<p>I have a friend who has the following stats:
SAT 2400 (single sitting)
SAT II WH 800 USH 800 MATHIC 800 MATHIIC 800 CHEM 800 BIO-M 800 PHYSICS 800
GPA 4.0 UW 4.8 W (Valedictorian)
ECs: P/VP of 5 Clubs</p>
<p>And he got waitlisted -> rejected!!!!!!
Can you believe this? Is this because he is an Asian from California? Did the adcoms make a mistake? I don't believe it!!</p>
<p>Numbers only mean so much… Once you’re above a certain point, you have to have something much more special to get into HYPS, generally. There’s gotta be something that shines through besides ability to score well and lead clubs. Something unique. Something that takes a lot of initiative and sincere passion.
I mean, they get mounds of applicants with near-perfect numbers. They don’t want numbers on campus, they want shining personalities with focused passion.
At least, that’s what I’ve gathered. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Eh. Colleges are funny, and some focus less on stats and more on intangibles. My valedictorian friend was deferred -> rejected to Yale but accepted to Harvard. And she had national awards at her ECs, and is currently teaching English overseas. Her stats were pretty darn similar, too. Highest GPA our school’s ever seen.</p>
<p>But really, who’d WANT to go to Yale anyways? I mean, they require you to take certain classes. AND they’ve got more graduate students than undergrad. AND they’re not even in the smallest state, just the wanna-be smallest state. And really, a bulldog? Don’t real beasts just rip those guys to shreds? And to top it all off, they have the distinction of letting in so many legacies, you can’t get into a talk about leaders and destruction with thinking “nucular.”</p>
<p>Maybe indifferent recommendations, uninspired essays or a bad interview did them in. If all their ECs were centered around academic pursuits, (Math Club, Science Olympiad, etc), maybe they thought he/she wasn’t well rounded. The truth is there’s no way to know; but it shows that schools are clearly looking at things beyond just a set of statistics.</p>
<p>The entire app is evaluated, not just scores.</p>
<p>Like Prussia! said, elite colleges get tons of applications from students with extremely strong scores and grades, but you’ve gotta have more than that to gain the right edge. It could have been the recs or essays or even the types of activities your friend is involved in. No matter the case, the adcoms felt that your friend was a strong academic achiever but perhaps didn’t bring anything new to the table.</p>
<p>My niece did but she was a soccer recruit, otherwise she never would have gotten in:)</p>
<p>Don’t forget, Yale needs spots for the George W. Bushes of the world. Sorry, couldn’t resist.</p>
<p>chsowlflax17 & MD Mom: Nowadays, legacy applicants have it very hard at Yale like everyone else. Statistically, they have better metrics than the entering class in general so it’s very debatable the advantage they have.</p>
<p>And chsowlflax17, who wants to go to Yale? About 28000 kids for the class of 2013 it seems – the highest no. of apps so far. And they realize the ratio of grad students to undergrad doesn’t diminish what is recognized to be one of the best undergraduate experiences extant. Just in case you wanted to know…</p>
<p>who gets in to yale? cool kids.</p>
<p>Who would want to go to yale? puke :p</p>
<p>I’ll tell you what happened
Harvard: Waitlist
Yale: Waitlist -> Reject
Princeton: Accept
UPenn Wharton: Waitlist
Columbia: Accept
Dartmouth: Accept, 4-Year Full Scholarship
Cornell: Accept
UChicago: Accept
Emory: Accept
JHU: Waitlist</p>
<p>Seriously… if I had the right to choose, I would let this guy in without a doubt. The fact that he got waitlisted from so many schools simply does not make any sense… I’m so ticked off right now…</p>
<p>Ticked off? This guy was accepted to Princeton, Dartmouth, and Cornell. He has nothing to complain about.
I suspect he was waitlisted because he occupies a niche with a lot of people in it: high-stats Asian male interested in math and science, but without a lot of personal achievements outside of school.</p>
<p>Perhaps he didn’t make a convincing case for why he wanted to go to Yale. Was it his first choice?</p>
<p>Here’s his problem: “president/vice-president of 5 clubs”. It must have been insanely obvious that his leadership was passionless and merely for college admissions. Couple that with less than great essays (which are necessary for Yale) and this happens all the time.</p>
<p>Quality over quantity. Surprised he got into Princeton…</p>
<p>Sigh. I read here, again and again, statements that have no real basis other than speculation (such as the idea that great essays are “necessary” for Yale, or that leading a bunch of clubs shows a lack of passion). Even my own evaluation, of course, is speculation–you’d really have to know a lot more about this applicant to even make real educated guesses about why he got in where he did.</p>
<p>Dartmout does not give scholarships, just need based aid.</p>
<p>Bring Asian and from CA definitely made it much tougher. That’s a very crowded pool with a ton of qualified candidates. No surprise he did not get in.</p>
<p>40% of every class at the ivies are hooked. They are recruited athletes, legacies, URMs, staff kids, development kids. After that they want kids from 50 states, many countries, some low income, some middle class, some musicians…you get the picture.</p>
<p>When they get to how many Asians they can take from CA or white males from NY, the number is small.</p>
<p>It’s true that we don’t know a lot about this particular applicant, but it’s obvious he’s very bright.</p>
<p>The point is that there are a ton of bright people who apply to top schools and get the boot. The cause can be any mix of factors. But, in general, top colleges want to accept students that will not only exceed academically but will also bring some kind of passion or unique element with them. For whatever reason, he was not thought to be a good fit.</p>
<p>Regardless, he got into a few Ivies with some very nice scholarship options, so I would be hardpressed to find anyone sympathetic of that kind of situation ;p</p>
<p>This kid might have been a perfectly good fit for Yale. His problem may simply have been that Yale was looking for five kids for his “niche,” and he was one of ten, or fifteen, or maybe a hundred, who fit that niche. The ones who got in may have had something a little extra–and it may have been something like being from Idaho instead of California.</p>
<p>Who gets into Yale?</p>
<p>Filthy rich kids who they know will build a state of the art research facility once they graduate.</p>
<p>This applies to all Ivy Leagues. After all, what college in their right mind would turn down Emma Watson? Would you rather have some kid with all 800’s on their SAT’s who’s a genuinely good kid but is going on financial aid, or Emma Watson? They apparently choose the latter.</p>
<p>
They do take people like this, but since there aren’t enough of them, they take lots of other people, including a large number of people who need financial aid. And schools do take celebrities, but I don’t think that’s because of the money they think they’ll give.</p>