<p>Judging of essays is SOOOO subjective. Consider the tales of some of the world’s greatest novelists getting rejected by x number of literary agents and publishers before being discovered. The same essay that makes one school say, “OMG!” may cause another to say, “Blah, blah, blah, seen it all before.”</p>
<p>As far as I know, the Ivy schools look for students with a “hook” - something really unique - not just amazing scores and club presidencies. A good friend of mine got into Yale - she had studied abroad in India for a year during high school, played cello, was our class’s Salutatorian, probably got great if not amazing test scores, and was involved in a lot of clubs. Interestingly though, she didn’t qualify as an honors student at our high school because she had been suspended freshman year for walking out to protest the war in Iraq. Who knows - maybe Yale found that interesting.</p>
<p>Yep, hooks will definitely “reel” adcoms in (haha sorry)
My friend got into Yale for SCEA, however, her mother was not only a graduate of Yale but was also the chair of the physics department. Don’t get me wrong–she’s quite amazing. Not amazing enough for Havard to accept her though.
And yes, also, it also depends whether you really “fit” into the school. Not just the great stats, but how your personality, interests, and beliefs match up with the school.
Well, anyways he doesn’t have much to complain about with his other acceptances.</p>
<p>It’s laughable that you think we’re supposed to feel sorry for someone who got accepted at 5 ivies. Please!</p>
<p>lmao 2260.</p>
<p>A machine can get 4.0’s and 2400’s. but a machine cant go into politics, become a doctor or the like.</p>
<p>^ What are you talking about? A machine can’t do either of those things.</p>
<p>hahaha to ChoklitRain. I was thinking “true, a machine could do that, but a machine that can go to school and get a 4.0, considering most schools require students to write essays in english class, would also be a pretty cool machine, and I’d definitely want THAT machine in my school.”</p>
<p>tell him to go to Princeton…so much better than yale, believe me.</p>
<p>Hmmm, this is interesting so Princeton looks a little more at stats than harvard or yale.</p>
<p>actually shes going to Columbia…</p>
<p>So the applicant in post #1, with perfect grades and SAT I/II scores, essentially had no rejections but a high number of waitlistings, 4 out of 9. A quick web search indicates that Yale didn’t take anyone from the waitlist in 2009, due to oversubscription. If that’s true, Yale never reached the stage of evaluating this applicant compared to the rest of the waitlist, and his rejection is really just a placement on the list. </p>
<p>This supports an observation I posted in a recent thread, as to the relationship between high tests and grades, and the waitlist:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even though he has those amazing numerical stats, he may not be what Yale “needs” for their incoming class. Maybe they’re looking for a tennis player for their varsity team, or a violinist for their orchestra. And Yale probably does have a fair amount of Asians, so that could have something to do with it to. But also, even though he’s president/vp of 5 clubs, schools care more about quality than quanity. Maybe they thought it looked like he was padding his resume.</p>
<p>so is there any Asian who play sport and low EC but good grades (remember A stands for Average lol kevjumba) and got into Yale or Harvard?</p>
<p>I was accepted to Yale and denied outright from Princeton, if that means anything. A girl from my school had grades/scores way worse than mine (and the TC’s friend) and got into Princeton (though rejected from Yale).</p>
<p>Once your stats are beyond a certain level and your ECs indicate a certain lack of indifference towards life outside school, I think its safe to say that admission to top schools is essentially a crapshoot (barring rare cases like super-legacies, children of famous people, olympic athletes, etc.). Either that or essays/interviews play a much bigger role than most people think.</p>
<p>Indeed, as a testement to my high school. Numbers 2 and 3 got in who, number 1 did not. Number 1 studied a lot and basically had exactly the same stats as described. </p>
<p>The other two on the other hand had very unique activities that they did outside of school.</p>
<p>The real moral of this story is that it is important to let your college application demonstrate your passions.</p>