<p>I wanted to join the wrestling team so I could add it as a “non-Asian” EC…I had to wrestle Austin Mays. It was slant eyed slaughter.</p>
<p>Now I play the piano.</p>
<p>Goodness children calm down… you’re going through the five stages… you’re angry right now, and are willing to blame anything or anyone. It’s not just about the stats to get in, and it’s not about race either. You can’t generalize everything and try to quantify it in a way that makes sense. Asian parents especially try to reinforce that mentality and the entire process becomes an us vs. the racist system mentality. Stereotyping goes both ways. While many Asians genuinely believe that the admissions system is geared against them as a group, they also have an incorrect belief that they have submitted the stronger application and thus have no reason to be rejected. Trust me when I say that a LOT of amazing people get admitted regardless of race. Some people may have lower stats, but they DO have a special nick that sets them apart. There are National Synchronized swimming champions, rare cancer survivors, all American athletes, National Forensics League winners, national Key Club leaders, and even recruited athletes that have perfect scores. Some of those special people are Asian, but many others are not. Top scores, class presidencies, and valedictorian status means very little at top schools. Out of my nine suitemates: two have perfect scores, and majority were Valedictorian. These kids had online businesses, composed professional level music, and appeared on television quiz shows. No one tries to be what they are not… if you’re a piano expert, then that’s your thing. One of my Asian suitemates can play any song on demand and is now a part of the best Improv group on Yale. </p>
<p>Before I had come to Yale, I had similarly wondered how so many brilliant and amazing people could get rejected. I been around this site for the longest time, and with four years of admissions data both EA and RD, admissions seemed truly random. People with high stats that seemed the perfect candidate on paper got rejected, and people with seemingly lesser qualifications were in. I attributed that to the “crapshoot” phenomena. Now looking back, I can see how misguided I was in thinking so. People did get in for a good reason, and I’ve never felt that I met a single person that didn’t deserve to be here. No one cared what you scored on your SATs, the dozen AP’s I took were good for nothing, and everyone had the capacity to lead. It was the clean slate of a new beginning…</p>
<p>I know that those of you that didn’t get in must be feeling crushed right now. However, if you’d take it from someone who’ve been on CC for over four years… high achieving people here eventually go to great colleges. Trust me, I’ve followed up on them… one day, you’ll just be laughing at this whole process. You’ll be wondering why you even applied. Maybe you’ll even be cheering from the other side of Yale Bowl at The Game. </p>
<p>P.S. And get the idealized notion of “Yale” out of your head. 
I just had finals and I felt as if my soul was pulverized by lack of sleep, thousands of pages of reading, and lack of clean clothes… I seriously haven’t slept before 5 AM the past week.</p>
<p>^so what was your special “nick” that got you in? ;)</p>
<p>No whining. You cannot blame your race, only yourself.
I’m the opposite of the Asian stereotype and got into MIT. 2 of my black friends were deferred. (Actually, I can’t even say that they were black, my skin is darker.)
Low SAT and GPA compared to other applicants, live in the ghetto, go to school in the ghetto, very unusual EC’s–I just followed my interests and actually had no clue what I which college I wanted to apply to until the last minute. Yet I was confident that MIT would accept me right after I sent in my application. My application just fitted together perfectly as a whole and I knew I was a perfect match for MIT. My EC list was not long, but I committed despite MANY failures and eventually got national recognition in everything I did. My mother wanted me to apply to Yale instead, but I knew I was not ready to apply and would have been deferred.
Lesson of the story: Have self confidence and don’t listen to your parents.</p>
<p>There’s a government concession to Asians for AA: it’s called UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>^its called, way too far from where I live. I’m not even applying to stanford because I just cant live in cali.</p>
<p>^^ HAHA! So true but like someone already said its all the UCS and Caltech. Okay I’m an Asian who got rejected SCEA while there was a white person from my school who got deferred. I know a lot of people on this thread have said that we only know the stats and ecs of other applicants. True, we don’t have the essays, recs, etc. so that we can fairly compare applications. BUT my college counselor even told me she was surprised I was rejected while the other person was deferred. She read both our apps( essays and recs included) and at first the only conclusion I came to was I’m ASIAN AND HE ISN’T!!! I was bitter on the 15th, but LIFE IS UNFAIR! Honestly though all these asians who are rejected from top schools but are qualified, you will still be successful and happy no matter if you go to the state college or Yale. Yeah maybe HYPMS won’t accept me because I’m asian, but who cares! I’ll still make the most out of my college experiences where ever I go!</p>
<p>If still agree with everyone who says that people incorrectly blame their race for their shortcomings.</p>
<p>^should we put all the blame on our race? no. but you CANNOT deny the disparity in judging an asian student’s application and judging an african-american student’s application. the standards just arent the same!</p>
<p>Hey guys. So I’ve been creeping around CC for a REALLY long time and finally decided to make an account after hearing back from Yale SCEA on the 15th. I can’t help but make my first comment on this thread.</p>
<p>I’m definitely in the category of hook-less Asian. I am Chinese, female, and go to a high achieving public high school. We offer over 20 AP courses and I have enrolled in 14 of them. Math teams, Academic Challenge, and Science Olympiad are big in our school, but I don’t do any of them. In the clubs I do participate in, I hold leadership positions for the school but have never earned any awards or recognition on a national level. </p>
<p>So when I fell in love with Yale two years ago, I knew I was in trouble. Reading the SCEA results on CC just made me even more depressed, but it was an addiction I had to feed. At one point, I actually resented my parents for not being stereotypically asian and forcing me into SAT practice or science competitions or meticulously checking my report cards. Mine have always just assumed that I get straight A’s and that I would ace all my tests. So, in a way, I was left entirely to make my own choices about which clubs to join, which passions to pursue. Applying to college was no different.</p>
<p>I loved Yale too much; I couldn’t give my first-choice spot to any other school. So I worked on my essays for months, tweaking my very personal, almost painfully so, common app essay until I couldn’t look at it any longer. I wrote an intellectual sounding supp essay, but scrapped it last minute and replaced it with a funny, unconventional one about one of my interests that calls for no intelligence. I figured I would let my transcript speak for itself. I had done well in school, and my essays were my way of showing Yale that I was more than just a good student. I am a good test-taker and fortunately, my test scores were definitely in Yale’s range. As I hit send, thinking of all the nationally experienced debaters and published researchers and URMS with my stats and athletes and…in short, I was expecting a deferral. But at least I was honest.</p>
<p>I didn’t have any “hooks” except , perhaps, a bubbly personality and unique way of thinking. I’ve never let the fact that I’m Chinese force me into certain activities (note, string instruments, science fairs, hospital volunteering), so when I sent my app, I suppose my race had almost escaped my mind all together. Then this thread and others like it appeared on CC and I became paranoid all over. I cursed the zygote gods that they would allow a Yale-loving brain like mine to manifest itself in the unwanted, overrepresented ASIAN body. And I felt the way you did in the days leading up to the 15th.</p>
<p>But then I got in. Perhaps they’d seen my personality, or perhaps a certain line in one of my essays touched them. Perhaps my interviewer held a high rung in admissions…but regardless, I knew for a fact that when I was working on my app, the last thing I was thinking about was my race. And perhaps that was the last thing they thought about as well.</p>
<p>I’m ecstatic, and I don’t think any of you should be discouraged. Be yourselves, be unique, and want Yale badly!!</p>
<p>^ I think the problem with me was that I didn’t want Yale badly enough. In hindsight, it was a (somewhat) good decision on Yale’s part to defer me, and I could really think about what I looked for in a college. I decided that I really want to go to MIT instead - this time for real.</p>
<p>I didn’t really want to go to Yale either. I think it was just that I wanted to go to college in New Haven.</p>
<p>@Dash753 </p>
<p>People do blame shortcomings on race to an extent, but you have to be incredibly ignorant to deny that affirmative action exists and is very influential in terms of College Acceptance. Just compare UC Berkeley, which removed its affirmative action policy, with any other top school and you’ll see why people complain.</p>
<p>^bravo. well said</p>
<p>There’s a quota for everything at all the top colleges. The admissions officers think of themselves as modern-day Noahs.</p>
<p>
People complain regardless. In the case of the UCs, it was bitterly protested when the number of black freshmen at UCLA rapidly dwindled. </p>
<p>It instituted its “holistic” admissions philosophy and lo and behold, numbers stabilized.</p>
<p>Personally, I think Yale and its peers have the right of it.</p>
<p>
hahahahahhahaa</p>
<p>i love the “modern day Noahs” comparison!! brilliant!!</p>
<p>"People do blame shortcomings on race to an extent, but you have to be incredibly ignorant to deny that affirmative action exists and is very influential in terms of College Acceptance. Just compare UC Berkeley, which removed its affirmative action policy, with any other top school and you’ll see why people complain</p>
<p>You would know that I never denied that affirmative action existed if you had read my post. Way to go! Also, I fail to see how what I said is ignorant. I never said everyone blames their race, I just said that people (i.e. a lot of people but not all) blame their race when their race is not to blame.</p>
<p>^how do YOU know our race is not to blame? can you honestly say that I (I can show you my stats, etc) would have been deferred if I was a URM?</p>