<p>Hi Everyone,
So to make this intro quick let's just say i've had the desire to attend Yale since i was young. I'm not even in High School yet( at least what's considered High School where I live) and I want to start picking classes that will "look better" to Yale. Unfortunatly I go to a school that's basically unheard of and has the smallest selection of classes and extra curriculars ever. There is only one AP (Advanced Placement) class for my year and that is English. I'm already signed up for that however. But what do you guys think would be good to really make my future application form really stand out? I'd appreciate all ideas as I'm really ready to make a committment these next few years to go above and beyond :)</p>
<p>Although for Harvard, the advice is applicable to Yale</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/835055-calculate-your-chances-admission-harvard.html?highlight=million[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/835055-calculate-your-chances-admission-harvard.html?highlight=million</a></p>
<p>Basically, you’ve tripped coming out the gate. The fact you’re purposefully doing things to “look better” versus become an interesting person shows this. Trying to “look” anything is zero next to actually “being” someone.</p>
<p>[Applying</a> Sideways | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways]Applying”>Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>This is by far the best article I have read on “getting into top colleges.” Granted, it’s written for MIT, but it applies anywhere.</p>
<p>Hmm, although I haven’t been accepted (yet at least lol), from what I gather, Yale wants what all top US colleges want, they are just more selective about it. </p>
<p>Like T26E4 said, you shouldn’t be so focused on doing what you ‘think’ Yale is looking for. I say this because 1) much of what you hear colleges want are false and 2) they want real people. My advise would be get really involved in what you love, not necessarily what looks impressive, get good grades, and perform well on standardized tests (don’t worry about blowing the statistics out of the water, I’m not sure what their SAT percentiles are, but I know that their ACT median is between 31 and 35, as long as you fall within that range, test scores don’t matter too much more, and even if you a point or two short, it is not a deal breaker). Most importantly, BE WHO YOU ARE! Don’t worry about trying to impress them, this will hurt your chances. Just be real, show them some vulnerability and be sincere. Work really hard on your essays and make sure that they have a lot of thought and really reflect who you are as a individual.</p>
<p>Also, don’t worry about your school. They take what schools offer into account. As long as you push yourself within the means you are given you’ll be solid. I’m from a school without a single AP class that has NEVER sent kids to the ivy league, and I’ve received likely letters from Columbia, Amherst, WUSTL, and Wellesley so far, and I’m not a super genius either (run of the mill test scores, average EC’s, etc…). </p>
<p>Basically, enjoy high school, be legit, and take your education seriously and you will most likely receive good news when you finally reach the admissions decisions. Prepare for a fun and exciting roller coaster and good luck! :)</p>
<p>@Original Poster</p>
<p>Your in for a crappy (I hope I can use this word on CC?) highschool start if your already starting to worry about what the right thing to do to get into college is. (I am not saying you shouldn’t think about it).</p>
<p>Just use common sense for the first two years: adjust to highschool life, take rigorous courses, do well in them, and join ECs/ local work in your neighborhood/ get a job.</p>
<p>If none of that interests you then you could do what everybody else on CC does to get into HYP: self study 10-12 AP classes on the side of what they already have, win some olympic medals for swimming or something, juggle 2 night jobs, be president in 10 different school clubs, and do some scientific research in your free time, and be a part time firefighter.</p>
<p>Thank you for everyone who took time to reply to this. I understand where many of you are coming from about the part of being yourself. However, I believe that it’s always a good idea to push yourself towards success and yes I do admit that sometimes I need that little extra “push” to get started. I’m not that person to wake up in the morning and wonder what organization I should volunteer with today or which extracurricular I should join next week. I made this post to ask for ideas on what I should do to increase my chances of getting in, not to be criticized for my goal of getting in. I don’t believe I’m “tripping” for already coming up with a plan because where I come from high school begins in grade 10, not grade 9 like most schools. So if anyone has any ideas on improving my chances of getting in they would be greatly appreciated. I’d also love to hear from people who’ve recieved acceptance to one of the Ivies. </p>
<p>Btw, congratulations @tipa891 on all of your acceptances :)</p>
<p>If you do all these things for the purpose of getting into Yale, you’re not doing them because they interest you, and as a result you are lying to Yale (and any other college) about who you are. They don’t want to admit someone who completed 1000 hours of community service because they knew it would look good, they want someone who completed those hours because they saw a need, and enjoyed the work.</p>
<p>If you worked with a non-profit before you got to Yale because that’s just who you are, you are likely to continue doing so (or doing something similar when you can). If you did it just to get into Yale, what are the odds you will continue to do so?</p>
<p>The best advice - be yourself! Then when you fill out your application, and sit for interviews, you will come across as that same person. If you are the type of person Yale wants, you will have a better chance of getting in. If you are not that type of person, nothing you can do will change that.</p>
<p>Take rigorous courses - the most rigorous your school offers that interst you, and that you can do well in. Get involved in your community - it doesn’t matter what you do, just do something! If there isn’t a group doing what interests you, start a group. If you see a need in your community, ask what you can do to help meet that need.</p>
<p>Everybody talks about statistics, scores, grades, ECs, but I suspect when it comes down to the final decisions, Yale and other top schools want real people. Don’t try to make yourself into something you’re not, because it’s not sustainable - do try to make yourself into something you want to be, and that you have the motivation to sustain. If it gets you into Yale, great! If it doesn’t, you’ll still be a better person for the effort.</p>
<p>Ace the most difficult courses your school offers while making a positive impact in your community and becoming excellent at one or two of your true passions. Then package it up nicely for the adcoms.</p>
<p>I’ve only really recieved the type of answer that I’m looking for twice… So I will put this into the simplest questions possible. What organizations could I volunteer with? What extracurricular activities demonstrate leadership? And yes for all who seem to think I’ve never volunteered before I volunteer at a soup kitchen and I am signing up for Big Brothers Big Sisters when I am eligible.</p>
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<p>It depends on what your interests are. There are not right or wrong organizations, it’s all about what you do, not where you do it.</p>
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<p>You can show leadership in any EC, but you’re more likely to rise to a leadership position in an activity that you enjoy investing your time in.</p>
<p>OK, I can hear your mind thinking; why don’t they stop all these generalizations and just tell me what to do :(? Answer: because there is no ONE road to Y or any other selective college.</p>
<p>I highly recommend you look at some of the current and past Results threads (all are listed in the Resources sticky thread) and see the type and range of activities of successful and unsuccessful applicants (you likely won’t see much difference as many applicants who are not accepted also have extensive achievements).</p>
<p>@entomom</p>
<p>Thank you 
The suggestion on looking for successful applicants is fantastic!</p>
<p>skristenb you are upset with these answers because you are under the assumption that somebody can simply give you a walkthrough of how to “do highschool” to get you into Yale. The truth of the matter is, this isn’t a video game where somebody posts a “guide” of how to finish the game successfully, this is life, nobody can tell you how to live your highschool life, you could very well get a perfect gpa and do what many other Yale alumni have done in highschool to get accepted but that doesn’t guarantee the same outcome of you. </p>
<p>I am positive that admission officers aren’t looking for people who are willing to do or say anything to get what they want either… </p>
<p>Theres no “fixed path” to success, and even if there were, who is Yale or any other ivy league college to determine if you were successful or not.</p>
<p>If you want to have an easier time getting into Yale then:
-Be a D1 athlete
-Be a URM
-Have Parents who donated multiple thousands to the school
-Study for the SATs freshman year
-Be a famous child actor/actress like Emma Watson</p>
<p>The advice that admission officers give you “do what activities your interested in” are telling the truth.</p>
<p>@mccruz</p>
<p>Thank you for your opinion. The reason I’m not getting the answer I’m looking for is because I’ve heard the general script of this entire post from my counsellor and educational advisor(s). What I’m looking for is the non cookie cutter reply from someone who has experience, no matter how cold it is or even what worked for that person themselves. I understand the fact that there are no general guidelines to getting into Yale or any school for that matter. I know that there are a diverse range of people accepted into a school and I understand that Yale generally looks for well rounded people. What I’m looking for is ideas. Ideas that are different from what I’ve already done specifically within volunteering. Ideas that more unique than the typical soup kitchen or red cross volunteering program. I really do appreciate everyone who has taken time out of their own personal lives to try and help me but it just isnt the help I’m looking for.</p>
<p>Hi, just to give my opinion here… yale or any other ivy doesn’t want “well rounded” kids anymore… you can look that up anywhere online. what they was is a well rounded class, that is, they want to accept “the best scientist, the economist, the pianist, the golfer… etc etc”. those people are the ones who truly love what they do, and that is called passion I believe. In all seriousnss, you should just do what you love and try to take that one step further. If you love piano, your own dedication will make you the best piano player in your area/state/country? So just focus on what you love, and I know that you, like anybody else, wants in the bottom of their heart to get into HYP, or whatever. So, just think it like this: do whatever you love, and that by itself will look good on your resume. but, in the end, whatever the decision is, you know you would have grown as a person.</p>
<p>Ok, skristenb, I’ll give it a try.</p>
<p>My son has been accepted to Yale SCEA for next fall.</p>
<p>I would ascribe his succes to two arcs with a clear path. </p>
<p>One arc is his passion for math. He took every math class and participated in every math extracurricular his school offers, all four years. He has placed in the top ten satewide but has not made it to any national events in math competitions - he’s good but not “genius” level. He applied for and was selected for a summer Bio/Math internship program at a local university. He truly loves math and will continue with math at Yale.</p>
<p>The second arc is more deliberately chosen with college in mind. He applied for and was selected for the school’s freshmen mentoring program which is a very competitive process since only 15 out of 150 applicants are chosen. It is considered a leadership position. He was selected for National Honor Society which by itself does’t mean much but he deliberately ran for an elected position (and won) which makes for another leadership role. Lastly he was one of four founding student members of a schoolwide fund raising effort and did this for three years.</p>
<p>His stats are 4.0 GPA, 35 ACT, SAT 2’s -800 math, 800 us hist, 760 physics, 4 AP’s all 5’s (by end of Jr. year).</p>
<p>I think the combination of passion for a specific subject and achievement in a more general way did the trick. His LOR’s came from the chair of the math department and the guidance counselor.</p>
<p>^^^ Thank you keesh, that’s the exact way I was looking for someone to respond! It really helped! I like hearing ways that other people reached their success. I know that math is defiantly not something I plan to pursue as long as possible at it just isn’t in my heart but I loved hearing a success story so thank you :)</p>
<p>The reason you’ve heard the same things from other adults outside CC is that’s what really IS important. Coming across as real, and dedicated to what you do.</p>
<p>You say you volunteer in a Soup Kitchen, so take that to the next step. See if they are willing for you to be in charge one day a month. See if there’s something unique you can do with them - maybe work with a nutritionist to help revamp their menu. Find new recipes to make good use of the donations they get, or develop a marketing plan to help them get the kind of donations they want.</p>
<p>Yale, and any other school, is likely to be more impressed by someone who has an established relationship and takes it to the next level. Someone who looks at the local organization they already work with, identified their needs, and helped them meet those needs. This is the same discussion we have with our girls working on their Girl Scout Gold Award - don’t think of a project you want to do first, and look for someone with that need; find out who has a need, and look to see how you can help meet that need.</p>
<p>Leadership comes from within. Part of leadership is being able to identify the community’s needs, and then to identify the core problem. Maybe your soup kitchen could benefit from more vegetables to use in their meals - maybe fresh vegetables when they’re in season. One solution might be to encourage people to donate vegetables, but a leader would take it to the next step. Is their a local garden club? Could you get their help to start a garden for the soup kitchen, and to help maintain it? Is there a youth group that might benefit from learning from the garden club - maybe they could help maintain the garden? You, as a leader, get these disparate groups working together to meet at least one community need, maybe more.</p>
<p>Thank you CTScout Mom 
These are the type of ideas and stories I’m looking for! I think asking for them to let me run the kitchen for a day is a great idea! Thank you once again :)</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding redundant,</p>
<p>remember not to lose yourself if you choose to get carried away with taking 100x AP courses and stuffing as many ECs onto your list that you can.</p>
<p>Remember that success stories only happen if the passion is SINCERE, I am sure when you hear of these success stories about the kid who was really good at math or whatever the story happens to be, they achieved so much because they thoroughly enjoyed what they were doing. They didn’t do it to impress any college, that just came along with it.</p>
<p>I know way too many people in my school who are in Model UN/ key club/ student council/ all 3 of those and more, playing sports they don’t like, etc just to impress colleges that I am sure really could care less at the end of the day unless they are the best at what they do.</p>
<p>mccruz. Don’t worry I get where your coming from. Thanks for the advice though :)</p>