston College, Pomona, Wesleyan, WashU in St. Louis and dozens of other top colleges?
Please – do your due diligence on a college prior to posting a chance-me-thread, as it doesn’t speak well to your preparedness for this particular institution. Given what you have posted, other colleges would seem to be more appropriate for your interests.
Until you have a GPA that includes your junior year coursework grades, have completed your ACT or SAT testing, have completed Subject Tests and have researched Yale sufficiently to realize that it does not offer a business major, you should keep pursuing your interests in and out of school and widen your search to include universities that do offer business majors. Best of luck!
Just so you know, Yale and schools at a similar level, are not impressed with kids self studying AP’s. Your time would be better spent prepping for SAT’s, EC’s, and the like. Yale also grants no credit for those AP subjects.
First of all as a mom I would tell you to list a few schools you would love attending and gear your focus on all of them. I understand being set on one school as my daughter had dreamed of Harvard from the time she was 9. It wasn’t until I forced her to look at other schools that she realized she loved Yale and Georgetown more than her “dream school” because of the social environment over name and location. You have a great start but so does so many other applications.
Yale does not accept AP classes but most other schools do. Including many great schools. If you are trying to self study for the purpose of getting into Yale then don’t bother- however the chances of getting in are so slim that having those exams in your pocket to be used in other schools just in case is not a bad idea. One of the things that I see in so many of these chance threads is that desperate attempt to prove the best grades, the most EC’s and so much of who you actually are as a person is left out. Its who you are and how you would fit in their puzzle of a class that matters. You will all have good grades, scores and accolades. So once you check that box off your application, what is left of just you?
I was talking to a friend of my daughters the other day about why she did not apply to more challenging schools and she said something that was interesting. When you google her name nothing much comes up other than a Facebook profile and linked in page. When you google my daughter’s name there is quite a bit out there, very little was posted by her and most of it is about her passions and what she presented with her application. It doesn’t mean that the AO will google your name but it says a lot about how big and notable her passions were. She said that if she couldn’t stand out even a little bit on a specific search via the internet then she would not stand out against 30,000 applications. Its just another way to look at it. This same friend is also graduating a year early from our state school because she had taken so many AP and college credits in high school that she started her freshman year with enough credits to qualify as a Sophomore. She is saving a lot of money this way and that is another option.
Assuming that there are no financial pressures to get out early, which should be the case at Yale, it doesn’t make sense to try to rush it. That reasoning is different at non-full need schools. Most kids matriculating at Yale have worked hard to get there, so they should enjoy the prize :). Having a bunch of AP credits might help you place higher in classes, skipping Calc for example, but I haven’t heard of anyone using advanced standing to finish early.
DS self-studied a bunch of APs, but barely mentioned them on his App.
Impossible to give odds – Yale accepts about 6% of applicants so it does not have room to take all of the extremely well-qualified candidates. The people I have seen get most hurt in this college process are ones who pin all of their hopes and dreams on one super competitive college and then don’t get in. When the time to apply comes, you would be much wiser to come up with a list of reach (including Yale), match and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be happy to attend.
And FWIW I don’t believe Yale offers business majors on the undergraduate level.
@IxnayBob My point is not that one would want to rush years at Yale but that to have one less year of cost at another school because there were enough credits earned in high school to accomplish that. There is a greater chance that op could be accepted to a school that would provide this opportunity than their chances at low acceptance rate. I think that if they are looking to use the extra AP’s for that then great but don’t do it to increase chances at Yale because it wont be worth the added stress and cost. Just my opinion.