Hello everyone! I was wondering if I could get some feedback on my chances of getting into Yale 
GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.85 W
ACT: 31 (I am only a junior and will have it up to at least a 33 by the end of the school year)
Louisville Youth Philanthropy Council: 2017 - 2018
- I was selected to join the council and then named as Co-Captain of my philanthropic team, in which we award $15,000 to a non-profit organization of our choosing.
Chess Team: 2006 - 2016
- I won the honor of being the female representative from Kentucky f in the national Girls Invitational Tournament in Phoenix Arizona in 2015.
- I was designated as the Number One Board on Atherton High Schoolâs Chess Team as a freshman
Principalâs Forum: 2016 - 2017
- A hand-picked group that met weekly with Atherton High Schoolâs Principal, Mr. Guetig, to discuss school issues and possible solutions.
National Honors Society: 2016 - 2018
Beta Club: 2016 - 2018
- Organized donation drives twice a year for this club
Steering Committee: 2017 - 2018
- Club designed to enhance school spirit and participation
Y-Club: 2014 - 2018
- A YMCA affiliated club created to promote service, character, and leadership by spreading democratic ideals through multiple conventions held annually.
- Elected position of Service Chair (an officer) during my sophomore year
Rho Kappa Honors Society: 2017 - 2018
Field Hockey: 2013 - 2016
- I played as a double-roster athlete for Atherton High Schoolâs field hockey team.
- I was awarded âBest Defensive Playerâ for Atherton High Schoolâs JV team.
Film Industry: 2016 - 2017
- I was a valued Production Assistant on the award-winning film âBeauty Markâ
- I went to New York City to be the star in multiple Production Assistant Training videos, which were used by the NY PA Training Program and were posted on the New York Women in Film Website.
- I was a Production Assistant for the new TV series âCaribbean Girl NYCâ
Summer Law Institute acceptance/attendance: 2017
Brown Forman Summer Enrichment Program INSPIRE acceptance/attendance: 2017
Metro Youth Advocates: 2017 - 2018
Community Service:
Kentucky Refugee Ministry volunteer: 2015 - 2018
- I organize multiple donation drives throughout the year for this organization
Kosair Hospital Volunteer: 2015 - 2016
Y-Corps: 2017
- A service-learning program involving fundraising, fifty hours of service, and a
service trip throughout Kentucky or the United States.
Naive Food Tent weekly volunteer: 2017
- Cashier and server
Cleaning up Cherokee Park: 2015 - 2018
Dear Darling: 2017 - 2018
- Founder of this non-profit focused on mood-lifting for children in orphanages
Work Experience:
Panera Bread Associate: 2016 - 2018
- This helped develop my people skills and culinary work
Blaze Pizza Associate: 2016
Cotillion Instructor: 2014 - 2016
- I taught children classical dances while also improving their etiquette and social skills
Clerk at Synergy Injury Care: 2014
- I dealt with organizational and paperwork issues
Schedule/Schedule planned for senior year:
AP Physics 1
AP English Lang
Dual Credit Spanish 3
APUSH
AP Microeconomics
AP Psychology
Adv. Pre Calculus
Senior:
AP English Lit
AP Physics 2
AP Calculus BC
AP Govt. and Politics
Study Skills
Spanish 4
AP Humanities
Creative Writing
I also plan to travel abroad through NSLI-Y (a free program for language study with a 20% acceptance rate) or Governors Scholars Program; as of now, I am a semifinalist for both.
Essay: my personal experiences with mental illness and my coping with getting rejected from my dream high school
It would mean so much to me if I could get some feedback
On the ACT, I also received a 10/12 on the writing
I used Naviance to compare your scores with all students who have been accepted to Yale University.
Base on your ACT scores, 50% chances, you will need 34+
Yale ACT scores who got accepted, Low-31 Average-33 High-35
Your stats and ECs are great!! Of course now I think itâs just a matter of condensing ur activities and including just relevant ones. Like try to form a narrative for yourself maybe a selected 3-5 that you feel makes you distinctive among all the applicants.
I also think the essay makes or breaks an application so mental illnesses, though i believe was very vital to your personal growth as a person, may under some circumstances stand against you. Not becuz itâs wrong to have gone thru that but becuz among like thousands of applicants, chances are ppl have written abt them even in years b4. So maybe try to find a topic thatâs like relatively more unique? Or u could use the mental illness topic nothing wrong with that just like make sure the narrative u paint for the admissions officer makes u stand out.
Good luck<3
You want at least a 33 on the ACT. You also want to narrow down your EC list, choosing ones that are most important to you and perhaps some that are related to each other to show passion as well as skill. With good essays, you could be a relatively competitive candidate
Nononono please do not write about your personal mental illness. Universities like Yale see it as a potential suicide, which they see as a potential lawsuit and poor press. Yale also has an unspoken policy of forcing students to take leave in the immediate aftermath of suicide attempts and after severe manic/psychotic episodes.
I volunteer in the mental health space (and like you, I have lived experience). Anxiety and depression (which may or may not be your diagnosis) are extremely common from the figures I have seen (40%+ incidence across the lifespan). While this doesnât make mental health easier to deal with, it means that the stories told occur very frequently, and sometimes risk being cliched.
Save the mental health essay for the mighty or a Ted talk in a few years. I strongly recommend avoiding it in college apps.
my reference to mental illness was actually about my sister and how my strength got me through it and helped her, resulting in the formation of my non profit Dear Darling. Thank you for the input, do you have any suggestions on whether this topic for my essay would still be bad to do?
@hippie2000, thatâs a much better topic - sorry for my misinterpretation. I would caution against writing it if your sister will be applying to Yale in the future, but otherwise it sounds solid.
would you say that that topic would be better than the one about how I prospered after being rejected by my dream school and that led to me being accepted into it my sophomore year?
would you say that that topic would be better than the one about how I prospered after being rejected by my dream school and that led to me being accepted into it my sophomore year?
Youâve got time. Write a rough draft of both of them and put them aside, take them out in August and see what you think of them then. You might have an entirely new topic in mind, some experience that blows them away or some fresh take. And you might be able to use some of the material for the one you donât choose for a supplemental.
It is way too early to be writing your essays now, unless youâre going into a time commitment the equivalent of Basic Training for the month of August. Now is the time to figure out which of your many ECs is the most important and put your heart into it, make memories with your high school friends, keep your grades up, do that ACT practice. Make friends with your teachers and impress them with your work ethic so they write knockout recommendations. The time will come to write those essays. If youâve lived a full life in the next 7 months, youâll have a richer life experience to draw essays from.