Hey everyone! I’d thought I’d start a discussion for everyone who’s thinking of applying to Yale this year (REA and RD). Also, I know my username mentions Stanford but I’m also in love with Yale! Please feel free to comment and discuss! Hope to see you all in the fall of 2017!
There is 0% chance I get into Yale next year. :((
Stats??
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A (taking in Oct.)
ACT (breakdown): 31- (31 E, 28 S, 36 R, 28 Math)
SAT II: Took in June, haven’t gotten scores
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.83
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Took AP bio, and Lang, no scores yet
IB (place score in parenthesis):N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP computer science, AP Latin, AP Econ, AB Calc, Art (required)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): High Honors, National Latin Exam Gold Medal
Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varisty Track and Football, Cultural Club President, MUN,
Job/Work Experience: Work at Old Navy 20 hr per werk
Volunteer/Community service: Tutor, Boy’s Council (tutor disadvantage 6th graders)
Summer Activities: NSLI-Y (State Dept Schoalrship that allows me to go to Morocco to study Arabic this summer)
Essays: Almost done. Probably really good, writing about being a quadruplet. Writing about racism in the Middle East for SFS
Teacher Recommendation: likely very good. One from Econ Teacher, another from bio teacher
Counselor Rec: don’t really know
Additional Rec: none
Interview: hasn’t happen yet
Other: Proficent in Arabic, Latin, and Darija (Moroccan Arabic)
Applying for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): Ohio
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200k+ (but I’m a quad soooo that ain’t gonna cut it for college
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, Quadruplet
Lol I know I have zero chance
Same!! I have really good community service projects but a low GPA because I messed up in freshman year and the beginning of sophomore year 
@ILoveStanford I feel you. My grade and rank are fine. It’s my ACT score that kills me.
My ECs are good, I got a state dept scholarship to study Arabic and am Proficent in it as a result, and I’m the president of the cultural club and model UN, and URM. But even so, a 31 is low.
The average for Yale is a 32-35 so you should be fine.
Haha I said there was a zero % chance because I will be a junior next year so I won’t be applying, but I don’t think I will ever apply to Yale.
I will have a GPA of 4.36 at the end of junior year, which I know I can do. I am currently studying for the ACT so hopefully I can do well on that.
I am an Eagle Scout, have had a lot of leadership roles within my troop(was the SPL) and I have 300+ hours of community service. I also do speech and debate and have done so since I was a freshman. I also run track and field and cross country but I am not varsity in either even though I like them.
I want to do engineering in college and there are plenty of great universities with good programs already. I just have no interest in the Ivy’s because I do not think I have any chance whatsoever, and I don’t think they fit me. I also live in California so I have UCLA,UCSD, etc, but I do not think I have a chance at Berkeley either, especially in engineering.
I do know a senior from my school who will be start attending Yale as a freshman next year though.
Sorry for that rant lol but I wish all of you the best in your pursuit of Yale! Best of Luck to all!
@PetEngineer , slow news day?
I’m not sure why you posted, but nobody will force you to apply to the Ivies (that’s the word, not "Ivy’s) against your will. Good luck during your junior year.
I am planning to apply early.
SAT I (breakdown): 1570 on the new one (800 M 770 R) and 2280 on old one(not sending)
ACT (breakdown): 32 but not sending
SAT II: IDK yet hoping for 800 math 2 and 700s on lit and spanish
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/700
AP (place score in parenthesis): I will have taken 17 total at the end of high school, I got a 5 on all but 3 so far
IB (place score in parenthesis):N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Calc BC, Debate, AP Lit, AP Euro, AP Gov
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Harvard Book Award, Debate awards locally, 1st in spanish competition for county, octafinals at national debate tournament, ap scholar with distinction, scholar athlete (havent decided which awards to put on app)
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Tennis, Debate President, Foreign Language Honor Society President, Rho Kappa VP, Youth Leadership program, intern on a senate campaign, leadership role in a city commission race, volunteer on a committee for a teen political forum
Job/Work Experience: Tutor for Kumon, work for my dad’s real estate company
Volunteer/Community service: Tutor, Boy’s Council (tutor disadvantage 6th graders)
Summer Activities: NSLI-Y (State Dept Schoalrship that allows me to go to Morocco to study Arabic this summer)
Essays: Personal and rather unique - I think it is a little above average but nothing amazing
Recs: Idk yet I can only hope for the best
Interview: hasn’t happened yet
Other: Proficient in spanish because of self-studyin and traveling
Applying for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200k+
Hooks : none
wow, impressive stats! Just wondering why you’re not sending your 32 on the ACT? That’s what I got, and I don’t consider a bad score (I am retaking it though just to see if I can do better).
For comunity service I tutor and have done work for animal rescue. For Summer activities I attended a politican conference and debate camps; I copied and pasted the earllier poster’s post for the template and left his/her summer activities and community service lol.
ILoveStanford, I agree that the 32 it is an excellent score, don’t get me wrong. It is definitely enought o be considered at Yale. I just don’t think I should send it because my SAT is comparatively higher so I figure it is best to just show my best test score possible.Do you think it is better to send both, or just the best one??? Thanks so much and good luck!
@jakea33 Wow congrats on such a high sat I score! If you don’t mind me asking how did you study for the redesigned exam and what prep materials did you use?
@seaberry Thank you! I took it when my school provided it free and was blessed enough to have done well. I did not put any time into preparing specifically for the new one, so I would say that for math my practice for the old SAT likely aided me in doing well. I cannot speak for everyone but in my opinion the best way to prepare is to simply take practice tests. Not one, or two, or three, but A LOT. When you grade them, think critically about why you got each one incorrect. For the ones you got right but were not sure about, find out how to be sure of the asnwer next time. For math the barrons practices tests are way harder than the real one so I would do some of those. Then do full tests from collegeboard provided sources(assuming there are some for the new SAT already). Then, as you get closer to test day, do the last 5 or so questions from the math sections of a bunch of practice tests. Those are the hardest, and you want to try to know all concepts covered. If you struggle to figure out on your own why you get questions wrong, then maybe focus on Khanademy type sources that might explain it. For reading, I honestly did not prepare specifically for this test either but I can only give the same tips as for math. Practice makes perfect. Just always focus on why you get a question wrong.
Resources I know of: Khanacademy(interactive and less boring than normal practice), Barron’s (harder than normal) Collegeboard sources(realistic in my experience).
On another note, I recommend crackact for the ACT. It has billions of practices tests.
I know multiple people who are in the class of 2020 and got accepted into amazing schools with below-average test scores. I have realized that test scores bring you into consideration, but are not always used to decide between candidates. My hope is that I can show my passion for politics and languages and that it works.
Wow, you seem like a very impressive candidate! Do you know how Yale views class rank? I’m in the top 15% (weighted) because I didn’t take academics seriously enough in freshman and sophomore year.
It depends, I don’t think Yale allows applicants to choose which scores they send. Otherwise, I would probably just send your best scores 
http://admissions.yale.edu/faq/standardized-testing I checked to make sure but if you go to the FAQ there it says that you can pick which testing agency to send from so I won’t send my ACT. And thanks so much! As for rank, it is definitely a positive thing to be ranked highly. However, it is not essential for admission as far as I know to be at the top of your class. Almost all students at yale were in the top 10% but if you otherwise show passion and that you’re a good candidate it definitely won’t rule you out to not be in the top 10%.