hey guys, this thread is so dead!! how are your essays going? which 2/3 long ones are you all choosing? im doing the one on community and an issue of importance. it’s so hard to only stay within the word limit :((
Short answer and essays: Really 35/100/125/250 words or less? Anyone know if this is a “trick”? In high school they will, for example, have a 10 page word limit but the kids who write 20 get the A’s…
This isn’t a “trick.” Writing less (and better), is a lot more difficult than writing more, (and worse), prose. Stick to the limits.
I didnt ask for a lecture. I am a big proponent of brevity. I was asking if anyone knew if the word limits were fixed. The questions are available on the yale site for early preparation but the CA isn’t open. Curious if the word limit would be “fixed” in the CA.
@Center - You asked if the word limit on short answers and essays is “fixed.” From what I can recall (from when I applied), it wasn’t possible to go over word limit. Maybe that has changed? I can’t say, but I am sorry if I came across as lecturing you. As a current Yale student I was responding to both the tone and content of your post which asked if Yale admissions officers, like your high school teachers, reward prolixity. They don’t. Best of luck in your college search.
^My recollection of S’s application was it was fixed in the Common App, but that was 2 years ago. He did his drafts in Word first to make sure he was under the limits so it never really came up. For the really short answers, he did not always use grammatically complete sentences. I tried playing around with Stanford’s app this year, and it looks like you get a prompt if you are over, but the space accepts words over the limit. Don’t know what happens when you hit the submit button. I do think if the app is dramatically “over” the limit even if the CA accepts it, the AO will not look on this favorably.
@zoebrittany thank you! I was asking because the app isnt open yet 
@BKSquared Thank you: yes the intent would be to follow the rules to the letter but it is hard to know sometimes…
I agree with @BKSquared . As I remember from a few years ago, the CA cuts off at the word limit. Even if this has changed (and I don’t know if it has or has not), there is no guarantee that the version the AO sees is not truncated at the word limit.
That said, even if the AO can see an essay with 2500 words, one needs to keep in mind that s/he is going to spend X minutes on the application in total. If, in the unlikely event, s/he decides spend Y minutes to read the entire essay, that only means that s/he will spend X-Y minutes on the rest of the application. Submitting an application the size of a phone book will not result in extra reading time.
To clarify, the CA is open, but Yale has not posted its supplements yet.
for other supplements that are up on CA, it stops you from entering more words when you hit the limit, so I assume it will be the same when yale’s come on
For the question about teaching a course, does it have to be something we are genuinely interested in or have expertise on?
^Fwiw for S who was a successful SCEA applicant Class of 2021, it was an area he had a genuine interest in and curiosity about but did not have expertise. It did tie in with another Yale specific essay. I think the AO’s are looking for characteristics/clues related to applicants’ intellectual (but not necessarily purely academic) curiosity.
I’m so nervous about these essays. anyone else? sometimes I feel really good about what I’ve written and then I just get confused because it’s just such an odd task, you know? we’ve never had to write like this before for school or anything. I just feel like im doing it wrong
I’m a senior from Morocco, and I’ve fallen head over heels in love with Yale. Tbh, here in Morocco everything is robotized, the curriculum is boring, everything is taught to the test, zero creativity and innovation and you struggle finding someone with a passion for learning and overcoming challenges, or even minor stuff like reading high fantasy books, but I digress.
Not even going to try and say why I like Yale; it should be pretty obvious. Meeting friends with the same passion of learning, labs and courses to sate my love of solving problems. It’s perfect! But I digress.
No problem with the TOEFL/English barrier (I think), since I’m a US citizen, went to elementary school in the States, and English is my native language.
My GPA is fairly good, with all my average GPAs since 7th grade being 16+/20 ("A"s, or 4.0; see reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_Morocco ) with the exception of junior year’s first semester (15).
I mean to take the SAT on Oct. 6, I just started practicing on Khan Academy and my first practice tests (so far) range between 1400/1450.
All good and well? No. We have 0 extracurricular activities in Morocco. The only passion I have that my school really sponsored was soccer (played varsity) but I really can’t just mention that, right? I like reading? Swimming in our small pool? I also help out in our farm (caring for livestock, horses, crops, etc…) Also, I also do some basic engineering at our farm (water pressure system, etc…) Will that help too? Can those count too?
The only thing that could be worth mentioning is the challenge of switching between countries of very different cultures, languages, school programs, etc… but that can only really for on the CA essay, and I have tons of questions for the applications I need to fill out.
I just want some help, since I want to apply EA to maximize my chances. Any tips would be immensely appreciated.
@zoebrittany We totally appreciate your advice! Your response did not come across as a lecture so no apology needed…and even if it was a lecture then we would all appreciate that too. The more advice (even lectures), the better!
@JadenX16 I would not worry too much about EC’s. You will only be judged on what was available to you. If working on your farm took up significant time and effort, that will be recognized. It would have been nice to have some community involvement in your history, but it is probably too late to do anything at this late stage that won’t be potentially seen as resume padding.
I think you have to shoot higher on your SAT’s to have a more realistic chance. If you can, I would take the SAT earlier than October so you have a data point before you make a decision on SCEA. Also it gives you more time and direction to prepare for a second test. Check out the Common Data Set for Yale https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/cds_2017-2018_0.pdf. For the 2017 cycle, you can see the ranges for admitted students by subsection. Yale does not give a composite SAT range, but converting the ACT score of 32 which is at the 25th percentile, we get an SAT score of over 1450. Don’t forget Yale recommends 2 SAT2 tests, although if this is not readily available in Morocco, you should be ok. It may look like SCEA gives you a boost because of the better admissions rate, but remember the SCEA round contains almost all of the recruited athletes, development cases and a high percentage of legacies. It also has a generally stronger pool than the RD round. If you score less than 1500 on your SAT, I would strongly encourage you to retake the test and submit RD. You can also make better use of your EA or ED bullet elsewhere where it might be of more use.
Last piece of advice, don’t fall in love with any one school, especially one as selective as Yale. If you want to go to college in the States, research all the other wonderful opportunities available and be prepared to fall in love with one of those.
@BKSquared Ty! As a matter of fact I’m in involved in some community work (Campaigns every year to address various social issues (relief for orphanages and shelters, providing food for the needy in Ramadan…))
Anyway, I’m grateful for your insight
Darn you, Yale.
I had just gotten the kiddo focused on finishing applications to schools with a more realistic chance of acceptance when we get a slim envelope with a plain text letter listing the advantages of attending, and now he’s off again with stars in his eyes polishing his short answers.
No glossy photos or personalized postcards or posters or full-sized picture books, just plain text on white paper.
So now in October we’re driving an hour away to a presentation by Yale admissions, because they’re not coming any closer to Baltimore than they have to.
Darn it. It’s like when I think I’ve gotten over an old hopeless crush and he suddenly offers a tiny sliver of attention.
Tbh anything is possible if he has the right scores
I’m applying SCEA, and I’m considering doing the science supplement. I have a mentor who has written me a very nice letter of recommendation (she copied me when she sent it to my counselor so I could read nice things about myself which was sweet of her). However I didn’t publish anything during my three years with her, but I do have an abstract I could send. Yale says full papers are better so I’m a little unsure if I should do the supplement then.
Thanks in advance for any advice!!