Yale 2014 Acceptance Stories - Tell us how you found out!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Dear Yale Class of 2014,</p>

<p>I'm writing to you to share my acceptance story and hopefully entertain all of you smart students who actually deserve to go to Yale. :) (the implication here is that I do not- which is completely intended). Sorry Yale, you must have mixed me up with another guy. hehe.</p>

<p>Thursday, April 1st, commonly known as "College Death-Day" throughout the halls of my high school, was a terribly unproductive day. It would have served me better to stay at home and spend the last few moments of my pre-rejection days with my family. We could sit in our humble kitchen and bash ivy league schools for their weaknesses and faulty admissions processes, praising Homestate University for its practical incentives.
However, that was not the case. I was forced to sit through hours of lecture until that long dreaded 5 p.m. EDT finally came.</p>

<p>You see I had it all planned out, logically and neatly. I would look at the decisions in a precise order- first Cornell, next UPenn, then Princeton, after that Yale, and finally Harvard. (in order of decreasing 2009 acceptance rates, in case you were wondering). You see I figured I would prepare myself. If I got rejected to Cornell I would know right away that all hope was lost in my ivy league dream.</p>

<p>So when that time finally came around I grabbed my parents' laptop and headed into my room, being sure to bring a box of tissues and to lock the door as I went in. A man needs privacy when he expects to be doing some hardcore weeping.</p>

<p>Round One: Cornell- Rejected!
Cornell's rejection had the simultaneous effects of causing hopeless apathy in my heart and yet sheer panic. Something inside of me died, even as I could feel myself getting more and more upset. I ran to my parents telling them how mad I was and how unfair the whole situation was. They braced themselves for a long weekend...</p>

<p>Everything got worse as my meticulous plan was shattered when I accidentally clicked to open the letter from Harvard in my inbox. I didn't want to look yet!
Their decision to put me on the waiting list puzzled me. I didn't know how to feel.</p>

<p>But it wasn't over yet...
As I finally remembered the password to my UPenn account the word "Congratulations" in the letter caused me to read no more. I ran around my house screaming, finally falling down in complete ecstasy. I had made it to an ivy league after all!!! You have no idea how much happiness I felt in that moment. I don't remember if I was running around my house or flying. </p>

<p>And then...after calling some family members and hearing them scream on the phone across the country, I logged into Yale's account (I forgot my password to Princeton so I decided to check Yale's decision first- after all Harvard's untimely email had already destroyed my plan). Suddenly a bulldog and song appeared onscreen. I was really thrown off; I thought it was a criminal April fool's joke (how silly of me), but after reading the congratulatory statement like five times I finally decided that Yale had actually accepted me. If getting in to UPenn was exciting, then getting into Yale should be illegal- that's how insane it was. I ran outside and started telling America how much I loved her and how much I wanted to marry her (personification? anthropomorphism? idk). You could have punched me in the face and it would have tickled.</p>

<p>My whole family screamed all day long, my sister and her friend went to the gas station to buy me congratulatory candy and kept stopping random strangers to tell them the news, and my mom cried.</p>

<p>I didn't sleep at all last night. I just kept getting up and logging into yale.edu to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I still don't know why they accepted me. I never thought I would have such an amazing opportunity. I am mentally preparing myself though. I have officially kissed my inflated high school grades goodbye and prepared myself to be the Yale mistake. Hopefully someone there will take pity on me and help me fit in with all the other students. Otherwise, I'll be like the puppy in the litter who learns to walk like six months after all of his little puppy brothers and sisters. wow random comparison lol. sorry.</p>

<p>Anyways, I'd love to hear everyone else's acceptance stories. Does anyone else feel like the Yale mistake besides me?!</p>

<p>Yours Truly,</p>

<p>Accepted Student, Yale Class of 2014</p>

<p>Accepted: Yale, UPenn
Waitlisted: Harvard, Columbia
Rejected: Stanford (EA), Princeton, Cornell</p>

2

<p>Hey thats really interesting since my story is much the same! And I too stayed awake the whole night in disbelief! But I’m glad we made it - hopefully meet you in CT in August.</p>

<p>Accepted - Amherst, Yale
WL - Harvard, Dartmouth, Duke, NU, Williams.
Rej - MIT, Princeton, Cornell.</p>

3

<p>Congrats mate! I thought I would get into Princeton, maybe Harvard, but never thought I had a shot at Yale. 5.2% RD rate drilled that into my mind. I checked P first and they rejected me, so I thought “ah damn it. Good bye HYP level.” Then I logged into Yale and switched tabs (I missed the bulldog but I saw the replay), and saw a “Congratulations” and felt stunned. The impossible had happened. </p>

<p>Harvard rejected me too but I didn’t care at ALL, because I was headed to YALE!</p>

4

<p>An0maly - I had the EXACT same awkward flailing moment!</p>

<p>I think I was juggling quite a few tabs (like getting the Princeton website to work) and I missed the lovely singing bulldog!</p>

<p><em>Mad flurry of clicks and many yells later</em></p>

<p>Replay and happiness :)</p>

<p>I actually knew quite a bit earlier from a LL, so I wasn’t quite as stunned, but it was still wonderful all the same.
(I think my jumping up and down, stunned moment came with that letter)</p>

5

<p>Mine’s a rejection story all around:
Before D-Day, Rejection Day, April Fool’s Day, whatever you want to call it, I got wait listed at Northwestern. I thought, “screw them.” Then came an acceptance from NYU Stern. Thus, I felt I had strong chances at the Ivies.</p>

<p>On April 1st, I slept in (there was no school) until 12 ish. Then my family and I went out to a buffet to eat. Alas, that did not kill enough time; it was only about 2:30 pm when we finished our meal, and we ate slowly. Thus, I went to the best hang out spot in my city to, you know, hang out with a few friends. While just chilling out, I saw a guy who graduated from my school two years ago, so I caught up with him and we went to get some pizza.
Finally, I looked at my cell phone watch: 4:50 pm!!! I quickly drove my friend to his destination-he was amidst walking to a previous commitment when I ran into him-and sped my way home. Surprisingly, I didn’t get a speeding ticket! XD
I raced upstairs to my room, grabbed the laptop, and turned that bad boy on. My plan was to check Cornell–>Yale–>Harvard–>UPenn (UPenn being my first choice and all. Cornell took too long to load, and I was using the wrong password to try to log in, so I just said “**** it” and checked Harvard. Surprise surprise! Rejected.
Then I turned to UPenn, my first choice, my loveeee. I nervously opened my admissions, and…
waitlist. I felt discouraged, years of work and waiting, to not get accepted at my first choice. </333
Then I decided to check Yale. Once again, no surprise here: rejected. Whatever, that didn’t compare to the sting of Penn’s waitlist.
Finally, the Cornell decision loaded. This time, I actually was surprised: REJECTED! I know it’s arrogant of me to say, but I really was expecting to get accepted at Cornell. </p>

<p>Overall, I got slaughtered on April 1st. I would’ve cried too, but I was accepted to UChicago EA so I knew I wouldn’t get much sympathy, considering the UofC’s widespread fame and prestige. While the Penn waitlist has me most disappointed, Chicago is an excellent institution and I shall be headed there as a Maroon Phoenix in September of 2010!</p>

6

<p>Here’s my story:</p>

<p>I was at school early and stayed late since I had a bunch of stuff to do. The whole day I kept trying to clear my mind of the fact that decisions wouldn’t be out until 5 so I could focus on what I had to do throughout the day. When I left school I was exhausted from lack of sleep and other things.</p>

<p>I came home at about 4:50PM. I checked my mailbox to see if I had gotten my admissions package from the University of Toronto since I had been accepted by them on Monday, but no envelope. I logged onto the Yale website a couple of times and into my Eli Account but no decision yet. I killed the time by doing some other things around the house. It was like 5:05PM and still nothing. I listened to some music to kill another 10 or so minutes. I decided to check again, but this time if it wasn’t up then I would take a nap and check it later.</p>

<p>I clicked the “Get your admissions decision” link on that almost-blank white page, and it took me to what looked like the regular Yale College page. At first I thought “oh well, I didn’t get in. I got into McMaster and that’s where I’ll be next year,” but then I read the page and it said “Congratulations, Jonathan! Blah blah blah…”. I was like “WHAT? WHAT? How could this be? I didn’t even log in! This must be a joke or something.” I guess the computer must have kept me logged on from when I signed onto it before. I logged out and back in and it still gave me the same page. I was almost going to have a heart-attack at that point. I wondering where the singing bulldog page was, and lo-and-behold once I clicked that “Replay Welcome” link it showed up. I had gotten into Yale.</p>

<p>I ran out of my house to tell one of my best friends who lives down the street, and on my way I ran into my brother. He asked “What’s going on?” and I screamed “I GOT IN!!!” at the top of my lungs. Since it was a nice day people were outside and they turned and looked at me funny, but I didn’t care. I was on top of the world. After I told my friend I started calling and texting almost everyone I could think of.</p>

<p>The congratulations from people came flooding in, and Thursday easily became one of the happiest days of my life. Needless to say, I didn’t need to take a nap that afternoon. Even now whenever I log onto the admissions page it’s the letter from the Dean and not the singing bulldog page that comes up - I have to click the link myself which I find a little odd, but no matter. I had achieved the unthinkable. Now I just need to wait for Yale to finish my financial aid package and I’ll be all set! Goodbye McMaster, hello Yale!</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>This made me smile :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :)</p>

<p>And honestly, NO ONE who gets accepted to Yale should feel like a mistake. The admissions committee spent countless hours poring over your file, reviewed it at least three times, and you made it through. I think you’re undervaluing yourself :)</p>

<p>That said though, there are definitely people out there who deserve to be accepted and didn’t. And that, alas, is the flip side of college admissions. X(</p>

8

<p>How do you know apps are reviewed three times?</p>

9

<p>^ Sorry, that was a guess. :slight_smile: Uh, well, your local officer reviews it first, and then I think you go through various rounds of committee. I feel pretty confident in saying that for the average applicant (no hooks, Olympic medals, etc.) the committee probably reviews you more than once…</p>

<p>I tried to find the link that I read all this on, but couldn’t. Sorry :(</p>

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<p>No problem, lol. Just wondering.</p>

11

<p>Hey jonv - I never got the bulldog too! Have to click the replay to get it.</p>

12

<p>Guys I love you all! I can’t believe we made it.
Will you guys tutor me next year? lol
I’m going to need it. Also, is everybody pretty chill and down to earth at Yale?
I want to be part of a class that is relaxed and not all worried about their gpas.</p>

13

<p>I agree, hillsongfan. I’m so done with worrying about GPA. I feel like once you are actually attending a school like Yale there’s not as much pressure to have that perfect GPA (except you, pre-meds. sorry :P). There are so many better things to devote energy to. I guess it was sort of necessary in high school to get into schools of Yale’s caliber, but there are too many awesome things going on in college to worry obsessively about grades. (Hopefully the average yale student agrees with me on that one, or else I probably won’t find myself in New Haven next september)</p>

<p>and let me know if you find a tutor. I’ll be needing one as well :]</p>

14

<p>Yeah, I’m so excited about taking classes just to learn things and meet people and not because I need AP credit or something like that.</p>

15

<p>you know supernav, from what I understood of your message, I completely agree.
We all know that the college admissions process is imperfect (at best).
And I think many of us admitted students at Yale, (other than legacy students) really know that we ,in a sense, “won the lottery”. If your message is in response to being waitlisted/rejected I can only empathize.
But don’t lose hope in life. It would be wrong to judge yourself for being rejected at a university. If there is anything I can do to help you understand just let me know :)</p>

16

<p>Hi, Hillsongfan,</p>

<p>congratulate on your admission. Actually I am not a senior. I post my message here just to express my thought. But my message was deleted. I guess the request of treating everybody equally is too sensitive for someone. Just like our president asked people taking their own responsibility at school can upset so many people. </p>

<p>Look at these news, hope the admission officers stop wasting the wonderful education opportunities to those guys.
[Yale</a> Daily News - Narcisse '12 died of drugs, autopsy shows](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/02/11/narcisse-12-died-drugs-autopsy-show/]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/02/11/narcisse-12-died-drugs-autopsy-show/)</p>

<p>[Missing</a> Yale student found- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, Connecticut](<a href=“http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/04/03/news/doc4bb79b34751c9230381185.txt]Missing”>http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/04/03/news/doc4bb79b34751c9230381185.txt)</p>

17

<p>supernav, I have reported your most recent post to the moderators (moderators, please delete this post when you delete supernav’s, if you do). It is amazingly insensitive of you to attack a student who died very tragically this past year, in an event which deeply affected a lot of people on Yale’s campus. That you imply that he was only admitted on account of his race (both situations you cited involved black students, and your major complaint is about what you perceive as racial inequity in admissions), and you consider the circumstances of his death to be evidence of that makes your comment even more offensive. Please take your hateful remarks elsewhere.</p>

18

<p>2013 here. I totally forgot about my decision story till I came here. I haven’t been here in a WHILE! I came here today because a meeting to decide executive members for one of my cultural clubs just ended, and it was a difficult decision. Somewhere in the middle of the meeting my mind wandered, feeling sorry for the admissions officers who have to make some of these decisions. They either have little sleep or have no heart at all. Making decisions about an application is no little joke, because you feel sorry for the rejected applicants, especially if they are very accomplished. </p>

<p>OK! My story;
I was in school, and decided to check it there. Basically, I applied to Yale and SUNY Bing, something I would never advice anybody to do.
When I got my decision, I passed out. I woke up to smiling faces, some confused frowns (inner city HS, some people either know nothing about Yale or know that it is a HUGE school that Bush went to). There were other students walking into the library to see what was happening.
Yeah, mine was not that fun. Who cares? I am taking classes and living the New Haven life. All my friends in the surrounding schools (South Conn. State Univ) are all happy about being in their school, and we are all living happily ever before, now and after. </p>

<p>sorry when I am tired I write like I have two brains. adios</p>

19

<p>Hahaha, I checked Princeton first and it took forever to load, so I moved on to Yale (the next Ivy on my list) and I couldn’t find my pin and had to wait for the email to be sent to me. Apparently I clicked too many links or something because my computer froze and I had to restart it. At that point, I was ready to cry, and I thought it could be nothing but a bad sign. So, once I got my computer restarted, I decided to check Yale’s decision first and I got in! I reread it a couple of times, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, and then I got up and ran around my house. And then I sat back down to check my other decisions.</p>

20

<p>Congratulations OP!
I’m sure you will fit in very well and do great at Yale! You sound like a cool guy! Enjoy your time of being a Yalie!</p>